> My Little Bizarre Adventure: The Midnight Riders
>  by Lemon Lime Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Midnight's Omen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sky was a shimmering blue on an early Equestrian morning. Birds were singing in the treetops, the grass swayed in slight wind, and the air was calm with a gentle natural serenity. The leaves fluttered in the light breeze, warm sunlight cast down onto the small creatures beneath it, and a yellow winged anthropomorphic pegasus was frantically dragging a purple winged anthropomorphic unicorn-pegasus hybrid through the sky at incredible speeds.

“This way!” Fluttershy called with a force that was unusually urgent for the normally shy and timid mare. She was flying through the air at an equally unusually high speed with Twilight Sparkle in tow, seemingly leading her towards their friend Rainbow Dash’s cloud house. The trees and landscapes flew by at speeds to rival Dash herself.

Fluttershy had come to Twilight with her current urgency, saying that something was wrong with Dash. The mare hadn’t seen her friend in days. She hadn’t said what was wrong, only that it was a problem the princess had to help with. Before Twilight had been able to weigh in on the situation, Fluttershy had turned to look out a window of the palace, trembled, and grabbed Twilight before she could protest. 

Twilight wasn’t used to seeing this much energy coming from Fluttershy. So, whatever was wrong with her must have been extremely important. After zooming over a small lake, Fluttershy’s hand slipped from her own, leaving Twilight to flap her wings frantically to make up for the lost velocity. The loss was so great that Fluttershy had actually arrived at Rainbow Dash’s front door long before Twilight did! She had opened the door and was ushering Twilight inside before she had even landed on the clouds.

“In here!” Fluttershy urged. Her hands trembled in fear as she looked frantically around the door, waving for Twilight to follow. 

Heaving as her lungs threatened to constrict her from unwilling exertion, Twilight shook and stepped forward into the cloud building. Still breathing heavily, she looked around at the entrance. Nopony was there. Rainbow Dash lived alone, so that was to be expected. But what wasn’t expected was the state that the living room was in.

All of the furniture had been tossed over, as if something strong was fighting with something else just as strong. There even looked to be a large hole punched in the far wall, though it was hard to tell with everything being made of cloud. Regardless, some massive level of destruction had befallen the normally semi-organized home. 

Already Twilight was pondering this. Was this a parasprite infestation? No, she’d taken precautions with spells to prevent that! There didn’t seem to be any magic at work in the house either, or at least nothing that would equate to this level of destruction. The more she looked, it seemed far more like Dash had been fistfighting with somepony else, explaining the punches in the wall and overturned furniture. 

Fluttershy kept leading her upstairs and down the hall before she could make a conclusion, straight towards Rainbow Dash’s bedroom. The two arrived at the closed door, with a small hint of light spilling from under it. 

“I, I hadn’t heard from Dash for too long,” Fluttershy explained, “So, I came up here to check on her. The house was like this when I got here... and, and then when I went up to her room I saw…I saw…” She was at a loss for words. She didn’t know how to describe what she had seen, which only made Twilight more nervous, “All I knew was that you were the only one in Ponyville who could help Dash!”

Fluttershy put her hand on the doorknob, then looked at Twilight for confirmation. Twilight nodded, despite her hands starting to tremble alongside her friend’s. Her fingers were already starting to curl up into her palms. Nodding her head once more to affirm herself, it was enough for Fluttershy to swing the door open.

Like before, Twilight had been attempting to piece together whatever sort of puzzle Fluttershy had laid out for her. Twilight had always been an analytical thinker, and as such she wanted to try and think of a potential solution before they even reached the bedroom. What she saw inside, however, added a massive observation that threw off any and all her previous reasonings.

Inside, Rainbow Dash instantly came into sight. She was sitting on her bed with her legs curled up tightly towards her body. She was looking down directly at the bed, as if trying to avoid making eye contact with the entire world. The room itself was in an even worse state than the living room. There were multiple dents on the walls, while clothes and shelves were thrown everywhere. It looked like the epicenter of the battle Twilight had theorized had taken place inside of the room.

“What in Celestia?” Twilight gasped as she beheld the state of the room, “Rainbow, what’s going on!?”

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash groaned in a low tone in response to Twilight. Her usual scratchy voice was hoarse and dull. She didn’t look up at either of them. 

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said, meekly yet at the same time full of concern. “I.. brought Twilight. She can help you! She can…”

“I told you to leave me alone!” The agitated technicolor-haired mare suddenly shouted, looking up to face Fluttershy, eyes full of anger. They were bloodshot, likely due to some sort of lack of sleep.

Quickly gathering up her nerves,Twilight took a deep breath and held out her hand, slowly approaching her.  “Rainbow Dash…” She had no idea what was going on right now, but she could tell something was seriously wrong. It was her job to be the authority figure and the source of inspiration here, “Just calm down. Fluttershy brought me here to help. What’s going on?”

“Go away!” Rainbow Dash shouted again, this time directed at Twilight. She tried to muster up as much anger and intimidation as she could in her fatigued state, “If you don’t go away, I’m going to hurt you!”

“It’s going to be ok,” Twilight assured Rainbow Dash, ever so slowly walking closer. Her friend was clearly under stress. It was like she had read about wild animals; staying calm and moving slowly was the best approach, “I’m sure whatever is wrong, we’ll be able to work through it together…”

“I SAID GO AWAY!” Dash shouted even louder this time. The mare outstretched her fist at Twilight in an attempt to frighten her into backing off.

Yet this was much more than a simple punch. In addition to Rainbow Dash’s fist, something else launched itself at Twilight. It looked like another arm, but it was much larger and bulkier than Rainbow Dash’s own. It looked like it was made of a dark blue metal, with a lighter blue colored glove on. Then again, the fist flew so fast, Twilight had no time to either react or analyze what the thing was.

Since it was much larger than Rainbow Dash’s own arm, this new one made contact with Twilight with the full force of the punch she had intended to be nothing but hot air. The blow hit Twilight square in the chest, knocking her off her feet and launching her back against the opposite wall with a loud crash. Twilight flew back so fast Fluttershy barely saw the streak of purple that shot past her.

With another hole added to the already destroyed bedroom, Twilight laid dazed within the broken cloudwall. Seeing this, Fluttershy gasped and ran to Twilight.

“You see?!” Dash shouted, instantly retracting her arm and holding it close to her body in an attempt to protect the outside word from it. “Something’s inside of me! And it’s hurting everypony! Go away before I hurt you anymore!”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy cried out in concern, kneeling by her side. She intended to to check her friend for injuries and help her to her feet. But Twilight stood up on her own before Fluttershy even got to her.

“Stand back Fluttershy,” Twilight said, breath heavy as she resumed slowly walking towards Rainbow Dash and pushing Fluttershy gently away. “I now know exactly what’s going on. And you were right, I am the only one who can deal with it.” She glared directly at Rainbow Dash.

The mare had shrunken back into her bed, still cradling her arm and looking at the two of them with a slightly crazed expression, “What is wrong with two?! Don’t you get it! Leave! If you don’t, whatever is inside me is going to hurt you guys!”

“Rainbow Dash! I know exactly what that something that’s inside of you is!” Twilight lowered her gaze to Dash’s arm, “And, it’s that there’s nothing inside of you! It’s a magic that’s existed since ancient times. A magic not exclusive to just unicorns. This magic, a manifestation of one’s very soul, a guardian spirit that protects one from danger!” She pointed right at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash! You have developed a Stand!”

Rainbow Dash flinched and at that exact moment, another entity appeared directly in front of her. It took a humanoid form, a few inches taller than Fluttershy, who was the tallest in the room. Its body had the appearance of being completely mechanical, like it was made from steel plating. Where its knees and elbows should have been were screw-looking joints.The being seemed to lord over the three mares, staring down at them.

To the left side of its chest was a dark blue outline of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, looking as if it were pinned on like an air force badge. Its ‘eyes’ were made from pilot goggles, with the lenses a shade lighter than the rest of its body. Over its face was an old-fashioned flight mask with tubes attaching to the back of its head. It was completely bald. Sprouting from its back were two fighter-jet like wings with engines on the center and tips. From Dash’s point of view, she could see small divots in its back.

Twilight did not move in inch at the sudden appearance of the new figure, “Fluttershy,” She said, not breaking eye contact with Dash. “I know you don’t know what’s going on. I think it would be best for you to leave. If I can’t calm Rainbow Dash down, there’s no telling what could happen.”

Fluttershy got back up to her feet. Rather than run, however, Fluttershy shook her head and stood firm a few feet behind Twilight. Twilight gave her a hard look, but rather than making an action to remove her, she instead turned back to Dash, “Well then, so be it. Rainbow Dash! That thing in front of you is your Stand! It’s not dangerous unless you make it that way!”

“What are you talking about?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, glaring angrily at Twilight. “You saw how it punched you! It trashed my house! It’s dangerous!”

“It only attacked me because you were scared Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said with conviction. “If you calm down, it won’t sense that you’re in danger and try to defend you.”

“I AM CALM!” Dash growled, clearly not calm. “I’M AS CALM AS I CAN BE WITH THIS THING IN ME AND HURTING MY FRIENDS!” At the same time as the little outburst, the Stand tightened its pose, looking ready to strike the first thing that came near Rainbow Dash.

“This is bad,” Twilight muttered to herself, analyzing the Stand in front of her eyes, “Rainbow Dash is scared and confused. And since doesn’t fully understand how to control her Stand... this could end up with somepony getting hurt.” Twilight looked down at her feet to try and think of a potential solution, but only one seemed to present itself, “I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to subdue her until she calms down. And the only way to fight a Stand, is with another Stand!” Twilight drew her right hand over her chest and held her fingers as if she was holding a pen inside of them.

Just as she assumed this stance, a quill appeared in her hand. At the same time, a cloaked figure appeared in the air behind Twilight. Its cloak covered its entire body and was a dark purple color, the same shade as Twilight’s hair. Its hood was the same shade of purple, save for the section covering its face, which was a dark red with a single slit where one’s eyes. On the back of the cloak was a large depiction of Twilight’s cutie mark. It was nearly twice Twilight’s size, and holding a proportionate quill in its hand, in the same position that Twilight held hers.

A loud gasp came from Rainbow Dash as she went wide eyed. Her Stand stepped back slightly, mimicking her shock. “W-what the heck is that?!” She cried.

“This,” Twilight declared, “Is my Stand: Night Wish! I’m the same as you, Rainbow Dash. Just like your Stand, Night Wish is a manifestation of my own soul. It’ll only attack if I make it attack. Your Stand will do the same. You just need to calm down, and everything will be alright.”

Rainbow Dash stared at strange phantom-like creature that had seemingly appeared at of nowhere. The mare stared at it before she growled, “You know what?” Rainbow Dash said, finally standing up from the bed on shaky legs, “I have no idea what’s going on, or just what you’re talking about Twilight, but it’s really pissing me off!”

As she shouted, her Stand launched another punch at Twilight. It did this without moving from where it was however, so the fist stopped just short of Twilight’s face. Despite this, she felt an enormous gust of wind blown her way. The fist seemed to move almost instantaneously.

“It’s just as I thought,” Twilight murmured again to herself, “She hasn’t slept in days, making her both confused and scared. I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but this is for your own good.” Twilight brandished her quill and swished it through the air like she was making large strokes on a paper. Night Wish’s quill traced these motions perfectly. As they did so, black ink floated out from under Night Wish’s cloak, forming a large blob in front of Twilight.

“Rainbow Dash! I’m not going to hurt you; I’m just going to restrain you!” She made a sharp slash with her quill and the ink suddenly started flying in a thin stream in the direction she slashed. Twilight’s quill seemed to guide the ink like a conductor’s wand, weaving it elegantly through the medium. Twilight made swift motions with her wrist, causing the ink to loop around Rainbow Dash’s Stand. She started swirling the quill around, circles getting smaller. The ring of ink, in turn got smaller and tightened on the other Stand.

“Now,” Twilight shouted, “SOLIDIFY!” With one more slash from her quill, the ink seemed to lose its liquid properties. Instead, it seemed to become solid. Rainbow Dash’s stand was bound with the ring of solid ink around its waist, squeezing it and holding its arms in place as well. Similarly, Rainbow Dash herself looked like she was bound in the same manner.

“W-wha?” Rainbow Dash started struggling along with her Stand, trying to break whatever was holding her in place, “What the heck is going on?! Why can’t I move?!”

“As I said earlier, Dash, your Stand is a manifestation of your very soul,” Twilight repeated. “Whatever it feels, you feel. Any damage it takes, you take. And likewise, if it’s bound, so are you!” Twilight started moving her quill again, and more ink came from under Night Wish. More rings formed around the Stand and solidified again. Now the entirety of the Stand’s torso was bound, making it near impossible for neither the Stand, nor its master, to move their arms.

The sudden increase in bondage didn’t stop them from trying however. This made Twilight frown deeply, “Stop it Rainbow Dash.” Twilight ordered, crossing her arms. “You need to calm down, and Night Wish’s ink is as strong as well forged steel when it solidifies. You won’t be able to break out of-”

Just as Twilight was about to finish her sentence, she was proven wrong. Rainbow Dash’s Stand moved its arms apart in one fast motion, breaking free of the ink and causing it to shatter into pieces. Twilight gasped and frantically started to swish her quill, liquefying the ink, and gathering it together in a frantic attempt to counter this new development.

In that time, Rainbow Dash charged forward. Her Stand flew forward with her, arm raised to punch Twilight directly. Twilight was attempting to make a solid wall of ink between her and the fist, but she could not outmatch its speed. All Twilight could do was watch the metallic fist fly towards her faster than her eye could fully track.

However, the fist once again stopped just short of Twilight’s face. She had closed her eyes to brace for the impact, but when Twilight opened them, Rainbow Dash had collapsed from exhaustion, finally passing after what seemed like an eternity of staying awake. Her Stand had thankfully disappeared as soon as she passed out.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and made her own Stand disappear. Night Wish bowed its head and suddenly winked from existence, almost as though it had never been there in the first place. The only evidence of it had ever being there was the quill Twilight held, which likewise disappeared soon after.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy shouted in concern, running towards her and bending over to check on her, “Oh, Dash, oh… oh...She’s just passed out,” She said in relief.

“It’s no wonder,” Twilight observed. “I’m sorry Fluttershy, I know that was extremely confusing for you. Using a Stand is no different from normal magic. It expends energy just the same as anything else. In the state, she was in, I’m surprised she could have stayed awake for that long.” Outwardly, she seemed calm and collected. But on the inside, Twilight’s heart was racing a million miles per minute. Had that fight gone on for any longer, there was no telling what state she would have been left in.

“Here, help me pick Dash up,” Twilight moved to take Dash’s right arm, “Let’s get her to the palace so we can keep an eye on her.”

~~~

Twilight and Fluttershy had brought Rainbow Dash back to the palace, where the exhausted mare had spent the rest of the day and night sleeping. Through this, Twilight and Fluttershy stayed by her side and watched her rest, Twilight seemingly studying her sleeping form while Fluttershy attended to her. Fluttershy had wrapped bandages around Dash’s forearms, where the skin had been abraised after using her Stand to break out of Nightwish’s inky trap. After hours of attending and observing, both mares seemed almost entirely exhausted by the time Dash decided to return to the land of the living.

Dash woke up around noon the next day in one of the many unorganized guest rooms that Twilight’s labyrinth of a palace held. Twilight wasn’t in the room, and Fluttershy quickly had Dash eat a large meal to restore her strength. Then, after being nearly forced by both of her friends to take a shower, the three of them met in Twilight’s throne room to discuss what had happened.

The glimmering smooth surface of the expansive Equestrian magical map reflected the confused state that the three seemed to be in. Rainbow Dash sat opposite her friends in her own seat, while Twilight and Fluttershy took opposite seats so as to look her in the eyes as they spoke. Nobody said a word for a few moments, Twilight lost in thought over the situation; Fluttershy too timid to speak up; and Rainbow Dash far too confused to make light of the situation.

Finally, the blue winged pegasus broke the silence, “So let me get this straight,” Rainbow Dash began, “This... Stand thing, it’s, basically just me? Something I can use whenever I want?”

“With enough practice,” Twilight quickly corrected, “But yes, it’s an extension of yourself, like a limb. And only you and other Stand Users would be able to see it. That’s why everything was so confusing for Fluttershy.”

“Uhm, it wasn’t, all that confusing…” Fluttershy whispered, but Dash’s next words drowned her feeble voice out, “You two kinda shouted or muttered everything you were doing…”

“And,” Dash rasped, “What was with the weird way you were talking back there, Twilight?” 

It took Twilight a few seconds to realize what Dash was referring to. Her cheeks erupted bright red in response, “W-Well, I was being direct, firm and calm! Just like you handle a nervous patient! O-Or so I’ve heard…”

Dash paused, “Well.. then… AWESOME! ” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her disposition on the subject having changed completely from the previous encounter, “This is pretty cool! I have my own personal fighting ghost! But, uh, why did I get one? Did you have anything to do with it?” She shot an accusing look at Twilight.

“No, no, no!” Twilight immediately defended herself, “I don’t think I could have done that even if I wanted to! From what I’ve researched, Stands are something you’re either born with, or are born with the potential to have one. If it’s the latter, then it would take a lot of training and discipline to bring it out. That was the case with me,” In an instant, she made Night Wish and her quill appear behind her and in her hand, respectively. Just as fast, they both disappeared, “I mean, there are ways of forcing you to develop one if you can, but,” She paused. “No one has shot you or your parents with an arrow lately, have they?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what?”

Twilight just shook her head. “Never mind, that’s obviously not the case.” She looked off to the side, lost in thought, “I don’t know what this means, but it can’t be a good sign. Stands aren’t supposed to just appear randomly like this. Plus you developed one without any prior knowledge of what a Stand even is. I’m going to have to look into this.”

“Uh, hey, earth to Twilight!” Rainbow Dash huffed as she sat back, “You’re doing that weird muttering thing again.”

Twilight blinked in surprise and blushed in embarrassment, “Ah, sorry, I’m trying to get over that!” She looked back at Rainbow Dash, “E-Either way, you have your Stand now, and there’s no changing this. So, it’s only proper you give it a name. Something with meaning.”

Rainbow Dash looked down and thought hard. With meaning? She was cool, so, whatever exactly this Stand was, it was only natural that it was as cool as her. So, it needed to be named something cool. She searched her mind for the coolest names she could think of.

Rainbow Dash scowled, pondering this. Just like her. So it had be something awesome, or otherwise, that wouldn't be like her. She was awesome. Then, it struck her. The coolest, most powerful line she had ever read in a Daring Do book. The one line that stuck with her and still sent shivers down her spine every time she read it:

The moon had just crossed the temple’s peak, it’s white tendrils creeping over the hardened stone. Daring shouted in anguish as she dragged herself up another foot, gasping with effort as she knew it was time. The world would end, everything would turn into dust, and all in-

“2 Minutes to Midnight.” Rainbow Dash announced with a confident grin.

Hearing the name, Twilight’s eyes flashed with recognition. She gave Dash a long look before she sighed, “Well… that definitely does seem to fit your stand.”

Rainbow snickered and leaned back in her throne, “Well of course it does, I’m the one who named it!”
> Rule of Nature
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three days had passed since Rainbow Dash had acquired her Stand. In this time, both her and Twilight had been learning things about said Stand. Twilight was able to give her some training with it, which allowed Dash to be able to call 2 Minutes to Midnight out whenever she wanted. At first, this seemed promising, with Dash seeming to master control of the basics.

After a few hours of training, however, this turned out not to be the case. As time went on, Rainbow Dash discovered that the major problem with her Stand was she couldn’t get it to do just about anything else. It would move its limbs at her command, but it wouldn’t move more than a few feet away from her.

“It’s obvious that your 2 Minutes to Midnight is a close-ranged type Stand,” Twilight had explained to her, “Stands like that are unable to move very far from their user. To compensate, these Stands also tend to have the most destructive power inside of them. Put this against my Night Wish, which is a medium-ranged type. Sure, I can move its ink farther away, but I couldn’t hope to pack the power yours can in a single blow with it.  Though, most short-ranged types I’ve heard of are able to move at least one meter away from their user.”

That was all Dash had been able to get out of the nerd. She had opted to spend the rest of her time studying up on Stands, trying to figure out why Dash had suddenly acquired one. And once Twilight was in study mode, there was no pulling her out of it. Dash was lucky to have been able to get what little tutelage she had.

Twilight’s extensive research, however, had yet to discover why Dash had been able to acquire a Stand with no apparent catalyst. Hours of studying, researching and investigating had come up empty. After a few days of complete failure, she’d even gone as far as to speak to Dash’s parents, without mentioning the Stand specifically of course, but had absolutely no leads as to this strange occurrence.

This meant that Dash would mostly have to rely on herself for to become the best with this Stand. Just like she had to with everything else. She was used to this, so it wouldn’t be much of a change for her. Still, Rainbow Dash felt that she had come a long way since she had first started training to become a professional Wonderbolt. She had friends, friends who wouldn’t hesitate to help her. Or so she thought, because she seemed to be right back to where she was before.

It had been a solid week since Rainbow Dash had actually been into town. The three days after she recovered she mostly spent bumming at Twilight’s palace because she didn’t want to go back to her house and start fixing the damages she had 2 Minutes to Midnight cause in her panic.  Cleaning was not cool, and a hassle at that. Now that she was faced with the dilemma of trying to figure out how to master her Stand on her own, Rainbow Dash felt like a walk through town to nowhere in particular was just what she needed.

Dash walked with her head held high and hands in her pockets, like she normally did. Even though it felt like forever since she had last seen it, Ponyville didn’t seem to have changed at all. And, for the most part, nobody seemed to have noticed her absence. A few of her coworkers asked if she had been sick, but that was about it. The mare spent most of time napping or training after all, so her absence wasn’t anything totally out of the norm. And that all suited Rainbow Dash just fine because she didn’t really know how to explain what had happened to her if she was asked.

At first, Rainbow Dash’s walk went rather well for her. It was quiet and relaxing. It felt good to finally get some exercise again after spending so many hours each day simply staring at her Stand and willing it do something, and to no avail at that. She minded her own business for the most part, simply looking around and seeing if she wanted to stop anywhere for lunch. Everything seemed normal, until she saw him out of the corner of her eye.

While she wasn’t exactly sure what it was, Rainbow Dash knew that there was something about that stallion she didn’t like. Something about him made him stand out from the rest of the crowd he was in. Maybe it was the way he walked, like he was so full of himself. Maybe it was because how he was dressed could be described as nothing short of a sleaze ball. Maybe it was just something about his face. Either way, Rainbow Dash did not like that stallion.

For these reasons, she chose to focus on him, seemingly studying him to try and pinpoint exactly what she didn’t like. For the first few minutes, there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, minus his appearance. He was walking like her, simply minding his own business. Yet it was because she was focusing on him that Rainbow Dash was able to notice what he did next.

The sleazy looking guy kept walking like he normally did, like the entire world was just an ant beneath him. He kept on looking forward, not at anypony else directly. But, as he passed a mare with a low hanging purse, something came out of his body. 

It looked like a purple claw,  seemingly translucent. The claw went right through the mare's purse and pulled out a wallet, which it put into the stallion’s pocket. The entire time, the stallion kept walking along, not even looking at the claw or the mare he was robbing. Both of them walked past each other like nothing had happened.

Rainbow Dash had to stop dead in her tracks at what she had just witnessed. That stallion was a pegasus like her, not a magic user. There were way too many ponies for that claw to have gone unnoticed if it were visible. And the look on that stallion’s face was just smug enough for Dash to know that he was aware that it had happened. There was no mistaking it. That stallion had a Stand just like her! He had a Stand that he had just used to rob that poor mare of her money in a way that she would be none the wiser until he was long gone.

This got Dash’s blood boiling to dangerous levels. That just wasn’t right. Twilight had told her only Stand Users could see Stands. Which meant even if the mare had noticed her wallet gone, she would have had no clue as to what had taken it. That was simply not cool. She couldn’t just let him get away with that. She wouldn’t let him get away with it.

So, her relaxing walk ended right then and there. All rationale and common sense was thrown out the window at that point. Rainbow Dash crossed the street and started tailing the guy from behind. She only had one singular goal in mind now: to teach this creep a lesson.

Said creep must have picked up on Dash, for he seemingly altered his course. He took a sudden turn and walked over a bridge into the park. The park was much less crowded than the streets, but still had a fair number of ponies. The guy just kept on walking, to a spot that was partially hidden by some trees. Dash, against any better judgement, went around the trees to face him.

“Yes, may I help you?” The dirt bag asked as soon as Dash rounded the corner. He had turned around to face her, revealing his 5 o’clock shadow and deeply chiseled features. His hands were in his pocket and he held the confident, irritating, smug grin on his face. “You’ve obviously taken an interest in me sweetie.”

“I saw what you did,” Rainbow Dash stated bluntly. “Back on the streets a few minutes ago, I saw it.”

“I’m sorry?” The stranger asked in a tone that was obvious that he was feigning ignorance and innocence. This only served to further Dash’s fury, which was already climbing to dangerously high levels, “I’ve been doing nothing but minding my own business this whole time. You must have me mistaken with somepony else; there are an unusually large amount of ponies on the streets today.”

“Quit being such a smug asshole!” Rainbow Dash shouted, stamping her foot, “I saw you use your Stand to steal that mare’s money!”

“You saw…my... Stand?” While he still had his irritatingly smug grin on his face, the stranger looked rather surprised. “Well would you look at that. I never knew that there was another Stand User in this town.” 

“Well, yeah!” Dash growled, “You’re not as clever as you think you are! Now give me that wallet!” 

“Really? Would that make you a thief too?” The stallion grinned, “Though I suppose if you already know I have one, there’s no use in hiding it.” Bringing his left hand up, he snapped his fingers, calling out his Stand.

Now that she was able to get a clear look at it, Rainbow Dash could tell that the claw she saw wasn’t a claw at all. Rather, it was a purple claw-like gauntlet. It had huge bushes of white fur on the wrists, covering bare yellow arms. The Stand’s slender body was wearing what looked like some purple vest and tights over its otherwise dark yellow body. A purple hood, resembling some sort of large feline rested over its head with fangs so long that it obscured its eyes when looked at from the front. Dash, however, could tell there were all sorts of purple tribal markings on its face.

“My name is Basil Leaf,” The stallion declared as his Stand stood menacingly behind him. “And this is my Stand, Death Leopard!”

In response, Rainbow Dash made 2 Minutes to Midnight appear in front of her. That was something else she noticed: 2 Minutes to Midnight would only appear in front of her while the only other two Stands she’s seen both appeared behind their masters. Add that to the list of things that were apparently unusual about her Stand.

“So if you know that I have a Stand,” Basil started to explain as Death Leopard crossed its arms. “Then you know why I took that hag’s money.” Death Leopard took the wallet out of Basil’s pocket and tossed it in the air tauntingly.

“Like hell I do!” Dash growled in anger, “You have something amazing in you! And you use it to steal from other people?”

“Exactly!” Basil exclaimed. “You and I, we’ve been given a gift. We’ve been given a gift that makes me above the common crowd. We’re the strong, and they’re the weak. It’s only natural that we prey on them. If we have the power, why don’t we use it? The powerful will always take from the meek. It’s only natural. It’s the law of the world.”

That was Dash’s breaking point. Everything he had said made her teem with anger. Everything about him, everything he did and every one of his qualities, everything only seemed to exist to make her filled with more rage. Even worse, Basil was lumping her in with his scummy ways. Everything he said was the exact opposite of what she thought. Being compared to him, it only made Dash have one desire at that point: to punch Basil square in the face as hard as she could.

Nothing was stopping Dash from acting on these feelings either. So, that’s exactly what she did. She burst in a sprint from where she was standing,  her fist raised high, gearing for a punch and growling loudly the entire time. Since 2 Minutes to Midnight couldn’t move far from where Rainbow Dash was, it moved along with her. Likewise, it also had its arm raised, mimicking its master.

Basil did not seem intimidated in the slightest. In fact, he only seemed to grin more and grow even more cockier than he already was. Death Leopard circled around from behind him and stood directly between him and Dash. Immediately afterwards, it used both of its claw gauntlets to slash downwards. At first, Rainbow Dash was confused by this move. There was large and clear gap between where the Stand slashed and where Dash was currently. It was like it wasn’t even trying to hit her.

That, Rainbow Dash discovered, was completely correct.

Claw marks had been left in the air where Death Leopard had slashed. It looked like space itself had been torn open by the Stand’s gauntlets. Inside of the gash was an aura of multiple different colors. Rainbow Dash didn’t have enough time to react to this new development. She ran straight into the tear with 2 Minutes to Midnight in tow.

Immediately afterwards, Basil Leaf was gone. Everything was the same, except Basil, his Stand, and the tear it had made were all gone. No, that wasn’t correct. The trees behind him, they had grown bigger. No, they had grown closer. Rainbow Dash turned around as fast as she could, to see Basil standing there. He was looking over his shoulder with an arrogantly amused grin on his face.

“W-What the?!” Dash stuttered in surprise as she skidded to a halt and pivoted a full one hundred eighty degrees. The entire time, 2 Minutes to Midnight was staying alongside her, mimicking her movements. Her face was of shock and confusion.

“Hmmmp,” Basil laughed. “Are you impressed with Death Leopard’s powers? Using the claws on its gauntlet, it is able to tear through the very fabric of space, forcing its way through to another location. It’s how I was able to so easily steal that mare’s money. It’s what separates me from the rest of the common crowd.”

While it was making her even angrier, Rainbow Dash wasn’t focused on Basil’s self-indulgence. The second she turned around, one question was burning in her mind: where did Death Leopard go? It wasn’t until a second later when she felt a heavy pain in her spine and was knocked off of her feet did Rainbow Dash get the answer to this question.

It felt as if she was hit in the back by a metal pole. Which, given her frequent crashes during training, she knew very well.  As she flew from her feet in pain, she looked to the side where 2 Minutes to Midnight was. She saw Death Leopard, a tear in space, and the Stand’s legs making contact with the back of her Stand’s spine. But Dash felt like it had done that to her instead.

Suddenly, she remembered one of Twilight’s rants: “Remember, whatever happens to your Stand is reflected upon you. So if another Stand were to, say, stab your Stand, the feeling and injury will be transferred onto you as well.” Twilight was telling the truth when she said whatever the Stand felt, she did too.

Intense waves of searing pain coursed through her body, causing Rainbow Dash to fall to her hands and knees. She grabbed handfuls of grass and gritted her teeth hard as her entire torso surged with brute pain. As much as it pained her to, she looked up at Basil Leaf, who was standing right above her now. And of course, his arrogant self was just eating up all of this.

“Do you see?” He taunted as Death Leopard floated down next to him with its arms crossed. “This is what I was talking about. The strong and worthy will forever rule over the meek because they can! I’m strong and you’re not. So, I can do this!” He used the toe of his shoes to deliver a swift and hard kick right to Dash’s face. The already down mare recoiled back onto her hindquarters. 2 Minutes to Midnight flew in front of her and tried to punch him in defense, but the disgustingly short limits of its range showed as Basil was easily able to jump backwards.

“In fact,” Basil mocked as he spread his wings. “You’re so pathetic that you’re not even worth any more of my time!” He took off into the sky, Death Leopard still looking down at her while he slowly flew out of view before it disappeared from the world.

With a groan, Rainbow Dash stood up and wiped away the blood that was leaking from her nose. She looked up at the ever-shrinking form of Basil Leaf. Despite the fact that her blistering hot fury screamed at her to chase after him and not let him get away with any of what he’s done, Rainbow Dash’s body screamed with an even louder pain that made even moving her own wings hurt. Rage boiled up inside of her like a volcano, just moments before erupting. Since she couldn’t catch Basil, Dash was forced to unleash all of this anger upon 2 Minutes to Midnight.

“You’re completely useless!” The athlete in pain screamed at her Stand. “You can’t move anywhere; you can’t do anything! You practically just let him beat me up!” 2 Minutes to Midnight offered nothing in response. It was not sentient, after all.

“Gah!” She screamed, nearly pulling her hair out. “Go after him! Do something!” Dash pointed up towards the air, where Basil was nearly out of sight. 2 Minutes to Midnight’s only response was to turn around and look up where she was pointing.

“That’s it!” Rainbow Dash screamed in anger. “You know what, if you won’t go anywhere without me…” Dash doubled over in pain as she tried to sit up. This, however, made her turn to stare at her Stand’s back.

It was at this moment, however, that she noticed something she had previously dismissed. She saw that platform on the Stand’s back. It looked like it was made for someone to ride on. Twilight had said that her Stand was made to fight in close range… so if she could ride it, that would negate that little problem, right?

In frustration, she forced her aching body to leap into the air and onto the platform. It was just wide enough for her to kneel on it comfortably. The handle bars seemed to be made for her. She gripped onto them tightly. yelling, “Then I’m going to go with you!”

At that exact moment. Something clicked inside Rainbow Dash. She suddenly had a deeper understanding. A realization struck her hard. It was as if, everything about 2 Minutes to Midnight suddenly made sense. It wouldn’t go anywhere without her, because it was made for her to ride it. It wouldn’t move away from her, because it wasn’t made to!

2 Minutes to Midnight understood too. Its stance changed completely. The Stand crouched its legs and squared its hips, staring directly at Basil Leaf. For a second, Rainbow Dash thought she heard the sound of a jet engine starting to fire up. That second was all she had to ponder what the source of the sound was, however, because the following one was when 2 Minutes to Midnight lifted off the ground at the speed of a jet.

In the first second, Rainbow Dash’s mind told her that she should have been holding on to those handlebars as tight as she could to keep from falling off. It told her that she should have been bracing her body for the g-force that was being put against it, that she should close her eyes to protect them from the high-speed winds that would be blowing against them.

In the second second, Rainbow Dash realized that none of this was the case. It was clear that 2 Minutes to Midnight was moving at what could only be described as the highest speed Dash herself had ever reached. But, it didn’t feel like that at all. It felt like she was in a bubble that shielded her from the outside forces. She didn’t feel like she could fall off of her Stand at all. In addition, despite the high speeds she was moving at, Rainbow Dash was completely aware of all of her surroundings, as if she had been studying them for hours.

In the third second, Rainbow Dash passed Basil Leaf. Instantly, Dash knew she needed to stop. In that same instant, 2 Minutes to Midnight halted immediately where it was. Again, Rainbow Dash felt no recoil at all. It was like she and her Stand were one, and yet neither of them were bound by earthly limitations.

Her Stand turned around so both of them could face Basil, who had summoned his own Stand once more. The look on his face could only be described as disbelief. He quickly looked from Dash to the spot she was standing in only three seconds ago. His brain was struggling to comprehend the speeds Dash had to have moved at to accomplish a feat like that.

“This is your only warning,” Rainbow Dash declared with confidence, ceasing this moment of confusion and using it to her advantage. “Give back that money you stole. If you don’t, I’m going to make you regret it.” 2 Minutes to Midnight pounded its right fist into its left palm.

“Are you seriously making orders of me?” Basil smirked with amusement. “You think that just because you’ve decided to ride that thing that you’re in any position to tell me what to do? You’re even more pathetic than I thought! An ant will never cease being an ant, and a giant will never cease being a giant. I’m the giant, and you’re a mere ant compared to me!”

Rainbow Dash offered nothing in response. She had given him his warning, and he chose to ignore it. In less than a second, 2 Minutes to Midnight took off from where it was at the same speed as before. It flew outwards and made a wide circle around in order to charge Basil from his left side.

When Dash and her Stand were less than two seconds of flight away from Basil, Death Leopard flew between them, instantly creating a large gash in space. Basil had timed this so that Dash would have no time to react, making flying into the hole unavoidable. The pulsing rip in space grew as the two approached it.

However, as she had discovered before, Rainbow Dash had heightened perception when her Stand was moving at high speeds. Her mind was able to register every movement Death Leopard made. She saw the hole in space form as it was being ripped open. She had already figured out what to do by the time it was halfway completed. It was as though she was faster than time itself.

Mere inches away from the portal, 2 Minutes to Midnight suddenly jumped in the opposite direction. It had appeared as if it had pushed off of a wall made of solid air. It made a small circle around said invisible wall and delivered a punch right to Death Leopard’s head with all the force of its speed. In an amount of time time too short for either Basil or Death Leopard to even react to, the two of them were launched backwards in the air at high speeds, reeling in the pain from Rainbow Dash’s blow.

After flying backwards for at least twenty feet, Basil finally flared his wings opened and stopped himself. Death Leopard flew backwards behind him and stopped likewise.

The seemingly smug look in Basil’s face seemed to vanish as he glared at the two still flying through the air. He opened his mouth to sputter obscenities at the two, but Dash had already sped forward on 2 Minutes to Midnight to intercept them.

Basil turned his head to the right and flew in that direction, pulling Death Leopard along with him. The Stand’s large gauntlets flared and tore large rips in space, filling the air with obstacles as the two sped towards them. The pair flew in a large circle, ripping tiny holes in space to try and deter the flying pair.

Dash, however, seemed to know where the rips would be before they appeared. Her mind was a heads-up display, constantly flashing and alerting her while her brain processed it in milliseconds. Dash’s hands tightened on the flying Stand and she quickly drove the Stand upwards into the sky, flying above Basil.

Death Leopard’s tribal markings flared a deep purple as the Stand turned, extending its gauntlets and slashing in small circles. Basil quickly retreated towards Death Leopard, flapping close to it. The Stand seemed to have created a pulsing ring of ripped space around it, shielding it from attack.

Seeing this development, Dash’s hands only tightened harder around 2 Minutes to Midnight. The mare spun her Stand hard towards the pair from above. For a moment, it seemed as though the two of them would be able to attack Death Leopard from above.

Basil, however, looked up just in time to see the two speeding fast towards them. Snarling, he turned to Death Leopard, who reached up with its gauntlets and ripped a massive tear above them. At the same time, the ring around the two of them disappeared.

Dash blinked as she saw this, but it was too late for even her enhanced perception to catch. She quickly pulled up on 2 Minutes to Midnight, trying to halt their descent. Yet the two entered into the rip before they were able to fully slow down.

To her surprise, Dash suddenly found them right in front of Basil and Death Leopard. The two were still slowing down, as though they’d simply gone through a portal, meaning that they were now decelerating right at them. Dash saw a wicked grin on Basil’s face before Leopard drew its fist back, aiming directly at 2 Minutes to Midnight’s face.

With Dash’s focus broken, 2 Minutes to Midnight defaulted to its prime instinct: protect its master. The Stand veered off hard to the right, barely dodging the massive punch from Death Leopard. This, however, only served to disrupt Dash further, giving Basil enough time to have his Stand summon yet another rip in front of them.

Without her heightened perception or focus, Dash was unable to steer away from it. This time, the two were transported to directly underneath Death Leopard, who quickly reached down and delivered a hard blow to Dash’s back with its gauntlets. Bright red flashed in Dash’s vision as pain coursed down her already sore back, distorting her again and making her almost make 2 Minutes to Midnight vanish.

With his ever present grin, Basil let out a small laugh, “You’re fast, I can give you that. I have to say, you’ve surprised me! That little trick you’re doing with your super speed is neat. But being fast is nothing when you can be smart!”

Pointing down at the stunned duo, Basil willed Death Leopard to grip onto the neck of 2 Minutes to Midnight. At the same time, Dash’s airway became constricted as the pain of being choked formed over her neck. Dash raised one hand up to claw at her neck instinctively, but there was nothing there to pull off. The two were lifted up into the air, 2 Minutes to Midnight likewise reaching up to mimic Dash’s struggling.

Having Death Leopard drag Dash’s face up close to his own, Basil leaned forward, “I’ll tell you what. I’m feeling nice today, maybe because I met another Stand User who entertained me for more than a minute. So if you simply apologize to me and Death Leopard, then I’ll let you go. I think that sounds fair to me.”

Upon giving his request, Death Leopard tightened its grip on 2 Minutes to Midnight for a moment. Dash’s face went blue as her airway throbbed in pain of being strangled, and yet she couldn’t pry off the invisible hands that were holding it.

As Dash stared into Basil’s eyes, however, the mare felt her rage heating up. Rage that he was trying to make her say she was lesser than him. Rage for the fact he thought she would just apologize to him for protecting the innocent. And most of all, rage that he had the audacity to even speak to her like this.

Suddenly, a thought popped into Dash’s mind. The mare quickly shrugged it off, not letting him know that she’d thought of it.

“Well?” Basil snickered, willing Death Leopard to lighten up just enough for Dash to speak, “What is it going to be? Apologize, or get hurt even more? Just remember, I’m good for either one.”

Huffing, Dash growled before she sputtered out in a hoarse voice, “N-Neither! G-Go to hell!”

With that said, suddenly the propulsion system on 2 Minutes to Midnight activated. As Dash had realized, the Stand worked like a machine that was controlled by her thoughts rather than buttons and levers. And this meant that, once the Stand had let up on her throat, she had just enough focus to have the boosters reactivate.

Death Leopard’s grip was no match for the sudden surge of velocity. 2 Minutes to Midnight soared up into the air at a high speed, breaking free of the grasp. Dash, who still had her feet on the platform, was able to quickly fly up with it, escaping the choking grasp and letting her quickly sputter out a few breaths.

Caught off guard by the sudden move, Basil had completely expected for Dash to surrender to him. Instead, the two were stunned as Dash and her Stand spun about in the air. The two made a wide circle around Basil, keeping him vigilant and unable to retaliate.

While the two flew, however, Dash knew that she couldn't last much longer. Her entire body was throbbing from the pain of being struck twice with the full force of Death Leopard’s strength, and her neck burned from lack of air. If she didn’t think of a way to take these two out fast, then she would soon be on the ground.

There had to be something, some weakness that the Stand had. Everyone on the Wonderbolts had one. Soarin had high stamina but he couldn't bank turns like the rest of them. Fleetfoot had showmanship but lacked stamina. Surprise was easy to adapt but not the fastest flier. Everyone she knew had a flaw, just like how 2 Minutes to Midnight was a close ranged Stand and only worked at short distances.

And so that only begged the question: what was Death Leopard’s flaw?

The moment she took to think, however, gave Basil enough time to recover. His face was now a twisted scowl, and if Dash had to guess, it was all bets were off. Death Leopards’ markings only flared harder as Basil’s teeth grinded against each other.

“I’m going to get you for that you little punk!” Basil shouted, “You’re an ant, and ANT! I’m a giant, and I’ll crush you underneath my heel!”

With that, Death Leopard quickly flew towards the two, opening up a massive tear in front of Dash again. The Stand’s entire strategy seemed to rely on getting them through that one portal. 2 Minutes to Midnight quickly went under it, escaping its grasp. Another tear likewise opened up in front of them, forcing 2 Minutes to Midnight to shoot up this time. Apparently, Death Leopard was fast enough to follow them, but not to attack.

For a moment, Dash didn’t see it. But when she turned around to look at the rips, they were gone. Dash blinked and looked forward, only to see another tear in front of her. She quickly veered off again, escaping it and turning around to look at it. But it was already gone.

“Wait a second…” Dash muttered as the duo continued to escape each tear. The two were flying so fast, Dash wasn’t sure why the Stand wasn’t leaving the tears open. Why would Death Leopard remove the tears if they were still trying to capture them?

That’s it!! Dash shouted as an epiphany shot through her head. She quickly spun to the right to avoid another shot, That thing can only keep one rift open at a time! It has to get rid of the other one before it can place the next!

With this knowledge in hand, Dash quickly sped down and had the two stop within shouting distance of Basil. If what she had realized was right, then she knew how to beat this thing.

“Hey, Basil!” Dash shouted, “You said that you’re a giant right? Well that would explain why you’re so slow!”

His right eye twitching, Basil’s gaze darkened as Death Leopard quickly appeared in front of him, “You little! Forget beating you up, I’m going to MAIM you! Get over here you little brat!”

Her plan already working, Dash quickly spun hard, veering up towards the sky as Basil flew in pursuit. Dash grinned internally as she had 2 Minutes to Midnight spin about and quickly fly in a wide circle around the two at their incredible speed.

Just as she expected, the strange rips appeared in front of them again. Dash quickly steered 2 Minutes to Midnight to the left, towards the center of the circle. Death Leopard responded by opening up yet another rip in front of them again, to which Dash quickly went above.

As the two dodged, Dash willed 2 Minutes to Midnight to speed up. To Basil, the two began to become a blur, spinning fast in a circular motion around him, with him in the epicenter. His anger continued to build as he turned to Death Leopard, who continued to try to rip open space in front of the two again.

Dash smirked as she continued to have the Stand dodge to the left, in effect making the radius of their flight smaller and smaller. With Basil so blinded by rage, just as she figured he would be, he didn’t seem to know or didn’t care. His focus, and likewise Death Leopard’s, was entirely focused on trying to catch the two of them in a rip so he would have the advantage.

The two only continued to fly faster and faster, becoming nothing more than a blur within their flight. Death Leopard opened rifts as fast as it could, but it was no match for the two’s speed. Soon the Stand was resorting to simply ripping open holes at random, simply trying its hardest to even touch them.

When Dash and 2 Minutes to Midnight were flying only about ten feet away from the two of them, Dash knew that this was her chance. She took a moment to brace herself before she willed 2 Minutes to Midnight to fly upward, shooting up towards the sky. At the same moment, Dash herself let go of her Stand, falling off of it towards Basil.

At that moment, Death Leopard opened a rip in front of 2 Minutes to Midnight. However, just as Dash had painfully learned from her training, within seconds of her falling off, 2 Minutes to Midnight went stiff and no longer moved. A moment later, the Stand vanished.

With just how fast the two had been moving, Dash’s descent was extraordinarily fast and unexpected as she flew hard towards Basil. When Basil realized that Dash was now flying towards him, he frantically tried to make Death Leopard open a portal above them to catch her. However, again as Dash predicted, Death Leopard had to seal the rip it had made above them, giving her the few precious seconds she needed to get close to Basil. Her form flew hard towards him, her eyes narrowing as she drew back her fist.

Basil had no time to even come close to blocking as his face took the full force of her punch. Dash let out a yell of anger as her fist connected with his jawline, punching right through his cocky grin.

The force of the blow sent Basil plummeting in pain towards the ground. Dash, in this moment of absence, shut her eyes and summoned 2 Minutes to Midnight back to her. The Stand appeared in front of her, which she finally understood. She grabbed onto the handles again and the two shot down towards the falling Basil.

Basil gasped as he spun about, trying to focus enough to have Death Leopard attack them. Dash, however, gave him no quarter as she let out a scream of rage, just as 2 Minutes to Midnight drew back its fist. Basil’s face went pale as he saw the unavoidable attack.

With all the rage and power that Dash’s Stand had to offer, the fist struck Basil square in the chest. A surge of brutal and agonizing pain coursed through him even as the force of it sent him straight towards the ground, plummeting at such high speeds that it rivalled 2 Minutes to Midnight. The stallion was at the ground before he even realized it.

With a massive THUD, Basil’s body struck the ground, and hard at that. Death Leopard’s form disappeared as the stallion let out a pathetic gasp for air as the wind seemed to have been knocked permanently out of him. The sheer force of impact had sent him at least two inches into the dirt.

As Basil struggled to breathe, Dash landed 2 Minutes to Midnight beside him, stepping off and unsummoning it. As the Stand disappeared, Dash got down on one knee and leaned forward, getting close enough for him to hear her. Basil turned his head feebly with his eyes wide as he stared at her.

“You may be a giant, but you know what I was told at the Wonderbolt Academy? The bigger they are,” Dash reached down into his jacket, taking the wallet from him, “The harder they hit the ground.”

Sputtering, Basil tried to form words, but his body was in so much pain that he quickly devolved into gasping breaths. Taking a moment to breathe, Dash looked at the wallet in her hands, smirking to herself as she realized that she hadn’t just gotten back what she wanted, but she’d learned something else as well.

Sighing, Dash braced her back and turned to the air beside her, which was instantly filled by 2 Minutes to Midnight. Taking a moment to smirk, Dash quickly got on the back of the Stand, looking at the wallet and smiling.

“C’mon, let’s go find who this wallet belongs to!” Dash smirked, “And remind me to have Twilight call an ambulance.”
> Hidden Secret, Flashing Ink
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“…and furthermore, there is no telling what kinds of damage you could have caused to innocent bystanders!” Twilight lectured on as she and Rainbow Dash walked through the Everfree forest together. Her sharp and angry words echoed from the dark and dreary atmosphere that was Everfree. 

Earlier that day, Twilight had found what she had hoped to be a breakthrough in her research on the subject of Stands. To see whether or not it really was genuine information, a trip to the Palace of the Two Sisters was required. Twilight had asked Dash to accompany her. Along the trip, the pegasus told the princess what had happened in the park with Basil Leaf.

Next thing she knew, Dash was getting a twenty-minute-long rant/lecture on why that was probably the most dangerous, irresponsible thing she could have possibly done. Needless to say, Twilight’s opinion on what had transpired vastly differed from Dash’s.

“Geeze Twilight.” Dash sighed as soon as she sensed a break in Twilight’s rant that she could interject into. “I thought you might appreciate knowing that I encountered another Stand User in town.”

“That’s not the point,” Twilight exclaimed. “You used your Stand to attack him! You hospitalized him! If you hadn’t stopped when you did, you could have killed him! Stands aren’t toys, Rainbow Dash. They’re made to defend their user. Most can and WILL kill in order to do so.”

“He deserved it!” Rainbow Dash defended herself. “I mean, seriously Twilight, if you would have had one look at him, you’d understand where I’m coming from. And he was using his Stand for worse than I did! I used mine for justice!”

“No,” Twilight sternly stated. “You stooped to his level and used your Stand to act on your impulses. His was to steal, yours was to harm him. If you do that too often, then acting on impulses with your Stand will become a habit. That leads to dangerous thinking Dash. Your Stand will allow you to get away with most of these impulses almost repercussion free. Pretty soon, you’ll start having megalomaniac delusions. That’s exactly why Basil Leaf was like that Dash: he had no self-control with his Stand.”

“You’re wrong!” Dash snapped. “I’m nothing like that jerk! I’d never be anything like him!”

“That’s probably what Basil was like at one point,” Twilight suggested, “But his Stand eventually went to his head. It’s one of the few well recorded things about Stand Users. Most, if not all of them, become egocentricc. That’s why I rarely use my Night Wish for anything. In fact, subduing you was the first time I had even manifested it in two years.”

“Two YEARS?!” Dash gasped, “How in the hay did you keep your Stand away for two years?!”

“Because I have the self-control to know it would be dangerous to use it all the time. If I were to start using Night Wish for all my problems, eventually I’d either come to rely on it too much, or I’d start looking at it like a tool I have over others. It’s why Unicorns are taught to be careful about using their magic too much: it can be used for harm just as much as it can be for good.

“Look at it this way,” Twilight went on to explain. “Do you remember that one Wonderbolt recruit you told me about last year? The one who took steroids to help him just get that extra amount he needed to pass the test? And how he ended up doing that for every training exercise he went to afterwards? Do you remember how that almost got the Wonderbolts into huge trouble? Think of using your Stand like using steroids. Unless you’re only using it when you absolutely need to, you’ll only end up causing problems for yourself and those around you.”

“Alright, alright!” Rainbow Dash admitted in defeat. “No using my Stand to punch every jerk’s teeth out, you win!” She groaned as she put her hands in her pocket, taking in the scenery of the forest around her. “By the way, why exactly are we here in the Everfree?” She hoped to change the subject. Thankfully for Dash, Twilight’s face seemed to light up slightly with that excitement she gets when she’s about to explain something.

“So,” Twilight began. “As I initially expected, finding information to research about the subject of Stands wasn’t at all an easy task, given how obscure the matter is in the first place. I was able to find some luck, thankfully, in a book relating to the history of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Of course, I already knew that they were Stand Users, so it was one of the first places I looked. In fact, Princess Celestia herself was the one who taught me about Stands and helped me harness my own Stand. I’ve written to both of them and asked for their opinion on the matter at hand. I’m still waiting for a reply.

“While not the creators of Stands, the Royal Sisters were the first two in recorded history to harness the power of the Stand. It was right around the time they battled Discord, before they discovered the Elements of Harmony. They were seeking a new form of power, something that would give them the edge over the god of chaos. Princess Celestia with her Vanilla Twilight, no relation to my name, and Princess Luna with her Dark Side of the Moon. Unfortunately, even Stands were no match for Chaos Magic.”

“Gah!” Dash groaned, rubbing her forehead with her palm. “I should have known I’d end up getting a history lesson from you.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m almost done,” She sighed, before continuing. “That much, Princess Celestia had told me already. But, I found something that she hadn’t told me about before inside one of the books I took from the Castle of the Two Sisters. Most of the pages were illegible, and in Old Ponish at that, but from what I was able to make out, it was detailing the source of the Princess’s Stands.”

“And that source…” Twilight stopped and pointed to the Castle of the Two sisters, which was now in front of them. “Is somewhere beneath this palace.”

There was a long moment of silence in which the only response from Dash was a slow blink. She looked from Twilight’s finger, to the palace, and then back to Twilight.

“Ok…” Dash said as she tilted her head. “You didn’t have to sound so dramatic about that. So, we’re just going to go inside and look for this, source?”

Twilight realized that she had gotten way too into her speech and rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish blush. “Y-yeah, essentially. It’s more than likely going to be in the basement.” She took a few steps forward before turning around and looking at Dash. “Shall we?”

The pair walked through the ruined halls of the Palace of the Two Sisters. Their footsteps echoed throughout the empty halls, casting an ever so familiar sense of eeriness that came with it. Though they had long since abandoned their fears about the place, something about this trip to it, seemed off. Something felt like, it shouldn’t be there. Something was going to turn out different. Rainbow Dash could feel it in her gut.

Their destination was the reading room where Twilight had obtained the book that sent them on this expedition in the first place. Twilight, who had brought the book with them, flipped to a marked page, read to it herself, closed it, and then took a deep breath. She crossed her forearms and held her hands to either side of her head. With her eyes closed, she focused for a second, and then suddenly opened them while lunging her hands forward. Her eyes glowed bright white, a clear sign that a Unicorn (or Alicorn) was using magic. 

Twilight’s magic focused on a particular spot on the wall. Slowly, on that spot, letters began to form. Rainbow Dash couldn’t make out what it said, because it appeared to be written in Old Ponish. One by one, the letters glowed, forming what looked like a sentence of sorts, despite her not being able to comprehend it.

Once every glowing letter had appeared on the wall, Twilight relaxed and allowed her eyes to turn back to normal. The letters ceased glowing as well, showing that they were carved into the stone wall. Rainbow Dash tilted her head while staring at them.

“Only those with the power that comes from one’s soul may enter.” Twilight read aloud, translating for Dash. “Which means, only a Stand User may see the secrets underneath. If my theory is correct, then that means all I have to do is…” Twilight trailed off as she slowly walked towards the wall.

The mage seemed to be lost in her own thought, focusing on the wall in front of her. She held her arm up in quill holding position. Night Wish’s quill, followed by the Stand itself immediately after, appeared at Twilight’s command. She kept on walking forward, even when she was mere inches from the wall. Twilight kept on walking. The second her body made contact with the wall, she wasn’t stopped. Instead, Twilight was able to just keep walking. She walked straight through the wall, which appeared to made of liquid at this point. Soon, she was completely through the wall along with her Night Wish. The rippling wall settled a second later, looking like a normal wall again.

For a moment, Rainbow Dash just stared at the wall in disbelief. But it didn’t last long though. After everything she’s seen in the past few days, there wasn’t much she wouldn’t believe at this point. Sighing, Dash summoned her 2 Minutes to Midnight and followed Twilight’s lead. All logic and common sense told her to stop right before she got to the wall. But Dash was beginning to discover that those things were probably pointless right now. Besides, she had done crazier and stupider things before.

Just as it did for Twilight, the wall did not stop Dash in the slightest. It allowed her passage. Though, Twilight had made it look a lot easier than it actually turned out to be. She had made it seem like the wall was water, easily passed through. That was not the case. It, in fact, felt like it was made of some sort of thick gel. It took Rainbow Dash effort to force herself through it. She growled and grunted as she pushed her body through, fighting for every inch into the strange barrier.

When Dash had emerged on the other side, she found herself in a narrow, dark corridor with a spiral staircase a few feet in front of her. Just around the corner of the staircase, she could see the unmistakable glow of Twilight’s magic illuminating her way. Though it was growing fainter. Along with the echoing of Twilight’s feet on the stone steps was enough to clue Dash in on the fact that she was in thought mode again, proceeding with or without Dash. Grunting, Dash started to jog down the steps after her, making sure that it would be with.

“An entire basement level,” Twilight mumbled under the magical orb of light that was following her. Her eyes were glowing white again. She seemed just aware enough of her surroundings to walk down the steps without bumping into the walls. As such, she didn’t even notice when Dash caught up and was walking right beside her. “That Celestia had never even told me about. Why? What could be hidden under here that she’d keep a secret from me. Even after she herself was the one who showed me the power of the Stand.”

“Equestria to Twilight,” Dash called out, waving her arm in front of Twilight’s face, trying to get her attention. Twilight snapped out of her trance and shook her head.

“Whatever Princess Celestia has hidden down here, it definitely has something to do with Stands.” Twilight put her fingers below her chin as she explained her thinking. “Like I said, Princess Celestia and Luna are the earliest Stand Users recorded in history. There were others before, but history has forgotten them, like much of the Pre-Discordian Era.”

“Alright, what’s the point?” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently as she looked behind her, then back to her front. These stairs seemed to go on forever. Being this far underground made any pegasus, especially Rainbow Dash, uncomfortable.

“The point is,” Twilight continued, snapping slightly to show that she was annoyed, “When the Princesses made this secret basement, it was most likely under the assumption that they were the only two Stand Users in the world. Or at least, the only two would even be able to find it. It would be one thing to just seal it behind a magical barrier. But, I felt Vanilla Twilight in that wall. Like, it was made from magic that originated from the Stand. There was also a similar, yet unfamiliar presence in the wall, which I can only guess was Dark Side of the Moon. Don’t you get it Rainbow Dash, the Princesses used their Stands in combination with their magic to make that barrier. Whatever is down here is something that they didn’t want to be found.”

Unlike her royal companion, these words did nothing to make Rainbow Dash more confident about what they were doing. “Well if that’s the case, then um, are you sure we should be finding it?”

“In truth, no,” Twilight was doing so much ensure her friend about this right now, “But, it’s likely the only way we’ll find an explanation to why you obtained a Stand so suddenly. This whole situation has been giving me a bad feeling from the start. We likely have to find it at this point.” Twilight turned to look forward again. They had finally reached the bottom of the staircase. This gave way to a hallway, at which they could see the end of. Oddly enough, there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Seeing this, Twilight doused her own orb, curiously staring at it.

“Can, magical lights stay on down here?” Rainbow Dash asked, feeling nervous by this new development. “Like, can the princesses put on permanent ones?”

“No,” Twilight gravely told her. “Illumination is magic in its purest form. The user would have to be near and constantly supplying the magic. There are no other ways of creating light magically. Given the fact that there is no possible way electricity could be down here, or a fire could be sustained for nearly a thousand years,” Twilight tightened her stance, “That means someone is either down here, or has been down here recently. I pray for the latter, but we need to stay on our guard.”

Rainbow Dash nodded in response, deciding to take point. Twilight didn’t interject, even though she felt that she should be the one to do so. She knew that this was no time to start an argument. It would risk throwing them off guard, as well as alerting anyone who happened to be inside the room to their presence. Against her better judgement, Twilight was forced to concede the lead to Dash.

As soon as they reached halfway down the hall, the light at the end was covered by something. The shape of it was juxtaposed against the light just enough so that it was impossible to make out its exact form. And since it was pretty much nothing but shadow, anything it did was impossible to see as well. So, when this shape turned out to be a Stand that was launching an attack, Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell this until she heard the unmistakable sound of rushing liquid three feet from her.

Since she was an athlete, Rainbow Dash’s reaction time did help save her. The second she did hear the sound of the liquid, she hopped on 2 Minutes to Midnight as fast as she could, grabbed hold of its handles, and had it turn one hundred eighty degrees as fast as it could, flying towards Twilight, scooping her up, and carrying her back up the stairs. Even with the Stand’s incredible Speed, it only got Dash and Twilight to higher ground mere seconds before it would have hit them. In the magically light that Twilight immediately conjured, they saw the liquid was a sickly, unnatural, green color. It sizzled as it faded from sight like a wave on the shore receding back into the ocean.

“T-Thanks,” Twilight gasped, huffing and trying to catch her breath from the shock. She was suddenly grateful that Rainbow Dash had taken the lead. “If it wasn’t for you, I would have been caught in that attack.”

“What the heck was that?” Dash exclaimed, constantly on guard and looking back down the stairs towards the hallway. “Do you think it was another Stand User?”

“It had to be,” Twilight explained. “That barrier we passed, only Stand Users can pass it. Whoever that Stand User was, they clearly do not want us to be down here. Dash, remember when I said you shouldn’t use your Stand unless it’s a time you absolutely have to? Self-defense counts as one of those times.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Dash affirmed, gripping 2 Minutes to Midnight tighter and psyching herself up.

“Now we don’t even know what he does,” Twilight stated. “So, it’s important that we try and work out a plan of attack so both of us get out of this safely.” Rainbow Dash had already taken off down the hall not even halfway through her sentence.

It was pitch black in the tunnel, so Dash was not able to rely on her eyes. However, 2 Minutes to Midnight gave her enhanced perception for all of her senses, including hearing. She held her eyes closed as she flew down the halls. She had learned through intensive training that when the body lost one sense, the others were heightened to compensate; that, combined with her Stand’s abilities, meant her hearing was as good as a hawk. And so, Dash listened. 

A second later, she heard the sound of the liquid again, this time from farther away than she did in the initial attack. It sounded like it was wide enough to cover the entire span of the hallway, making it impossible to dodge around. If that was the case, Dash decided she would do the exact opposite.

The pegasus willed her Stand to veer to the left as much as possible without hitting the wall. It held its arms out in front of it, and twisted its upper half like it was stretching. Suddenly, without even thinking, Dash made 2 Minutes to Midnight corkscrew in the opposite direction and upwards. As the Stand spun, the air around its body was repelled, forming a sealed vacuum around it and its User. This bubble repelled the liquid away from it, allowing 2 Minutes to Midnight to pass through the stream. When they emerged, Dash opened her eyes, and set course directly for the source.

2 Minutes to Midnight’s fist connected with the source with all the force of a bullet. It felt like Rainbow Dash had punched solid stone. As soon as she flew into the room, her eyes were flooded with the light that greatly contrasted the darkness from the hallway. She was forced to squint while her eyes naturally adjusted. Instinctively, she flew to the opposite side of the room that she had punched the source of the liquid into.

It took Dash less than a minute to adjust to the light. She was staring right at what she had punched. And what she had punched was in fact an enemy stand. It had the appearance of a large gorilla made entirely of bricks. The top of its head was shaped like the type of water fountain you’d see in the center of a park. Behind it stood the User, who didn’t look none too happy at the blow to the jaw that he had just felt. 

Wiping away blood seeping from his jaw, the figure stood framed against the multiple glowing lights in the room. The figure was a stallion, standing just a few inches taller than Dash herself. While Dash couldn't make out any fine details, she could tell his clothing was rather sparse. He wore a simple lime green tank top that was cut off to expose the midriff, the bottom seemingly burned off with acid. He wore long grey pants that were adorned with random paraphernalia. His hair was short cut and unkempt, sticking up around his head and making him look almost crazy.  

“You’ve got some Stand there, I’ll give you that,” The attacker begrudgingly complimented, “But, it’s still no match for my Fountain of Pain!”

“Just who the heck are you anyway?” Dash demanded. “And why did you just attack us out of the blue?!”

“My name is Verde Chase!” The attacker proclaimed, “And you are one young lady who is sticking her nose far up where it doesn’t belong.” Verde, as Dash now knew, stepped backwards, moving behind Fountain of Pain. 

The green liquid Dash had previously dodged started to flow from the fountain atop Fountain of Pain’s head. The frothing liquid swirled up into the basin, pooling together into a sickly and menacing puddle. The Stand put its hands to the liquid, causing it to rush out in a stream towards Dash.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that!” Dash smirked as 2 Minutes to Midnight took off, easily ducking under the stream. The Stand pulled its fist back and prepared for another hard uppercut right to Fountain of Pain’s jaw. However, Verde was grinning even harder than Dash was. Suddenly Fountain of Pain changed the angle at which its hands were splashing the liquid, causing it to spray downwards directly towards Dash.

Even with her heightened perception, Rainbow Dash had no means of escaping the splash in time. She was flying so close to the ground that her maneuvering options were severely limited. Added to the wide splash radius, Dash was not able to veer away in time. The liquid frothed onto her, sizzling as 2 Minutes to Midnight fell to the ground and disappeared. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground and was sent rolling towards the wall.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted as she ran into the room. She ran towards Dash, but Verde stood between them, causing Twilight to reflexively take a defensive stance, quill at the ready.

“GAAAAHHHH!” Dash cried out in pain clutching her hands over her eyes. “My eyes! My eyes!”

Curling up on the ground, Dash clawed at her eyes. The acid hadn’t even gotten into them, and yet her face was alight with pain. Any attempt to open her eyes was met with such pain that she immediately was forced to shut them again, all while acidic tears poured down her face. 

“You’ve gotten a small taste of Fountain of Pain’s acid!” Verde explained with a grin on his face. “One touch from it is enough to make your eyes ten times more sensitive to light. Add that to my extra strength illumination orbs, and it’s like you’re staring directly into a flood lamp. If I’d hit you with more than what I did, you would probably be blind by now!”

“Why are you doing this?” Twilight demanded, pooling her ink around her to be ready for a defensive move at any time. “We meant no harm coming down here!”

“Like I told your friend here,” Verde had Fountain of Pain launch another spray of acid. “You’re being way too nosey!”

Instantly Twilight made a diagonal slash with her quill, causing Night Wish to do the same and form a solid ink wall in front of her. The acid hit the black barrier, spraying around Twilight like a rock in a stream. She looked to her side and noted the acid sizzling away on the ground. Once the torrent had concluded, Twilight liquefied the ink and put it back into the pool floating around her.

Acting under pressure was not one of Twilight’s best points. She tried to analyze the situation as best as she could. Rainbow Dash was effectively disabled at the moment. To be honest, Twilight preferred if it would stay that way, lest she risk permanent retinal damage. That means she would have to beat Verde and his Stand all on her own.

Twilight’s analytic mind kicked in as she looked around the room. The ‘room’ was a circular chamber, with a large disc in the center. The orbs floating about the space gave Twilight a good sense of the size: thirty meters in diameter, approximately twenty meters high, and that, given the direction they’d entered, they were likely in the southern quadrant. 

Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw another torrent of acid coming straight for her. Instantly she teleported into the air and started to fly in a circle around the room. Though she wasn’t nearly as skilled as Dash was, Twilight flew just fast and agilely enough to avoid getting hit by the stream before it ended. The acid fell onto the floor below, a few meters away from her fallen companion.  Realizing that Dash was still in danger, the princess called her Stand and formed a dome of ink around her as fast as she could, solidifying it as to form a shield from the acid. Any acid that would have hit Dash instead just harmlessly sizzled away on top of the solid black dome. That was one less thing that Twilight had to worry about.

In this brief calm, Twilight thought more. This acid was a problem. She theorized that if even a single drop splashed on her, she would be reduced to the same state as Dash was. And if she just stayed on the defensive like this, eventually that would happen. She needed to fight back. 

The only problem was, her Night Wish couldn’t fight in the way a Stand like Dash’s could. It relied solely on its ink to do anything. While, given the time, she could accomplish a number of feats, said time was not a luxury the princess had at the moment. Adding to that, Twilight had already divided her Stand’s capabilities by having to shield Dash.  She needed to focus her energy on dodging the torrents that were coming from Fountain of Pain.

Speaking of which, another one was coming straight for her. Twilight dove low to the floor and then dashed to the right to avoid the cascade of acid that had hit the wall and was raining on her from above. With her right hand, Twilight started to form some solid spears of ink and hurled them at Fountain of Pain. With her other, she conjured magical bolts and fired them at Verde.

Neither attack was effective. Fountain of Pain redirected its acid spray towards the spears, knocking them out of the air and causing them to ricochet off the wall. And Verde had just simply conjured a magically barrier around himself that completely blocked Twilight’s bolts.

Twilight cursed herself for never taking the time to properly learn how to cast offensive magic spells under pressure. Right now would have been the time when she would probably most need to cast them. Thankfully, her attack had succeeded in stopping this torrent of acid by forcing Fountain of Pain to use it for defensive purposes. Twilight curiously pondered the acid that had sizzled away on the floor next to her.

“Is that all you’ve got? Honestly, I expected more from a princess.” Verde was laughing like he was in control of the whole situation, but there was an undertone in his speech that made it sound like he was starting to get annoyed, “Forgive me if I sound a little disappointed. I had heard so much about the princesses’ Stands. Well, the ACTUAL princesses’ Stand that is.”

More than a few nerves were struck with Twilight when Verde said that. It was something that she had heard on more than a few occasions, that she wasn’t an actual princess since she was just turned into one. Of course, Twilight was able to deal with hollow insults when they came from people she didn’t care about. But from Verde, a Stand User, a type of person she had always considered special in her mind, it felt like it carried more weight. But even if Twilight did feel insulted, something else was weighing even more heavily on her mind. 

“Wait a minute,” Twilight inquired. “You said, you’ve heard a lot about the princesses Stands? How? True, it’s common knowledge amongst those who research Stands that they HAVE Stands, but, nowhere is it recorded what their Stands are. Princess Celestia affirmed to me that not since Starswirled the Bearded has she ever shown her Stand to anyone before she showed it to me to teach me about Stands. And not since Discord has she even USED her Stand. As for Princess Luna, not even I have seen her Stand.”

“Haven’t used it since Discord?” Verde grinned. “Is that so? Well, your princess isn’t as perfect as you think she is then. In fact, she happens to be a downright liar!” The enemy Stand User shrugged. “Maybe I’ve said too much at this point. Doesn’t matter, since you won’t be around for too much longer!”

Verde pointed forward and Fountain of Pain started to charge towards Twilight. Green acid started to flow from its head. It dipped its stone fists in the acid and launched a double punch at Twilight, flinging the volatile liquid her way. Twilight teleported to the side and made a solid black wall behind her as she ran around the perimeter of the room. The wall stopped Fountain of Pain of a second, before it jumped over the wall and launched a torrent of acid directly at her.

With a long stroke of her quill already in motion Twilight dug her heels into the ground and formed a larger wall of ink in front of her. She stuck as close as she could to that wall as the acid hit the ground and started to sizzle away. While she squished her quill frantically, Twilight reached around the wall once she could and launched a quick volley of bolts at Verde, all of which he blocked with ease.

In order to take a more active role in this fight, Twilight teleported into the air above Verde, reining magical bolts and occasionally electricity discharges (she refused to call it lightning) at him. None of them were able to pierce his barrier. With an annoyed scowl, Verde teleported next to Fountain of Pain before it launched another torrent at Twilight.

After she responded with her own teleport, Twilight put her hand to the ground while she used her other one to keep moving the tip of her quill. She pulled up as many loose bricks from the floor as she could, swirling them around in a cyclone. Randomly, she had them launch towards Verde, who either blocked them with his Stand or caught them and threw them back at her. Though, they weren’t thrown with much precision and were easy for Twilight to jump out of the way of.

There wasn’t a single chance given for Verde to retaliate. Twilight held her magic straight to her side. As if slapping the air, Twilight swiped her hand out in front of her. From the side of Verde and Fountain of Pain, a giant purple hand made of magic swatted them like her hand. Twilight made her hand into a fist and started to mash the air, causing her physique hand to do the same right to Fountain of Pain. She showed no signs of stopping, smashing like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

“What are you even doing?” Verde growled. “I know that you know that’s not doing anything. Only a Stand can affect another Stand! If you want to try and actually hurt Fountain of Pain, you’ll need to use your own Stand! You are literally accomplishing nothing by doing this!”

“Oh but Mr. Chase,” Twilight snickered confidently. “I’m afraid you’re wrong in both of those statements. I am in fact using my Night Wish. I’ve been using it this whole time. You’ll have to forgive me, I only have a limited amount of ink to work with. Making complex forms takes some time, especially when I’m constantly having to focus on other things. And my magic is accomplishing exactly what it needs to do, distracting you!”

Verde stamped his foot and shouted Fountain of Pain’s name while pointing at Twilight. The acid roared out of its fountain. The Stand slammed its hands in the liquid and shot the hardest torrent yet at Twilight.

That was just what the princess was hoping for. She made one last motion with her quill, and suddenly a black funnel come out from behind her and stood right between Twilight and the and the acid. The entire torrent flowed into the funnel, the cone being so wide that not a single drop could escape it. The acid was directed through the funnel, down an ink pipe, to some sort of ink tank with a plunger on the back of it. When the torrent subsided, Twilight deformed the funnel and pipe, shaping them into a cone at the tip of the tank, making it look like a bug sprayer. The entire time, the tank was swishing the acid around inside of it.

“As much as it pains me to say it, your Stand is a lot similar to mine,” Twilight had the most satisfied grin on her face. “In that we both have only a limited amount of liquid to work with. How did I figure that out, you might ask? Well, your actions gave it away. I started asking myself about why you weren’t just constantly firing an endless torrent at me, trying to tire me out or force me into a corner? The answer, after you expend your acid, you have to wait for it to dissolve and return to Fountain of Pain’s body.”

“My next question was to ponder when exactly your acid dissolved. It only took some careful observations to conclude that it would only dissolve when it is no longer in motion, hence the constant motions of the tank for the moment. So, for now, I have all your acid, and as long as the tank is still tumbling, you won’t be getting back.”

“Oh, and I feel that I should tell you about another question I asked myself. Why didn’t you just flood the entire room with the stuff? Of course, that led me to my conclusion that you only had so much of it. But, it also gave me a different theory. One that I tested by attacking you directly from above. When you moved over to Fountain of Pain afterwards, it confirmed my theory. And that theory is…”

Twilight pointed directly at Verde, who was taking a step back towards the wall. He was shaking in his legs. Fountain of Pain tried to rush towards the princess, but she restrained it with ink chains. The tank of acid floated next to Twilight, pointing at Verde as well.

“YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO YOUR OWN ACID!” Twilight declared as she used her magic to push the plunger down in the tank. The acid was forced out the small opening of its nozzle at high speeds. By the time that Verde had worked up the gall to try and run, it was too late. The acid splashed him in the back, causing him to trip over his feet and fall to the ground as he started to cover his eyes.

Even as he cried out in pain, Twilight kept spraying Verde with his own acid. He gripped his face tightly as he cried out. Deep down, she knew she should feel bad about doing this, and maybe even stop. But she justified herself by reminding herself that Verde was intent on killing them and putting themselves through the same sort of pain. Eventually, Verde finally recalled Fountain of Pain, causing the acid, and its effects to subside.

Even though they were no longer super sensitive, Verde still curled on the ground, clutching his eyes in pain. Rainbow Dash, who hadn’t gotten nearly as much on acid on her, was perfectly fine now, standing over the pathetic form of Verde next to her friend.

“I know I was drilling on how to properly use your Stand earlier, Dash,” Twilight said with a glint in her eyes. “But, just this one time I’m willing to look the other way.”

“Don’t worry Twilight,” Rainbow Dash reassured as she cracked her knuckles. “I’m not going to need a Stand for this.”

Five minutes later, Verde Chase was laying on the ground with a black eye and several lumps on his head. Rainbow Dash dusted herself off.

“I’ll take him back to the castle so we can get some information out of him when he wakes up again.” Twilight told Dash. “In the meantime, we can finally see what it was he didn’t want us to see.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned to the far side of the room, which housed a large, stone door. Using her magic, Twilight pried the door open. She created a ball of light, and walked into the dark room.

It was much smaller than the previous room. When the pair walked in, they could see the large form of what appeared to be a coffin. Or, a sarcophagus would be a more appropriate term, given how lavishly it was decorated. When Twilight illuminated the room some more, both her and Dash saw what was on the wall behind it. And in turn, Twilight let out a loud gasp.

The entire wall was a mural. On the left and right sides of the wall were Princesses Celestia and Luna, kneeling in defeat. To the right of Celestia was a humanoid figure with large, bristling flaming wings for arms, painted so as to obscure any other defining details. Similarly, beside Luna laid a figure made entirely of shadow with a crescent moon in its chest, and in its right hand a broken prism. In the center, looking at the both of them, was the unmistakable depiction of Discord on top of his royal throne of chaos. Behind him, eclipsing almost the entire sky, was a large, humanoid form shrouded by darkness.

Twilight took a moment to stare at the mural in confusion at the mural. The depiction was so vivid, so real that Twilight couldn't believe it. She cast her gaze across the various details, recognizing Vanilla Twilight beside Celestia, and what she could only guess to be Dark Side of The Moon beside Luna. 

“Um, Twilight?” Dash blinked, turning to face her, “What is going on in that mural?” 

“I don’t know…” Twilight stared at the depiction of her beloved princesses for a few more solid moments, “But I do know one thing: whatever is going on in that mural aside, something else is going on here...”
> Diamond Dogs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter IV - Diamond Dogs

Earlier that same day...

For Fluttershy, life had pretty much went back to normal for her after she had left Rainbow Dash and Twilight to do whatever it was they were doing with these so-called “Stands”. It’s what she normally did. Lately in these past two to three years of her life, a lot more stuff than she thought would have happened to her did in fact happen. A lot of weird, supernatural stuff had come into her life ever since Twilight became her friend. Most of the time, she just accepted it and moved on, going about her life as she always had.

So, to Fluttershy, that’s all the subject of Stands was for her. It was just another weird thing from Twilight that had become a part of her life. She had expected it to just, pass her by like most of the rest did. It seemed like it was only affecting Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Besides the constant fear that her friends might get hurt that she always had in the back of her mind, there was nothing for Fluttershy to worry about.

As such, Fluttershy was out having a normal day out with Rarity and Pinkie Pie. The trio was in the middle of enjoying a lunch together at one of their favorite local cafés. It was a pleasant spring day, with the morning having just given way into the afternoon. Fluttershy and her friends had gotten a great seat where the building was blocking out most of the sun from their eyes, and the pink umbrella above them was keeping the rest at bay.

“So, darling,” Rarity inquired towards Fluttershy as she gently stirred her tea with a spoon. Her cheese rigatoni was nearly all eaten up, and her cream of chicken soup had long been cleaned out. Well, as much as one could do with a spoon. A lady never slurps, after all. “It’s been a week since you’ve gotten back from your trip with Discord, and yet I still have heard nothing at all about it.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie agreed with Rarity while she slurped down a rather long spaghetti noodle. Sauce splattered all over her face as she washed the pasta down with a hearty swig straight from her bowl of chicken noodle soup. To top it all off, she managed to cram half a breadstick inside of her mouth, and still somehow manage to swallow it all in one gulp. This proved to me much to Rarity’s disgust. “Where did he take you? Did he take you down to the deep pits of Tartarus? Or to a center of the universe? Or even a parallel dimension where we’re all on four legs?!” The pink haired mare gripped the table with excitement.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy chuckled as she cleaned the crumbs from her toasted tomato basil panini off of her face with a napkin, “Nothing like that. We just went to some of his favorite places to go in Equestria. We went to some Jazz Clubs that played wonderful music. He took me to Ink Blot World. Oh, and he even showed me some of the places where his magic still lingers. Which, explains so much about Las Pegasus.”

“Wait a minute!” Pinkie exclaimed as she jerked straight up from her seat, disturbing all of the china and utensils sitting atop of it. She leaned across the table and looked straight into Fluttershy’s eyes mere inches away from her face. “You got to go to Ink Blot World!?”

“U-Um, yes?” Fluttershy stuttered as she blinked nervously.

“Lucky!” Pinkie Pie pouted as she slid back down into her seat. Rarity cast a disapproving glance her way, before shaking her head and magically using a napkin to wipe away all of the crumb and sauce around Pinkie’s mouth.

With a sigh, Fluttershy straightened herself back up. In truth, there was more to her trip with Discord than just mere sightseeing and merriment. Discord seemed a little disturbed. He tried to play it off as some random ponies giving him the stink eye, but Fluttershy knew him well enough to know when he was lying. Discord, defeated, told her that he learned of something from his past that had resurfaced that was rubbed him the wrong way right now. 

While he wouldn’t tell her what it was, Discord did make it a point to ask if Fluttershy had noticed anything out of the ordinary lately. To this question, Fluttershy truthfully answered no. However, that was before she had first experienced these Stands with Rainbow Dash. Had this been what Discord was asking about? She hadn’t seen him since, so she had no way of knowing.

“Well it certainly has been a pleasure with you joining us for lunch,” Rarity told Pinkie Pie, bringing Fluttershy back to the present. “Fluttershy and I are off to the spa now for our regular appointment. Would you care to join us? I know you don’t have an appointment, but I could probably convince Lotus and Aloe to squeeze you in with us.”

“No thanks,” Pinkie Pie replied matter-of-factly. “I mean, spas are fine and all, but I already know how I want to spend my afternoon. At da club!” She stood up and struck a cheesy gangster pose, which soon prompted the three friends to laugh among themselves.

“We’ll see you tomorrow then,” Fluttershy softly said as she put her part of the bill on the table. Pinkie and Rarity did likewise and the group split up. Fluttershy and Rarity went in the complete opposite direction of Pinkie.

It was nice to just have normal days. Of course, they weren’t out of the ordinary for Fluttershy by any means of the imagination, there were still a bit too much extraordinary days for her comfort. And with what Discord said to her on her vacation, a spa day was just what she needed to take her mind off of all that.

As per usual, she and Rarity arrived five minutes early. It wasn’t that they did this on purpose, it was just a habit of theirs to arrive slightly early. Most of the time it ended up being by complete accident. Which was fine by the two of them. They would either be taken right in into their treatment, or get a few minutes to sit and chat with each other in the lobby while they read the magazines laid out there.

The lobby had a natural radiance too it, filled with serene lighting and light colors that gave the room an inviting atmosphere. The aroma of spa products wafted from the entryway to the first stages of treatment, mingling with the smell of lotus flowers. The spa felt calming and inviting, just as one should. 

Rarity and Fluttershy were immersed deep in a conversation already when they walked in the door. The lobby was barren except for Aloe, who stood at the counter. The spa owner leaned on the tabletop, resting her arms on it. She didn’t acknowledge the two mares for a few moments, staring at a book as the two walked in. 

After a few moments, Aloe glared at the two customers as they made their way over to the empty seats in the waiting area. As she stood up to approach them, she quickly shut the book and stood up, hurrying over to them.

“Ah, Rarity, Fluttershy,” The lone sister greeted them, standing over the pair and looking down at them with her hands behind her back. “Right on time. It is so to see you. Come, I’ve already prepared the hot tub.” She instantly grabbed Rarity and Fluttershy by the wrists and dragged them through the door.

“Already ready?” Rarity commented. “Why darling, you must not be very busy today at all if you’ve set up the bath just how we like it already,”

“Oh yes,” Aloe replied without hesitation as she dragged the customers down the empty hall. “I’ve prepared it specially just for you two. Right in here,” She opened a door and lead the patrons inside. 

Inside, the hot tub was indeed already prepared for them. There were so many bubbles inside of it that it was impossible to see that actual bath water below. 

“You are always such a dear,” Rarity complimented as she and Fluttershy went behind the divider to disrobe. Aloe since had left the room to check on something. Both Rarity and Fluttershy wrapped towels around themselves and donned them as they walked across the room to the tub. Being only in the presence of each other, the two of them let the towels around their torsos drop to the ground before stepping into the bath on opposite sides.

The two spent a few minutes letting the warm mineral filled water draw the toxins out from their bodies. The experience was always very calming, and both mares were completely relaxed in a matter of minutes. 

As time went on, Aloe had failed to return. At this, this wasn’t a problem, given the fact that she likely had to prepare the further steps of their treatment. Yet after having no contact from her for ten minutes, Fluttershy felt a sense of worry creeping up on her. 

“I wonder where Aloe went off to…” Fluttershy spoke up with a hint of worry, “She’s been gone an awful long time…”

“Oh, don’t worry about her right now,” Rarity replied without opening her eyes to look to Fluttershy, “I’m sure she’ll be right back.”

Fluttershy slowly nodded, “Alright, Rarity…” She slowly leaned back into the water, but she couldn't relax. So many strange things had been happening, and the little things like this were beginning to get to her. 

Another five minutes passed with no sign of Aloe. Fluttershy’s worries compounded when she began to notice that something about the water felt, off.

“Rarity,” Fluttershy asked as she tried to settle herself inside of the water. “Does this bath water feel a bit, odd to you?” Maybe it was Discord who had put on her edge, or the events with Twilight as of late. But, she felt like she should be alert of some looming danger, even if that danger was nonexistent, “Kind of, thicker than normal?”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s just something to do with the copious amounts of bubbles,” Rarity dismissed Fluttershy’s concerns as she pushed the bubbles away from their body so they weren’t completely obscuring her. “I mean look all of this. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this entire tub was filled with them.” She shared a small laugh with Fluttershy. Just as Rarity was getting comfortable inside the admittedly thicker than normal bath water, Aloe finally walked in to check on them.

“Is everything alright with your bath?” Aloe asked, looking straight down with at the two of them. She didn’t seem to even acknowledge her rather long disappearance. 

“Everything’s just perfect as usual darling,” Rarity assured, “Thanks for asking. Though, I must ask. Is everything alright with you today? You seem a little, tense?”

“Tense?” Aloe inquired. “Yes, you could say that I’ve had a few, problems lately. Problems pertaining to customers. Customers who have been making made a great deal of trouble for my sister and I.”

“Well I can empathize with your pain out of experience,” Rarity confined with Aloe.,“Just last month I had this one client who for whatever reason spilled wine on the dress that I made her during the party she wore it at. When the stain wouldn’t wash out, she demanded a refund from me. The nerve!” Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes with a pained grin on her face.

“Yes, some customers have quite a nerve.” Aloe agreed as she walked to the thermostat on the other side of the wall to check on it. “They have the nerve to think that the they are above consequence. The nerve to think to that they can just waltz around and everything will just be fine after committing a reprehensible deed.” She balled her hand into a fist and clenched it tightly, before slowly calming down and uncurling it.

“Um,” Fluttershy asked, slightly concerned. “It sounds like you had a bad experience recently. Do, you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about it?!” Aloe shouted. Then she slowly turned around, a deep scowl on her face directed towards the two friends inside of the hot tub, “I believe you two know plenty of what is my problem.”

Rarity and Fluttershy were about to express confusion and clarify that they did not know any such thing. However, they were cut off by the loud cries of burning pain that were coming out of their mouths when all of the bubbles surrounding them in the hot tub turned to hot steam. The pair tried to climb out and flee their hot assault, but they found that they were trapped inside of the tub, unable to move their lower bodies at all.

After a thirty-second-long assault of steam, which felt much longer from the intense pain it caused the two of them, Fluttershy and Rarity bent over, tearing from pain as they panted rapidly. The heat had scalded their eyes and rendered them unable to see. When they cleared up, all of the bubbles were gone. The water was gone as well and was replaced with solid metal.

Fluttershy’s mind was filled with confusion. This was clearly magic that had just happened to them. And from how Aloe was acting, it was equally as clear that she was the source. But, Aloe wasn’t a magic user. A non-magic user using magic…Slowly Fluttershy turned her head towards Aloe and gasped.

“A Stand!” The yellow pegasus shouted, “You have a Stand!”

“A what?!” Rarity cried in confusion, still wincing from the burning pain on her skin.

For a second, Aloe froze, staring at the two trapped women with a surprised expression. Slowly, said expression turned to a straight face, and then to a small scowl.

“I see you know more than I gave you credit for, Fluttershy,” Aloe said in a low tone as she crossed her arms. “Now, I am also certain you know the answer to what I’m going to ask you next: Where is my sister?”

Both of the prisoners of the hot tub looked up at their captor with confusion. Rarity more so than Fluttershy because she didn’t even know what a Stand was. These looks only served to anger Aloe even more.

“Your sister?” Rarity inquired, feeling frightened by these developments that she couldn’t explain, “Lotus? We don’t know! We just assumed she was taking the day off or something.”

“Do not play foolish with me!” Aloe shouted. The steam in the air turned to solid cement pieces that rained down painfully on Rarity’s head. “You and Princess Twilight Sparkle have taken my sister! Tell me where she is and I won’t harm you any further!”

“Aloe, listen to me!” Rarity pleaded, groaning from the bruises on the top of her head. “I’m telling you that we have no idea what you are talking about! We haven’t seen Lotus since we came here last week!”

Fluttershy felt panic begin to bubble within her, sweat beading on her forehead. She couldn't move in this metal; she was encased fully from her collarbone down! The water had seemingly turned into metal the second that it’d begun to boil. If this was a Stand like Twilight had mentioned, then what had it done to them?

Aloe’s gaze darkened as she slowly curled her hands into fists, “I see I will have to take more extreme measures to get the answers I want out of you...” Aloe sighed angrily. She wasn’t even attempting to listen to reason. Rarity began to think that she was absolutely convinced that she and Fluttershy had something to do with Lotus’s disappearance. 

With heavy stomps, Aloe approached Fluttershy. Some invisible force pulled her up from where she was bound. The metal around Fluttershy suddenly became liqurious, letting Aloe pull her body up through it.. Yet, even when she was pulled out, there was still metal around her wrists and ankles, binding them together. 

“You will break the easiest. I will get the answers I desire soon enough!” Without another word, Aloe left the room, followed by Fluttershy as she was dragged by the invisible force that pulled out up. The timid pegasus looked back at Rarity’s eyes as Aloe led her from the room. Fear flowed deep inside of her, and she didn’t even have the ability to resist, due to her bindings.

“Aloe, stop!” Rarity shouted, struggling as much as she was able to inside of the solid metal that she had somehow found herself encased in. Only from her shoulders up was she not entombed. This didn’t give her much room to try and move her way free. “Don’t you dare hurt her! She did nothing wrong! Neither of us did! But if you are going to hurt anyone, hurt me instead!” No response came. Either Aloe was deliberately ignoring her, or she and Fluttershy were already well out of earshot.

Rarity looked desperately around the spa room for something, anything that she could levitate towards herself and free herself with. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much that would prove even remotely useful in that task. Among the items in the room were soaps, shampoo bottles, bubble solutions, extra towels, and complimentary luffas. Rarity wasn’t desperate enough to even entertain the notion of using one of those objects.

Then Rarity remembered that she had brought her things with her into the room and left them behind the divider. Most importantly, her purse was among those things. Retrieving it would prove to be a difficult task however, since using telepathy on something she couldn’t see was a challenge, if not an impossible one. So, the divider would have to be moved first if she wished to retrieve her designer handbag. Rarity struggled to look over her shoulder, being able to see the barrier just on the edge of her vision. That would have to be enough.

Taking a deep breath, Rarity let her eyes and horn glow white and focused all of her energy around the divider. She grasped it with her aura and enveloped its energy around the object tightly. Grunting, Rarity roughly threw the divider towards the wall, and loud crash confirmed that Rarity had been successful. She exhaled and panted for a few seconds.

Next, Rarity made use of a spell Twilight had managed to teach in order to keep an eye on Sweetie Belle while she worked. This spell increased the size of her field of vision by about ten percent. This ten percent was more than enough to see her purse, take hold of it, and drag it towards her. Again, she exhaled and panted to catch her breath as soon as the bag was right in front of her. Magic took a lot of energy to use if one didn’t exercise with it regularly. Especially so if one was under pressure, like Rarity was at the moment, since magic comes from one’s mental state.

But Rarity didn’t have a moment to waste on catching her breath. She used her magical abilities to open her purse without the use of her hands and hold it open for her to peer into. She rummaged through the contents with her magic, shuffling around items until she finally found the one she desired: her nail file. Rarity realized that this was a long shot, but it was likely the only object in this room that would even have a chance at cutting her out of this metal prison.

With all the desperation of someone with their life on the line, take for instance, Fluttershy, the magic user scratched the file on the metallic surface in front of her. She pressed down as hard as she could, gritting her teeth and squinting her eyes as she violently rubbed the abrasive surface against the smooth one. She drew a circle around herself with it, desperately hoping that she would at least be making a small dent by doing so. But when she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but small filings around her; most likely from the file and not the metal. Screaming in frustration, Rarity pushed down even harder with her magic. This caused the tool to snap in half.

Rarity watched in silence as both halves fell to the ground with a clang in front of her. That file was, no matter how small it might have been, her only hope in this situation. Now, both were broken. The hopelessness of Rarity’s situation soon set in on her. Giving up hope caused Rarity’s mind to wander on just what Aloe might have been doing to Fluttershy while she was uselessly trying to escape from here. Her vivid, detailed thoughts soon gave way into despair. Despair paved the way for sorrow.

Filled with sorrow, Rarity held her head low and cried. Tears flowed from her eyes and dripped onto the metal below her. She sniffed with every new dark fantasy of what Fluttershy was going through at this moment passed through her mind. She felt useless. She had failed to do anything in order to even prevent this from happening to Fluttershy. Deep down in her soul, Rarity felt the despair of knowing this was her fault.

Even though she was so wrapped up in her pity and sorrow, even though that she was so busy crying that she shouldn’t have heard it, Rarity did. Rarity heard the small metallic clang in front of her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and instantly the tears stopped. Laying in front of her was the nail file. Only, it was whole again. As if it had never been broken. Rarity’s astonishment and confusion far outweighed her sorrow after seeing this sight.

“What did you do that for?” A high pitched, gravelly voice from behind Rarity scolded, causing Rarity to jump from shock.

“What do you mean?” A similar, yet different voice responded. “She was crying because her file broke.”

“No, you idiot,” A third voice growled. “She’s obviously crying because she’s stuck in there.”

“Well shouldn’t we do something to get her out then?” Yet another voice asked.

“Who is there?” Rarity shouted, addressing whatever the sources of these voices were. “Who are you? Show yourselves!”

Even though a lot of bizarre things had been happening to Rarity today, she was still not prepared for the sight she was greeted with. Four small creatures ran out from behind Rarity and into her line of sight. Each one looked small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. They looked to be made of cloth and rags that were stitched together in various places, and each one was wearing a different colored vest made of felt. Their rough and jagged appearance was a lot similar to that of Diamond Dogs.

“It was us ma’am,” The one on the far left told Rarity. It was slightly taller than the rest. Its vest was green and he wore a collar that read “Lennon”. Pultruding from its back was a needle, pin downwards, along with a seam ripper. All four of the canines had them in fact.

Rarity was not sure what to make of the sight she was seeing. Of all the sights that she had seen in her life, this was by far the most unexplainable one she had seen so far.

“And, were you the ones that, fixed my file?” Rarity knew that there were more important questions she should be asking right now. Like, if these things could help Fluttershy, or whether or not she was crazy at the moment. But that was the first thing that came to her mind, and thus, became the first thing she asked of these creatures.

“Yes!” The second one in the line, to the right of Lennon enthusiastically told her. Its vest was orange and its collar’s tag read Cartney. “It was me, who did that actually, ma’am. I sewed it back together.” It pulled the needle from its back and held it tightly against its body.

“Sew?” Rarity raised an eyebrow, coming closer and closer to the conclusion that she was in fact going insane. “What, you mean, like fabric?”

“Fabric, yeah, yeah,” The third one, with a blue vest and a collar reading “Harrison” agreed while rapidly nodding its head. “But, not fabric. File. We sewed the file.”

“I SEWED THE FILE!” Cartney insisted while stamping one of his forelegs.

“The point being,” The last one, who was wearing a red vest and collar tag that said “Starr” sighed. “We can sew anything together like it was made of fabric. The two pieces of the file, in this case.”

Somehow, even though the evidence was right in front of her, as well as the fact that more impossible things have been happening today, Rarity met this claim with a bit of skepticism. Maybe it was because sewing was something that hit so close to home with her. She understood the ins and outs of the craft so deeply that a claim like this was nearly impossible to register in her mind.

“Did, I do good ma’am?” Cartney sheepishly asked.

“Hmm, the file?” Rarity raised an eyebrow at it. “Oh yes, now it’s in perfect condition to NOT GET ME OUT OF HERE!” She gritted her teeth and resumed her fruitless struggle against her metal tomb.

“You heard the lady!” Lennon ordered, “She wants us to get her out of there!”

“But, she said that the file is not getting her out of there,” Harrison pointed out.

“You idiot!” Lennon growled before hitting Harrison over the head. “You got to learn to read between the lines!”

“She didn’t write anything though,” Cartney informed the group, earning him the nice reward of a punch from Lennon similar to the one he gave to Harrison.

“You all don’t just look like Diamond Dogs,” Rarity muttered, “You behave like them too.”

“Just separate her from the metal already,” Starr sighed as he put one hand to his face and used to other to remove the seam ripper from his back. No holes were left in the fabric they all appeared to be made from when the rest followed suit.

“Just what do you intend to do with those?” Rarity asked, not too confident on the situation.

“Why don’t you be quiet and just watch?” Lennon retorted. “Or do you not want out of there?” He didn’t wait for Rarity’s answer, however. He and his three companions took their seam rippers and got closer to Rarity. Each of them took a different point, and then suddenly jammed the tools right at where Rarity and the metal met.

Rarity flinched and closed her eyes, about to cry out in protest. But, she felt no pain. There was no stabbing sensation that a sharp object had been thrust into her skin. Nervously, Rarity opened her eyes, and was surprised to see that the cloth mutts had somehow managed to get the tips of the rippers between her and the metal. Not only that, but they were moving around in a circle while dragging the tools. There was no sound of metal scraping against metal. They appeared to be functioning as a normal seam ripper would in fabric. When they got to the point where the next one from them clockwise started, meaning their combined efforts had made a complete circle around her, each of the Diamond Dogs pulled their rippers out and stood back.

“There you go,” Starr announced confidently as he jabbed his seam ripper into the ground and leaned against it. “You’re separated from the metal.”

“Just what are you talking about?” Rarity began to ask, before she suddenly felt, looser. She felt less constricted. Rarity felt free from her prison somehow. She wasted no time act on these new feelings. Even though she previously couldn’t move them at all, Rarity now was able to lift up her arms and just slip them out through the metal. Not only that, but she was able to push up and free herself from the hole she was in. It felt like it wasn’t even touching her at all. Finally free, Rarity raised her arms triumphantly before realizing she was just in the hot tub. She quickly ran over while covering herself and grabbed a towel to wear.

“While I do not fully understand what is going on right now,” Rarity admitted. “I thank the four of you deeply.” She looked at the door, not wanting to stay in this room and leave Fluttershy at the mercy of Aloe. She looked back down at the four Diamond Dogs at her feet. “Can I rely on the four of you to help me rescue my friend?”

“We’re yours to command,” Lennon informed her, bowing his head slightly. With one eye he looked up at his companions, hit the nearest one over the head, and they did the same.

This was more than satisfactory for Rarity.  She ushered them out of the room and the five of them searched the empty halls. Rarity opened the nearest door and peaked in. The room was another empty hot tub room. No sign of Fluttershy and Aloe. Cartney, Harrison, Starr, and Lennon all ran from door to door, surprisingly able to open them and look inside the rooms, but only looked back with a shake of their heads.

“Figures,” Rarity sighed. “She probably wouldn’t be keeping Fluttershy on the same floor as me. Most likely somewhere in the basement. Follow me.” Though she didn’t care whether or not the dogs would actually follow her. Nothing was going to stop her from saving Fluttershy. Luckily, they did follow Rarity.

Seeing as the basement was much smaller than the ground floor, there wasn’t much to search. Even then, Rarity knew almost exactly where Fluttershy would be. It was so cliché that there was no way it could be anywhere else. She ran past all of the doors in the basement hall and straight door at the end of it, which led into the boiler room.

Sure enough, like a mildly entertaining January action movie, Aloe had Fluttershy in a chair and tied to the inactive radiator. The spa tender at least had the decency to wrap her in a towel beforehand. Though that seemed to be all the luxuries Rarity’s friend was given by her captor. Her eyes were stained with tears both past and fresh. Her skin was red, as if it had endured repeated exposure to intense heat. Fluttershy was squinting her eyes shut, doing her best to hold back tears.

“I do not understand why you continue to resist me.” Aloe commented as she crossed her arms. “All you need to do is tell me where Twilight has taken Lotus and the pain will cease.”

“B-Because,” Fluttershy stammered through the pain. “I’m telling you the truth! I don’t know where your sister is! And Twilight didn’t take her!”

This response did not seem to satisfy Aloe in the slightest. Suddenly, a new figure appeared right next to her. It stood a few inches taller that Aloe. Wait, it wasn’t standing, it was floating slightly off the ground. This figure’s body was entirely a pale shade of teal. What looked like soap bubbles littered its body, clustering together for form arm guards, shin guards, and a helmet over its otherwise stoic face. Aloe was not fazed by this figure appearing in the slightest. 

Aloe then snapped her fingers. As soon as the sharp sound rang through the air, the bubble figure plunged its hands into the steam, closed its fist, and pulled out a white solid chunk. It immediately pressed it right against Fluttershy’s bare skin. She shrieked as she was burned by it. She failed to hold back the tears as she struggled and thrashed against the radiator, trying desperately to get away. The figure squeezed the object harder, and it turned into pure steam.


This was too much for Rarity to take. Fluttershy was being hurt right in front of her eyes. This was enough to make her feel like the radiator that Aloe was operating. Part of her wanted to run in there at that very moment and punch the spa worker right across the face. But, the more rational part noted that figure turning the steam solid. Whatever it was, it clearly was more than a match for Rarity on her own.

“I don’t know what that thing in there is,” Rarity whispered as she bent down to address the Diamond Dogs, “But, it looks like it’s somehow creating solid steam to use to burn Fluttershy. I suspect that it’s also what was behind the water in our hot tub suddenly turning to solid metal. Regardless of whether or not any of that it true, taking it head on seems like it would not be a wise idea at all. Do you think you all can manage some sort of sneak attack?”

“You can leave it to us!” Cartney declared in a slightly loud voice, which resulted in three simulations clocks to the head from his companions. He rubbed his head and growled lowly, before sprinting into the room with Starr and Harrison. Lennon jumped up on Rarity’s shoulder to watch the three of them with her.

Despite how fast they were running, the Diamond Dogs made no sounds when they ran across the hard tile floor. That, coupled with their small size, made them practically undetectable to Aloe, who was much too preoccupied slowly making bubbles with her strange companion. As such, the dogs were able to enact whatever they were planning unnoticed.

Starr and Harrison ran to the side of the radiator opposite to Aloe and began to scale it with relative ease. They used this to jump onto a pipe that was hanging from the ceiling and connecting to the radiator. While they ran across the pipe back towards the door, Cartney was running behind Aloe to the wall across from the door.

Using his seam ripper, Starr began to tear through where the pipe and the ceiling connected. At the same time, Harrison pushed his needle through the pipe with relative ease. He looped it around as if he was threading it and then threw it across the room towards Cartney. Cartney caught the needle, threaded it through the wall, and then threw it back to Harrison, who threaded it through the pipe on last time. This coincided with Starr finishing ripping the pipe from the ceiling. Holding his needle tightly, Harrison jumped from the pipe down towards the floor. Starr grabbed onto his back as he did so.

The actual thread woven through the eye of Harrison’s needle was too thin to see from a distance. Despite this, Rarity was able to tell that there had to be some sort of sturdy string that had followed the path that the needle had. Starr and Harrison were not plummeting at the rate of someone falling from such a height. Instead, they were being lowered down on the needle. Rather quickly, but not as fast as if they were in freefall. Rarity could visualize string that was leading from the pipe to the wall. She could see the string tightening in her mind as it pulled the pipe closer to it, causing it to swing down and collide with Aloe, knocking off her feet, before sticking to the wall.

As Aloe laid on the ground, Rarity didn’t even check to make sure she was full incapacitated. She instead immediately ran over to Fluttershy, quickly dropping to her knees as she frantically began to tug at the knots surrounding her. 

“R-Rarity!” Fluttershy gasped as she opened her right eye, the left swollen from the steam, “W-What are you doing here?” 

“I came to get you, darling!” Rarity shouted quickly, her fingers fumbling about on the rather expertly tied knots, “I’m, gah, these knots….” 

“M-Miss Rarity you need to get out here! When Aloe wakes up…” 

“I know, I know, but I can’t leave you behind with her either!” Rarity continued to try to undo the rope, but without much success, “Gah! Starr, I need you!” 

Turning quickly, Starr acknowledged her with a, “Yes ma’am!” He ran over to Rarity, climbing up the leg of the chair and then using Rarity’s arm to perch on her shoulder, “What do you need from me?” 

“I need you to help me get Fluttershy free!” She grunted as she tugged on the knots, “Can you get her out the same way that you did my own bonds?” 

“Alright, leave it to me!” Brandishing his seam ripper, Starr jumped off of Rarity’s shoulder onto the ropes. Aloe had tied them tightly around Fluttershy’s torso, and he quickly jammed the ripper into where Fluttershy’s towel met the rope. He quickly ran around Fluttershy clockwise, dragging the ripper along with him until he met where he’d started. He climbed down the ropes and did so to the bottom of them, then hopped back onto Rarity’s shoulder.

“Uhm... Rarity..?” Fluttershy turned to look back towards the chair and how she’d seemingly been freed from the ropes, only for Rarity to reach forward and grip her shoulder. 

“There’s not time for questions, Fluttershy! You need to get out of here and call the authorities!” Rarity looked her up and down. 

“B-but, what about you?” Fluttershy stammered, but the sound of steam being released around both of them interrupted her.

Suddenly, the room was filled with billowing hot steam. Rarity and Fluttershy were blinded by the sheer force of it, the heat of it burning their skin as it touched them. Both mares cried out in anguish, trembling as they fumbled about for a safe spot from the onslaught. 

In the middle of the steam was a small patch of air, where Aloe stood with an expression of pure rage. Her white hair band was torn and her hair was ragged from hitting the ground. A large red gash on her right temple bled slightly from where Rarity’s Diamond Dogs had caused the pipe to fall on her. Whenever the steam would get near her, it would turn to water and fall to the ground. This created a small pocket where there was no steam.

“She’s she’s liquifying the steam around her so she wouldn't get hurt!” Cartney cried out to Rarity. Lennon and Harrison retreated towards Rarity instinctively, while Starr stayed perched on her shoulder. 

“Why…. why you two…” Aloe’s voice was filled with pure unbridled rage, a sneer crossing her lips, “You two lie about taking my sister… then you attack me just to cover up your own hides?!” Raising her hand, Aloe squeezed her palm shut, more steam bubbles exploding around the two, “I’ll just have to KILL you, Rarity!!!”

“Fluttershy, get out of here NOW!” Rarity shouted, pushing Fluttershy towards what she assumed was the direction she came in, “Get out of here and get help!” 

“B-But, Rarity!!” Fluttershy gasped in terror, but the hissing of steam caused her to shout in pain and run. After Rarity was sure that she was leaving, she turned to Starr.

“Starr, follow Fluttershy until she gets out of the building!” She ordered, “And, make sure she gets her clothes before she does!” 

“Yes ma’am!” Starr shouted to be heard over the hissing of steam. He quickly jumped off Rarity’s shoulder and ran silently down the hallway after the retreating mare. 

The burning sensation against Rarity’s skin continued to grow as Rarity opened her eyes painfully to take in her surroundings. From the faintest silhouette, Rarity could see Aloe’s shape near the radiator, and the floating figure beside her had its hand around the small spout of steam. It was constantly grabbing solid steam and throwing it into the room, where it would turn back into gas. Rarity could safely assume Aloe was planning to burn Rarity with her steam grenades until it was too much for her to take. 

Rarity had to think fast. Normally, it’d take at least an hour for a radiator of that size to fill the room with steam from such a small opening. Yet with Aloe using her ability solidify and throw the steam around her, she was significantly speeding up the process. Rarity’s knowledge of steam was minimal, but she could assume that the room was already two-thirds full of the boiling hot steam already, and it was continuing to build as she stood. 

Despite knowing she needed to stop the steam to directly incapacitate Aloe, said steam was already so thick that Rarity was unable to see the radiator anymore. And even worse, how would she be able to stop the steam once she got there? 

Rarity’s analytical mind suddenly realized something, “Dears, did you three say that you could sew together anything? Metal too?”

Cartney nodded, “Yeah, yeah ma’am, we can sew together anything!” 

Lennon pipped up to add, “We put your file back together earlier, remember?” 

Grimacing with the revelation she’d forgotten such a crucial detail, Rarity turned in the vague direction of where she knew the radiator was. She could recall how these Diamond Dogs were able to weave invisible strings together and cinch them tight. If they could do that… 

“Lennon, Harrison!” Rarity shouted, “I need you to sew the opening to the radiator shut!”

Nodding rapidly, the two figures quickly drew their needles and ran across the floor of the room. Harrison brandished his tool and separated from Lennon, who continued to run straight. The two seemingly knew where the radiator was, and best of all they were silent in doing so. 

However, Rarity wasn’t given much time to stand and wait for her Diamond Dogs to do the trick. Before she knew it, a teal fist crashed into the side of her ribs, sending her stumbling backwards. Rarity cried out in pain as she tripped and fell, smacking against the wall with a grunt. 

“I don’t know who you’re talking to…” Aloe’s voice rang out, followed by the teal fist gripping Rarity by the neck and lifting her off the ground, “But I’m going to have to ask you to SHUT UP AND LET ME KILL YOU!” 

Rarity’s eyes bulged as she was strangled by the teal figure. While the figure wasn’t particularly strong, it was still enough to take her breath away. The seamstress tried to grip the figure’s hand, but her hands seemingly went right through it. 

“Ma’am!” Cartney, whom had been at Rarity’s feet, saw his master being strangled and jumped into action. Brandishing his seam ripper, Cartney leapt up Rarity’s form, climbing up the towel until she’d reached Rarity’s throat. Gripping the ripper, Carntey plunged the tool between Rarity’s neck and the figure’s hand, running along where its hand was ‘connected’ to Rarity’s neck. 

As Cartney dragged the ripper back to where he’d begun, Rarity’s neck and the figure’s hand ‘separated.’ Rarity slid to the floor, coughing as she rubbed her neck. 

“What?! How did you?!” Aloe’s voice rang out as Rarity looked up. Rarity felt all of the steam in the room turn to water that cascaded down onto her. Now there was no steam in the room that obscured her few. She saw that Aloe stood before her along with the figure she’d seen earlier floating beside her with its hand still outstretched in a gripping motion.

Cartney was hanging onto Rarity’s shoulder, still holding his seam ripper. Seeing this, Aloe’s gaze darkened as she pointed directly towards the small figure. 

“You… You have a Stand, just like me?!” Aloe sneered, “You lied about my sister, attacked me and you had a stand the entire time?!” The spa worker growled, “You bitch!” 

“A Stand?” Rarity blinked, turning to face Cartney. The Diamond Dog simply shrugged his shoulders, “What’s a Stand?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know now you lying whore!” Aloe drew her fist back, “You’ve had a Stand this entire time and you hid it from me!” 

As Aloe plunged her fist down towards Rarity, Rarity’s many months of self-defense training in preparation for her trips to Canterlot and Manehatten kicked in. She dodged to the right, narrowly missing Aloe’s attack. She gripped the wall with her left hand and used it to drag herself up to her feet, before backing away from Aloe with her fists raised to protect herself. 

With her attacks failed, Aloe’s rage only burned brighter as she snarled, “Fine then, you want to fight?! Then I’ll fight you!” Aloe’s fingers opened and then closed into a fist, “THEN BURN!” 

However, as Aloe expected more steam grenades to be thrown, nothing came towards Rarity. Aloe’s expression turned into one of confusion as she turned, looking towards the radiator. 

There, Harrison and Lennon stood atop of the valve, the metal having been squeezed shut. Rarity could sense the invisible threads that they’d used to pull the valve shut, like cinching a patch onto a pair of pants. 

“There’s more of them?!” Aloe turned on her heel, looking towards Cartney and then back to Harrison and Lennon, “Whatever, WHATEVER! They’re all small and can’t possibly hurt my Slippery When Wet!” Aloe slowly let out an evil chuckle, “I’ll kill you yet, Rarity!” 

“Dears, come here!” Rarity waved to Harrison and Lennon, who nodded and plunged their seam rippers into the radiator, sliding down to the ground with them. Once there, the two ran across the floor, narrowly avoiding Aloe’s stomps as they made their way towards Rarity, who had finally found the exit and begun to run down the hall. 

“GET BACK HERE!” Aloe shouted, running in pursuit. Rarity gasped in fear as she felt Harrison and Lennon finally crawl up her back and onto her shoulders, hanging there along with Cartney. 

“So, what’s the plan here?” Lennon spoke up, “That ‘Stand’ thingy she has looks dangerous!”” 

“We should just keep running! She can’t catch us if we just keep running!” Cartney suggested, earning him a knock on the head from Harrison. 

“Idiot, she’ll just keep following us if we do that!” He turned to Rarity, “So what is the plan?” 

Rarity was running as fast as she could, and as such her thinking was hampered. She had no idea what was happening here, only knowing that these ‘Diamond Dogs’ were the only way she was going to escape Aloe and her Slippery When Wet. 

“I think running right now is the best option, darling!” Rarity panted, seeing the stairs back up to the ground floor in front of her, “We have to make sure Fluttershy got out alright!” 

“Hah!” Cartney smirked, knocking Harrison over the head, “My plan was the best!” 

“Hey, don’t you hit me!” Harrison growled, turning to knock Cartney as well. The two began to clock each other over and over in a match to see who was better at plan making. 

“Stop that right now!” Rarity huffed, turning to face their bickering. She was only a few meters away from the stairs, “We need to focus on getting out of-”

Suddenly, Rarity lost balance and tripped onto the floor. But it wasn’t the floor as she knew it. It was some sort of liquid. It was the same color as the floor, but it wasn’t solid. Then it was again. Just as quick as the floor had become liquid, it became solid again.

Rarity was on her hands and shins at the time, attempting to get up. The parts of them that were submerged in the liquid floor were now trapped in the once again solid floor. Grunting, Rarity struggled to try and get up, but couldn’t hope to make the tiles budge.

Frustrated, Rarity turned her head around to see Aloe standing above her. She had her foot raised high above Rarity’s back. As Aloe prepared to stomp her foot on Rarity’s back, the mutts had finished separating her hands from the floor. Aloe brought her foot down onto hard tile as Rarity darted forward and towards the nearest room.

As Rarity looked around, she realized that she was a in a massive storage room. Boxes of spa supplies were stacked to the ceiling, along with trays and various towels. A sink was imbedded into the wall, along with a washer and dryer across from the sink. 

Gripping the sink as she dragged herself to her feet, Rarity grunted as she coughed. She was cornered now. Aloe and Slippery When Wet would be entering the room any minute now. There would be no escape. This was to be the final confrontation. Rarity looked around the room, trying to formulate a plan. In her mind, she attempted to figure out an effective way of utilizing the room’s contents, as well as the ability of her so-called Stands.

“I hope you don’t mind me cleaning up a little,” Aloe announced as she walked into the room. She aggressively had Slippery When Wet knock over a stack of boxes whenever one was in her way. “We get numerous customers a day, so it only makes sense that we keep such a large stock on hand. Everything from shampoos, to therapeutic mud, massage oil.” Slippery when wet picked up a box beside it. “And of course, bleach to disinfect all of the towels the customers love oh so much.” The box turned to gas.

Rarity’s eyes widened at the mention of bleach. If she had turned everything into the stockroom into bubbles, then that meant some of the bubbles would be made of bleach. That meant if she popped one…

“Yes,” Aloe grinned at Rarity’s fearful realization, “I see you understand what I am implying? In case that is yet another lie, let me explain thoroughly. My Slippery When Wet has the ability to change the state of anything it touches. Solid to liquid, liquid to gas, gas to solid. Normally to do this, you would have to give or take away so much heat from an object. Of course, Slippery When Wet can just change the state directly without need for any heat.”

“However, that doesn’t mean that it is not able to use heat.” Aloe continued, waving her hand through the gas around her. “Normally when it changes something to a gas, it simply turns to gas with no change in temperature. But, as you saw with my little, sauna session with your friend, Slippery When Wet is able to bring an object to the heat it would need to naturally be in such a state.”

“Do you know what happens when you burn bleach Rarity?” Aloe asked. “There is a label on the bottle that tells you to keep it away from open fires. Why? Because when it is burnt, bleach turns into a toxic gas, capable of suffocating you to death. These boxes are unfortunately not labeled, so even I do not know which ones contain bleach. And Slippery When Wet needs to touch the object in order to bring it to a higher temperature.”

Slippery When Wet punched the box next to it as hard as it could. The cardboarded singed and evaporated to reveal plastic bottles of shampoo. These bottles started to bubble and evaporate as well. The contents inside followed suit and the air began to smell a lot more fragrant. 

“So forgive me if I keep you waiting for longer than need be. Eventually I’ll achieve the results I desire, however.” The gas turned directly to liquid once it got close to Aloe, still forming a pocket that kept her from breathing it in. “Once I have disposed of you, I will find the yellow one again and learn where my sister is.”

The Stand did not let in its destruction of boxes. Every second that passed a new box was turned to hot gas. More shampoo, sizzling oil, and hot mud filled the air. In this situation, the abilities of Aloe’s Stand seemed to be far more useful than Rarity’s.

But that did not mean Rarity would give up hope or cease trying. She was an artist. Art is making the most of what you have. Using what you are given to make something truly beautiful. Anyone who could not manage that did not deserve to call themselves an artist. Rarity was an artist and would find away with nearly nothing to work with.

Rarity decided to take a look at what she did have to work with between dodging boiling soap. Lennon, Cartney, and Harrison were all scampering frantically around the room, trying to find something to sew together or take apart. But nearly everything was being turned to gas. And even then, the only things in the room were made from cardboard and plastic. A few times Harrison tried to leap at and bite Slippery When Wet’s ankle, but he was simply kicked away. The only things inside this store room that weren’t made of a flimsy material were the sink, washer, and dryer.

Instantly Rarity’s mind sparked with a thought. Sinks, washer, water, pipes. Pipes in a multitude of directions, hanging from every which way. She had a string of sorts at her disposal. Rarity knew what she wanted to do, what she had to do to end this. The only problem was, she couldn’t even begin to think of a way to vocalize her plan, much less shout it out and order it to her Stands.

“Lennon,” Rarity shouted as she jumped back as hard as she could, narrowly avoiding boiling mud. “Is there any way I can assume more direct control of the sewing process?”

“There is,” The Diamond Dog said as he skidded to a halt in front of Rarity. “But it’s got some drawbacks to it. And we need all four of us here. And Starr is…”

Just as Lennon was about to finish his statement of Starr not being there, Starr came running in the room, shouting for Rarity.

“Ma’am!” The mutt shouted frantically. “Ma’am! I’m sorry ma’am, I tried but I…”

“Never mind that now!” Lennon barked. “All you mutts, front and center this instant!” Starr instantly stood at attention and soon after Harrison and Cartney came running towards them. Once all four of the Diamond Dogs were present, Harrison tossed his needle and ripper up to Rarity. “Alright, this is how you get more direct control. Just do what comes naturally.”

Before Rarity could even ask what he meant, the four of them leapt up into the air towards her. She was about to cry out in protest, before an urge came over her. Instinctually, she ripped through the cloth canines, turning them all into much more fabric than they should have been made of, with much more ease than there should have been for such a task. Then, still in the instinctual trance, she had her arm dance through the fabric. She just let her mind go free and her body move on its own. Soon, Rarity found herself sewing the shape of a much larger dog. She had woven the four dogs into a single one.

This new dog, who was now wearing a white vest, and had a silver collar reading “Beatle”, was a lot more feminine in appearance. Rarity had never seen a female Diamond Dog before. It’s body was curvier than a male’s, and its face was unmistakably female, yet it still looked rough, ragged, and made of cloth. Rarity finished the process by tossing the needle and ripper to it, which grew bigger for its hands.

“There you go,” Beatle announced in a gruffly feminine voice. “I’ll now obey your thoughts as if they were command. A couple warnings though. I can’t move more than two meters from you now, or sew anything farther away than that. And anytime I get hurt, you’ll get hurt in the same way. Keep that in mind, and I hope you know what you are doing.”

“That is good to know dear,” Rarity nodded. “But kindly be quiet and let the artist work. I would not have asked for this if I did not already know how I intended to use it.”

Aloe had not just stood idly by however, while this transformation took place. She’d patiently waited for a huge cloud of gas to congregate in front of her. Aloe cried out in anger and had Slippery When Wet strike as many of the boxes as it could.

“Intend to do something?!” Aloe growled, apparently having been listening to Rarity’s side of the conversation with her stand, “Well I intend to do something too! YOU WON’T GET THE BEST OF ME, RARITY!”

With that, Slippery When Wet’s fists suddenly began to blur, punching at every box that was in front of it. Molten shampoo, burning hot boxes and charred towels came flying towards Rarity, in far greater quantities than before. Despite not being lethal, the gas cloud was incredibly hot.

However, As Rarity began to dodge, she felt something far more, instinctual about her movements. It similar to when she began to design her dresses, letting her musings take light on a page without her putting that much conscious effort into every stroke of her pen. While she felt the same as usual, her body seemed to move more reflexively. 

However, that was until Rarity heard a small hissing noise. Aloe’s eyes widened and her mouth sharpened into a grin, “HAH! It’s over Rarity! My Slippery When Wet finally has you cornered!” 

Rarity turned to face Slippery When Wet’s fists, just in time to see a box evaporating. The contents splattered to the floor, carrying the unmistakable smell of bleach. However, it was only a moment later that the puddle began to froth, bits of it turning slightly yellow. Rarity stepped back as the the puddle continued to froth, which could only mean one thing: evaporation. 

Aloe’s grin only grew as the yellow fumes began to rise, hitting the ceiling and spreading out across it. Her own face was still protected inside of her own pocket, while Rarity was left in the open to the deadly gas. Aloe’s fists slowly opened and closed as she taunted in her victory. 

“I learned this when I was a younger spa worker: you only have maybe three minutes before the fumes begin to corrode your lungs!” Aloe cackled, “But before that your eyes will dry out and burn, and say goodbye to your sense of smell! This is for Lotus, Rarity! BURN FOR LOTUS!” 

As the fumes rose, Rarity slightly bent over, keeping her head below the fume line. She turned to look at Aloe, then back up to the fumes. Beatle mirrored her stance, holding the needle close to it and the ripper out in front. The puddle continued to burn up as more fumes were released, making the layer above Rarity even thicker. 

However, Rarity did not panic. In her mind, she already knew what she had to do. Without saying a word, Beatle raised its needle in the air, and then suddenly spun around with it. Rarity held still as the needle wove between her eyelids, nostrils and lips, weaving the invisible thread between them. Then, with a swift yank, Rarity’s eyes, nostrils and lips were sealed shut. 

Internally, Rarity forced herself to stay calm. She’d acted without having to think of this first, and it was just what she needed. This way, the fumes wouldn't get to her body and wouldn't kill her. Of course, this now meant she couldn't breathe either, nor could she see or smell anything. But for the moment, she was safe. 

“W-What the hell did you just do?!” Despite two of her main senses being cut off, Rarity could hear Aloe’s startled gasp, “Y-You just sewed your face shut! You’re insane!” 

Rarity wanted to say something in return, but undoing the string would mean undoing it around her eyes and nose too. Instead Rarity took a moment to reorient herself, and think. She was facing Aloe, whom was standing in front of the wall adjacent to the washer and dryer. If she was going to end this properly, she needed to do something fast before her lungs ran out of oxygen. 

Darting forward, Beatle brandished its needle, staying silent as Rarity held the weapon. With two large strides, Rarity had crossed the duration of the floor. With Beatle, Rarity could ‘sense’ the wall in front of her, and that was all she needed to implement her plan. 

Drawing its arm back, Beatle plunged its needle into the wall. However, rather than clanking into the concrete, the needle phased through it. Rarity could sense it entering into what she’d needed to get to all along: the pipes. 

Thanks to the perception the needle granted her, Rarity was able to feel where the pipes went. Still holding the needle, Beatle began to move forward, dragging it along and weaving the string inside of the metal pipes. Rarity, knowing about the range of Beatle, moved along with it. 

As Rarity was about to pass the washer, her right foot suddenly began to burn. Molten hot shampoo had been shot at it, and without her ability to see and her attention focused on her plan, it was a direct hit. Had Rarity’s mouth been able to open, she would have yelled out in pain. 

“Stop moving you little bitch!” Aloe growled, “Stop moving so I can make you burn!” 

Just as Aloe finished her sentence, Rarity heard the slightest noise coming from the right. A spray of hot, liquid towels came flying at them, but Rarity wasn’t able to tell the angle. As such, she was forced to jump backwards, avoiding the attack just in time for a burning sensation to fill her left shoulder. 

While Rarity couldn't see them, a splattered towels had landed on the left shoulder of Beatle. Beatle’s earlier warning about damage being transferred to her flashed in her mind, but she couldn't stop now. Aloe had hurt Fluttershy badly, and she needed to pay for what she’d done to her. That, and if she stopped now, she’d likely be burned to death by molten spa supplies.

Without a moment to lose, Rarity darted forward, still weaving the needle through the wall. Her lungs were beginning to burn from lack of oxygen, and she felt it in her gut. Yet she didn’t stop, still weaving her plan along with her needle, hearing splashes of Aloe’s attacks hitting all around her. It took all she had to jump and dodge, and even then bits of mud or shampoo continued to splash onto her legs. 

Even still, Rarity couldn’t stop; she wouldn’t stop. Instead, as she felt her needle touch the end of the pipe, she had Beatle yank the tool out from the wall, still dragging the string along with her. Then, without warning, she suddenly turned tail and ran straight towards Aloe, Beatle right behind her with needle in hand. 

Having expected her to continue forward, Aloe’s eyes widened as she saw Rarity turn to her, and, just as Rarity knew she would, drew Slippery When Wet in between her and Rarity. She and Beatle charged towards both master and stand, the positioning of her needle making every indication that she was about to try to stab Aloe. 

However, at the last second, Rarity stopped dead in her tracks, just short of punching Slippery When Wet. Beatle, however, continued to run, holding the needle as he lapped around Aloe and her stand. Aloe’s confusion gave Rarity just enough time to jump backwards as Beatle ran a second time around Aloe and Slippery When Wet. Once done, Beatle returned to Rarity. Then, as Aloe turned, Beatle suddenly reared up and threw the needle, making contact where it had first struck the wall. 

Then, with Rarity leaping to the right of Beatle, Beatle reached out and gripped the invisible string. Giving it a massive tug, the string through the wall, pipes and around Aloe and Slippery When Wet tightened up. The force of the string caused Aloe to shriek as both she and her stand flew towards the wall, tightened to it by Rarity’s stand. And, as she found, the string held Slippery When Wet’s fists down against the wall, preventing her from striking any other boxes. 

Beatle quickly tied the string off to itself, keeping Aloe and Slippery When Wet against the wall. Then, as Aloe opened her mouth to speak, Beatle drew its fist back and delivered a hard punch right to Aloe’s jaw, a clean uppercut that made her shriek in pain.

“A lady never punches someone unless it is the most dire of situations,” the string through Rarity’s face receded, opening her mouth up to speak, “But when she must, she is sure to end it in one swift motion!” 

“Y-You!” Aloe tried to jerk up to attack, but the string holding her to the wall was wrapped tightly around both her and her stand. Neither had the strength to break it apart, leaving them trapped there. 

“A lady also knows how long it takes for smoke to fill a room!” Rarity pointed a finger at Aloe, “Clearly you’ve never had breakfast with Sweetie Bell! By now your bleach will have dissipated in the room and into the hallway!” Beatle stood behind Rarity, holding its needle tightly, “The net I’ve woven around the pipes is too strong for you to break. If you try to struggle in any direction, the pipes will attempt to join in a hundred different ones. You’ve lost Aloe!”

Despite how pointless it was, Aloe continued to struggle and thrash in her invisible bindings. She was beyond the point of forming words. She pulled and cried incoherently, glaring at Rarity with pure hatred in her eyes. 

Rarity stood over her fallen foe as Beatle deformed back into its four original parts. Together, all of them gazed down at Aloe. Rarity knew she should have been feeling hatred, contempt, or even satisfaction while looking at her. But deep in her heart, Rarity could only feel pity at the sight of her. 

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Aloe shouted, finally able to form sentences again. “YOU AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS! YOU TOOK MY SISTER! I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! ANY OF YOU! YOU’RE ALL…”

“Aloe, stop!” Fluttershy shouted from the entrance to the room. She was fully clothed now, looking straight across the room with a firefly determination in her eyes. Everyone in the room was speechless. Even Aloe, who had somehow ceased her thrashing and shouting. 

“I thought I told you to make sure she got out of the building safely,” Rarity whispered to Starr.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you before you sewed us together,” Starr explained. “There wasn’t much I could do to make her leave.”

Wordlessly, Fluttershy marched directly over to Aloe as she sat there bound together with the wall. Rarity wanted to protest, but couldn’t bring herself to. The pegasus knelt down and looked Aloe, who was gritting her teeth and glaring with the hatred of a thousand suns back at her. This didn’t phase Fluttershy, however, as she took her by the face and gazed directly into her eyes.

“You need to calm down,” Fluttershy said calmly but sternly. “This isn’t right, this isn’t like you. You need to calm down and remember. You need to remember that we’re your friends and we would never do anything to hurt you.” 

Not once did Fluttershy break her stone gaze into her former tormentor’s eyes. Slowly, her expression of anger and hatred faltered. Her face steadily morphed into a blank stare. Rarity could have sworn her eyes were playing tricks on her; but she thought she saw a bracelet suddenly appear on Aloe’s wrist, before shattering. After that had happened, Aloe passed out.

~~~

“I cannot even begin to tell you how sorry I am!” Aloe sobbed on the office room table as she sat across from Fluttershy and Rarity. Whatever spell she had been under, it was clearly broken thanks to the powers of Fluttershy’s stare. 

“It’s quite alright darling, we assure you,” Rarity tried to console the spa worker. In truth, she did still feel contempt for the pain she had caused both her and Fluttershy. But she knew that grudges got nobody anywhere. “It clearly was not you who was doing that to us darling.”

“It must have been some other Stand User,” Fluttershy offered. She had no choice but to explain what Twilight had told her to both of them. Two more Stands that appeared without warning. Twilight was definitely not going to like this. “Maybe, you could try to remember what happened before you were hypnotized like that?”

“I simply cannot!” Aloe groaned as she gripped her temples roughly. “All I remember is getting down the last customer two nights ago with my sister, and then, blacking out. When I woke up, I was convinced that Princess Twilight had kidnapped her and that you knew where she was.”

“Well, that certainly doesn't offer us much help at all.” Rarity sighed. “But Fluttershy, you said about these, “Stands”, Rainbow Dash had also acquired one out of nowhere?” 

“Mmmhmm,” Fluttershy nodded. “And Twilight said it's not something that’s just supposed to happen.”

“I certainly can say I wasn’t born with the ability to summon these Diamond Dogs.” Rarity declared. “I didn’t even know what a Diamond Dog was until two years ago.”

“I can say similar about Slippery When Wet,” Aloe added. “On top of thinking Lotus was kidnapped by you, I suddenly just knew about it when I woke up. Do you think it's safe to say that whatever put me in that spell is also what is responsible for our Stands?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Fluttershy admitted. “But, I get the feeling this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this.”

~~~

Alone in a quiet room, a figure sat, looking at a red bracelet on his wrist. On said bracelet was a charm. Inside of the charm was a picture of Aloe’s face. The bracelet sat among many other on his right arm, each with a different charm and face imprinted on them. Each one pulsed with a distinct energy, but only one was pulled up to the front of his wrist. 

At first, the figure didn’t notice as a tear formed inside the spherical jewel. The jewel trembled before the tear deepened, almost as though it was fabric being cut across the center. After a few seconds, it shattered into fragments too small to see. The figure had just turned his head to see the band fade, something that caused his eyes to widen.

“It seems my friend wasn’t successful?” He said aloud to himself. His lips curled into a small frown, the bottom lip quivering slightly. He paused and lingered on his thoughts, before rotating the bracelet to look at another charm. This one had an image of the town’s local DJ, Vinyl Scratch, on it. “Well, maybe my other friend will have more luck?” Slowly, his frown moved back into a pensive smile.
> Bang! Ta-Dah!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere, at roughly the same time…
 
After an extraordinary lunch with two of her best friends in the whole world (actually, every friend she had she considered to be her best friend in the whole wide world, but Rarity and Fluttershy were even more of her best friends!), Pinkie Pie parted ways with them. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t have enjoyed going to the spa with them. The fact was that the atmosphere of the place was just too, calm and mellow for her. Pinkie Pie would much rather spend her afternoon at someplace the exact opposite.

Someplace such as DJ Pon3’s dance club.  Now this was more of her style. Loud, energetic music, plenty of people full of life and movement, an entire aura of good times and fun, places like that seemed like they were just made for Pinkie. So, who was she to deny herself from a place where she so clearly belonged?

It took Pinkie around ten more minutes to reach her destination than it did for her friends, since the club was on the other side of town. It had to be a certain distance away from any residential building, commercial building, government building, public building, or just about any building that people resided in due to the constant loud music it played. Loud, earth shaking, heart thumping music that was almost exclusively played by the club’s owner and DJ, Vinyl Scratch, more commonly known by her stage name of DJ Pon3.

The club held the outward appearance of being made from some sort of sleek, blue, futuristic metal. In reality, however, it was simply bricks painted over to look glossy. Above the while double doors with music shaped windows, tinted so much that they could not hope to serve their purpose, was a neon sign that read DJ PON3 in bright blue letters.

Even a few feet from the building, Pinkie Pie could hear the music blasting from within. She could feel the vibrations as soon as she walked up the steps and approached the entrance. When she opened the door, the full force of the ear deafening music blasted Pinkie in the face. With an ecstatic grin on her face, Pinkie entered the building, already bouncing up and down to the beat of the music.

As one would expect, the majority of a dance club’s patrons only came in during the evening. However, that didn’t stop Vinyl from keeping this place open all day long. She would keep on blasting her music and DJing even if there wasn’t a single customer that came to the place for weeks. While the revenue the patrons of the club brought in were a great benefit, playing music was her passion and the real reason why she had the club. To Vinyl, playing music was her voice.

Since they were such close friends, and that she resonated with the DJ on many levels, Vinyl felt comfortable with discussing her disability to Pinkie. By all accounts, she SHOULD be able to talk. There was nothing wrong with her vocal cords. But, it was something with her brain. She could move her mouth and she could vibrate her cords. But, when it came to doing the two at the same time, there was just something that didn’t compute in Vinyl’s brain.

This left Vinyl unable to talk at all. Vinyl lived her life entirely without a voice. Not having a voice made her feel alienated from everyone around her who could easily talk and get their point across. She on the other hand, was always forced to either write down or pantomime what she needed to say.

That’s why Vinyl turned to music. With her music, she could transmit her feelings to people without the need of a  voice. When she was standing up there at her DJ booth, blasting her music to the entire club, it felt like she was actually talking to all of them. Music was her voice.

These were all feelings the DJ normally kept to herself, as she tended to be very stubborn. But there was something about Pinkie that just, clicked with Vinyl. She certainly didn’t understand her struggle - if anything, she ran her mouth more than everyone else in the world combined - it was her attitude that struck a chord with Vinyl. The way she lived life each day, only caring about having fun and making other people happy. Vinyl had told Pinkie this is why she was someone who she could trust.

Pinkie found her trusted friend where she normally was, across the room from the entrance, standing at her complex setup and constantly making minor adjustments to make everything just perfect for the patrons. There were about ten club goers standing on the dance floor, which was indented into the ground. Lights of all colors flashed on and off in time with the beat of the music that was currently filling the air of the club.

For a few minutes, Pinkie Pie just simply joined the dancers in swaying her body to the music. She enjoyed herself and had a good time, not caring exactly what she was doing or who was around her. She just danced wherever the music took her, moving from spot to spot, occasionally joining in with another person before they both took the solo again. It wasn’t until Pinkie spun around to look up at the DJ booth that she noticed Vinyl was looking right at her.

It was hard to tell this, due to the dark purple sunglasses she always wore over her eyes. But it was clear that Vinyl was looking at Pinkie. The way her head slightly moved as she operated her equipment was a clear indication that it was tracking Pinkie as she danced across the floor. As soon as Vinyl noticed that Pinkie had caught on, she ushered for her guest to come up to the stand. Pinkie nodded and Vinyl let the music go on auto play.

Vinyl held up five fingers to the patrons that were looking her way; her way of indicating that she was taking a break. She walked away from her equipment and entered the door behind it, which led to her own personal break room, where she ducked in to eat her meals at work. She also used it if she needed a place to be by herself.

The room itself was rather small and bland. The walls were plain white drywall, save for a few band and concert posters hanging up around. There was a coffee table with couches on either side of it. Bowls of snacks sat on top of the table with some of their contents scattered across it. On the wall opposite the door was a counter with a microwave and a minifridge to heat and store her meals, since she tended to stay here all day.

Vinyl sat on the couch to the left of the table while Pinkie sat on the one to the right. In her mind, Pinkie prepared herself for the fun times she was about to have deciphering what Vinyl was going to try and say to her. Charades was always one of her favorite games, and it was pretty much the only way to talk to Vinyl. She closed her eyes and prepared herself in her mind for all of the common things Vinyl did to try and get her message across.

For the most part, Pinkie would be the one leading. She would have to start asking or implying things that she thought the conversation would be about. From there, body language was the name of the game. Instead of simply just nodding, Vinyl would straighten her glasses with her index finger if Pinkie was on the right track, but shake it back and forth if she was getting cold. Rolling her fingers on the desk meant that Vinyl wanted Pinkie to drop whatever train of thought she was on, because it couldn’t be further from what she wanted it to be.

There were also small, subtle things Vinyl did that Pinkie had picked up on over the long period of their friendship. If Pinkie was on the wrong track, but Vinyl found it amusing nonetheless, the edges of her lips would curl upwards ever so slightly. Smiling with teeth usually meant that Pinkie was spot on and practically reading her mind. Clenching her fist meant the same thing, but for something that Vinyl was not happy that Pinkie had figured out. This had only happened once, but Pinkie made a permanent note of it to know when she was going too far.

“I was wondering when you would show up,” Vinyl said as Pinkie started to finish up her preparations.

“Well of course,” Pinkie replied, still deep in her thoughts and collecting any final thoughts she needed to know. “I always come in the afternoon on…” Slowly, Pinkie’s gears began to grind to process what had just happened. “Um, who said that?” She looked across the table at Vinyl, the only other person in the room as far as Pinkie knew.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Now that Pinkie was looking right at her, there was little doubt that the source of the voice was Vinyl. It was clearly originating from where she was sitting. The only problem was, her lips weren’t moving at all. Twilight said that there is an advanced form of magic that would let you think in other people’s heads. Telephony? She couldn’t remember the name, but Pinkie did remember Twilight saying it was difficult, if not impossible to learn if you weren’t as good as magic as she was.

“You’re probably thinking that this isn’t right.” Vinyl’s voice rang through the room, still unclear of where the source was. “Vinyl isn’t supposed to talk. She isn’t supposed to have a voice. That’s not the way the world works. Well guess what. Screw the world! I’m going my own way! And I say it’s time for Vinyl Scratch to finally have a voice!”

“But,” Vinyl’s voice of unknown origin went on. “You don’t want that. You and your friend, Princess Twilight. You want the world to always stay as how it’s supposed to be. That means, you’re here to take away my voice!”

“What are you talking about, Vinyl?” Pinkie asked, not sure if there was even a word for how confused she was at the moment. “I think it’s great that you can finally talk! How’d you do it? Some kind of magic?”

For a moment, Vinyl just said nothing. Eyes told a great deal of the story your face wrote. Since Vinyl’s were always hidden by dark shades, reading that story was a hard time for Pinkie. Her mouth was clearly frowning.

“You know, for a second there, I almost believed you.” Vinyl’s voice sounded like it was chuckling a little. “But, it’s just a lie. If you’re going to try and take my voice away, the least you could do is be honest about it.”

Nonchalantly, Vinyl reached into her pocket and pulled out her MP3 player. With the opposite hand, she made a fist and put it sideways to her neck. She pulled her hand back, as if she tore something from there, and then plugged that something into the headphone port of her music device. Casually, her thumb scrolled over the wheel until the song that she wanted was highlighted. With a small grin, Vinyl hit the play button.

That was all the time Pinkie had to comprehend what was happening before she was blasted off of her seat. To be more precise, the seat she was on was blasted off the ground with her in it. The entire sofa, along with the coffee table between Pinkie and Vinyl, collided with the wall. Fortunately for Pinkie, the couch had flipped over so that it shielded her from being struck by the table. Unfortunately for Pinkie, this meant she herself collided with the wall.

Groaning and with her head spinning, Pinkie crawled out from under the couch. Her ears were ringing as she tried to straighten herself out and get reoriented. As soon as the room stopped spinning, she was able to think clearly for a second and realize what the source of the heavy blast was. It was a song; one she recognized. It was a song that Vinyl herself had composed in fact. It had been played at such a high volume that everything in front of the DJ acted as if it were in a wind tunnel. But where was the source? Surely it wasn’t her MP3 player!

“Vinyl...” Pinkie groaned, propping herself against the overturned couch for support as she tried desperately to keep the lunch she had with her friends earlier from coming back up. “I don’t…I don’t understand. You know I’ve been one of the people who's been trying the most to help you find a voice, don’t you remember? Why would I want to take it away from you now that you finally have one?”

A smile was on Pinkie’s face. It was probably the most genuine one she could muster while letting the least amount of fear seep into it. Though it was clear from reading her face that there was plenty of fear and confusion inside of her. Just like Pinkie could see the edges of Vinyl’s mouth curl downward. She said nothing in her voice of an unknown source and simply hit the play button on her MP3 player again.

More extremely loud music from sources unknown roared at Pinkie, again knocking her off of her feet and pressing her against the wall. Despite how loud the music was, Vinyl didn’t seem to even flinch at it at all. Was it because she so used to playing loud music all day? Or was it because she was somehow immune to its effects? The music was playing loudly in the club outside, so no one else could notice what was going on. Pinkie on the other hand, in addition to having her eardrums feel like they were about to rupture, was being pressed up against the wall by nothing but pure sound.

If she endured this symphonic assault for any longer, Pinkie feared that she either be crushed against the wall, or painfully go deaf. Neither one of those outcomes were ones she wanted to happen. Thankfully, she actually had a little experience this sort of situation; and a good idea of how she could get out of it.

Being a connoisseur of all things considered fun, Pinkie had done many different strange and outlandish activities. One of these activities was being in a wind tunnel. During this session, she discovered that if she got pressed up against the wall by the extreme winds, she could easily get out of it by forcing herself sideways and downwards. Whatever the source of Vinyl’s sound attack was, it seemed to be similar to a giant fan and only pointed in one direction.

Using this knowledge, Pinkie struggled to lift her knees so that the souls of her shoes were planted on the wall. While she gritted her teeth from the high amount of effort this was taking, in addition to the sheer amounts of pain that she was under due to the music, Pinkie pushed off against the wall and angled her body so that she fell out of the sound blast and onto the ground.

A symphony of a thousand bells was ringing in Pinkie’s ears as she stumbled to get up. She was so disoriented and confused that she couldn’t even walk a straight line. Still, Pinkie accomplished her goal of walking making her way towards the door and pulling the fire alarm that was right next to it.

In addition to causing the loud wailing alarm bell to resonate throughout the building - a sensation that Pinkie’s ears did not appreciate in their current state - the fire alarm had two additional effects as ordered by the Fire Safety Bureau. Firstly, all the music over the speakers would be shut off so everyone inside of the club would immediately be alerted and able to hear the alarm. Secondly, the sprinkler system would go off. This would result in a group of wet, fearful patrons running from the club. While Pinkie did feel bad about ruining their fun time, it was more important that there was no chance that they would be hurt by whatever it was that Vinyl was doing.

Once she heard the ringing in the outside room, as well as the loud vibrations of the music cease, Pinkie stumbled outside, still in a dazed and unbalanced state. The dance floor was still active despite the music being shut off, the lights mingling with the slight mist caused by the sprinkler system. Pinkie’s own senses, however, were barely able to make out any of this. Instead, all Pinkie could see was a mass of colors and strange wisps, as though she’d viewed the room through a kaleidoscope.

Another burst of music came from behind Pinkie, causing the mare to turn around. Her damaged hearing barely made it out before she felt the sound waves crashing into her, sending her body flying across the room. Pinkie let out a cry of surprise as the distorted music sent her soaring across the room, only for her to slam into the barstools of the club’s refreshment center. A shot of searing pain went up her spine as she slammed painfully into them, causing the mare to let out a shriek before collapsing onto the wet floor.

For several moments, Pinkie didn’t move. Everything was hurting; her back was on fire from her sudden trip across the dance floor, her ears were still painfully ringing, and her vision was clouded from all the pain from other parts on her body. It hurt just to move her finger, let alone try to get up. Yet when her vision cleared up for a brief moment, what she saw didn’t exactly make her day any better.

Vinyl stood in the midst of the dance floor, her arms at her sides and her fists curled up in anger. Her glasses dripped with water as the sprinkler systems continued to go off, causing her tank top to stick to her skin. Despite how far away they were, the grin that Vinyl held was palpable, and Pinkie could only shiver at the knowledge that apparently, her getting thrown across the floor was the point that Vinyl wanted to make.

“All you do… all you do is run your mouth, Pinkie…” Vinyl’s fists slightly unclenched, “Do you know what it’d be like if suddenly you realized you couldn't talk? That everything for you to do it is there, but it just doesn't work?” Vinyl reached up and touched her throat, “It’d be like you finding out your parties have all the food, all the entertainment, but when you try to put them together it devolves into chaos… not that I expect you to understand…”

“I finally found a way to speak…” Vinyl’s fist clenched up. “I finally found a way to bypass using my mouth. I can talk now! I can stop with all the stupid hand gestures and wiggling my fingers just so people know whether or not they’re right! People are stupid! I can try to lead them in the direction and they’ll fight me all the way!” Vinyl turned her head away, “I thought you were different, Pinkie Pie. You would be try everything you could and I almost never had issues with talking to you… but you’re just like the rest of them!”

With that said, Vinyl hit the play button on her MP3 player. Despite how injured she was, Pinkie’s body flooded with adrenaline, causing her to move on instinct alone. The mare gripped the furthest barstool and pulled herself away from the sound waves, her right shoe getting torn off her foot from the force of it. A second later she heard another blast coming her way, and she quickly dragged herself behind the counter where the barstools stood to avoid it.

“I have a voice! I have it now!!” Vinyl shouted hard as a loud burst of noise shook the counter where Pinkie hid behind, “You can’t take it from me! You can’t silence me! I’LL SILENCE YOU!”

Pinkie curled up into a ball as she heard the noises blaring against the counter. Various drinks on the countertop slid off and shattered against the wall, causing the mare to duck away. Something wet ran down the side of her head; upon inspection, Pinkie found her left ear was bleeding. The sheer force of sound had torn the inside of her ear. Pinkie looked around the floor, seeing various napkins and drink coasters. The mare quickly stuffed as many napkins as she could safely fit into her ears, though it helped very little with the sound.

Vinyl wasn’t letting up on her assault, far from it. Instead, Vinyl decided to simply blast the entire counter apart to get to Pinkie. After a full minute of sound, both mares heard the noise of the wood creaking and snapping apart. The side of Vinyl’s lip curled up as she said nothing, wanting Pinkie to savor the sound of her only refuge in this place being destroyed.

Pinkie’s body curled up in fear as she felt the counter behind her neck starting to bend inward. She didn’t want to be here, she wanted to go home. She didn’t know what had gotten into Vinyl, nor why she wanted to hurt her so badly. Her body was screaming in pain and her ears were bleeding. Slowly, Pinkie opened her eyes, looking towards the exit to the building. If only she could get there, she could run out and go get Twilight for help…

And then, she was there.

Pinkie’s eyes widened as she saw the counter break, flying towards the wall and shattering the various cabinets and hanging drinks that hadn’t been blasted off already. But what was strange about it was the fact that Pinkie was looking at it. She wasn’t there. Instead, when she looked behind her, she saw the exit door.

Vinyl’s lips had devolved into a devilish smirk as she watched the counter be blown apart. However, just like Pinkie, she realized that Pinkie wasn’t there. The mare whipped around, her sunglasses concealing her eyes, before her face was pointed at the new position of Pinkie.

“H-How the?! How’d you get over there?!” Vinyl shouted, looking around the room to see how Pinkie had done it, “You were, I was!!”

Pinkie didn’t know herself, but she had the wherewithal to act on it. Pinkie quickly untangled her curled up form, reaching up to grab at door handle. Just as she felt the cold steel in her hands, through the napkins she could hear another noise coming straight towards her. Pinkie knew what it meant and she reflexively let go of the handle, feinting to the left. The noise hit the doors but didn’t blast them open, though they both shook and rattled as though they were about to.

“It… It doesn’t…” Gripping her soggy pants, Vinyl shook her head, “It doesn’t matter… I’m still going to stop you before you get back to Twilight and have her take my voice away!” With that said, Vinyl turned to face Pinkie’s current position.

In the few seconds it took Vinyl to reposition herself, Pinkie had managed to scramble her way over to the tables for patrons to sit and rest from dancing. Many of them were still upright, and Pinkie quickly rectified that. The anxious marel kicked down two of them, dragging them together just in time to receive the brunt of another assault.

While the DJ scrambled to figure out just what had happened to make Pinkie seemingly teleport, the pink haired mare was in the same boat. Pinkie was racking her brain for any explanation as to why she’d done what she had, and she could hardly make out what it was. It was just as strange as the pink figure that was standing inside of a puddle at her knees.

Wait, pink figure? When Pinkie turned her head, she could see the same figure standing behind her. The entity was a few inches taller than she was, but was thinner and smaller in both the arms and legs.  The figure resembled a tall ninja, wearing a pink, skin tight bodysuit. The figure’s outfit was lined with white trim, starting at the feet and going up the legs, waist, sleeves, sides, neck and ending at the eye slits. Yet upon closer inspection, the figure had no skin behind the eye slits; instead it was simply darkness. Emblazoned on it’s right upper arm were three balloons: a yellow one stuck between two baby blue ones, with the strings tangled together. In fact, it resembled her cutie mark!

“What, who are you?!” Pinkie pointed a finger at the figure, “When did you get in here?! Don’t you hear the alarm, if you don’t leave now you’re going to get super hurt!”

The figure didn’t say anything, instead it simply looked down to stare at Pinkie. The mare looked between it and over the edge of the tables, only to have to duck down from another blast of sound.

“Look, I don’t know if you can hear me but, you need to get out, right now!!” Pinkie gasped, “Vinyl’s gone super duper crazy and she’ll probably hurt you too!”

When Pinkie gave the order “Get out”, the figure seemed to react. Before, it was soullessly staring at Pinkie; her words seemingly going right through it. But as soon as she gave it an order, it reacted. It took Pinkie by the arm, bent its legs as if it were about to break out into a sprint, and then suddenly, the two of them were in a completely different location. Right in front of the door again.

This solved one of Pinkie’s questions, but raised a whole lot more. She didn’t know who this person was. But whoever they were, they were the source of the teleportation she had accomplished earlier. They also seemed to follow her orders. Though many an-out-of-control party told Pinkie it was much better to figure out why something was happening after all the immediate problems were fixed. The immediate problem in this case being Vinyl’s rampage.

“There you are!” The devil herself shouted as her name was thought of. Pinkie twisted her body to face Vinyl, and the floating pink ninja did the same. This time, when she looked over at Vinyl, Pinkie could see the source of her newly obtained voice.

Now there was a second figure standing behind Vinyl. Or more likely, as Pinkie deduced, that figure was there all along. She just wasn’t able to see it until now for some reason. This figure was about as tall as the pink ninja that had suddenly appeared to Pinkie. Its limbs were a light shade of blue while it’s torso and shoulder mountings were a dark purple. The entire torso seemed to be some sort of vest or armor plating judging from how it jutted out from the rest of its body. On the shoulders of its torso plate were two large stereo speakers, along with one on its chest. On its arms were what looked like two vinyl records.

Pultruding from the humanoid’s body were two cables. One of which went to Vinyl’s neck, while the other was plugged into the headphone jack of her MP3 player. Despite the fact that there was clearly something puncturing her neck, no blood was leaking out. When Vinyl moved her body to face Pinkie, she didn’t show the slightest hint of pain or discomfort. It looked as though she wasn’t feeling the cord in her neck at all.

“What is that?!” When Vinyl “shouted”, the stereos on the creature behind her vibrated. Now that she could see it, it was clear that those speakers were the source of her new voice. Vinyl wasn’t talking. This creature was doing the talking for her. Had it possessed her? “Is that? A Stand?!” A low growl came from the speakers. “I should have known. You have a Stand too, just like my Bangarang!”

Before any questions like “What’s a Stand?” or “Do you know what these things are?” could be asked, Vinyl hit the play button on her MP3 player again. This time she chose a song with particularly heavy bass to it. Bangarang’s speakers pulsed as the song -which would have shook the whole club even if it were played normally- erupted from them.

There was a split second between when Vinyl hit play and the sound was discharged from Bangarang. During that second, a million thoughts went through Pinkie’s mind. All of them shouted “Get behind it! Get behind it!” as the sound waves would not be able to hit her from that position. After the second had past, Pinkie found that she was exactly where she had so desperately hoped she would be.

The switch had happened so fast that her mind wasn’t even able to comprehend it. Just like before, one second Pinkie was in one location, wishing she would be able to outrun the speed of sound and get out of harm’s way. The next, she was in a completely different spot. She didn’t even feel herself move. She was just there.

By now, Pinkie had put two and two together that this pink ninja was the source of this teleportation. She had also deduced that this thing followed her commands, whether or not they were verbal. It could somehow read her thoughts and know when she wanted to do something. She didn’t seem to necessarily have to know exactly how it was done, she just needed to want it to be done.

There was another odd thing that Pinkie began noticing as well. For some reason, she had begun to notice that she could tell exactly what Vinyl could and couldn’t see. Obviously, she knew that since she was behind Vinyl, she couldn’t be seen by her. But she was able to somehow know the exact point at which she would enter her line of sight again. Just darting her eyes around the room made Pinkie take note of the overturned tables and debris. She instantly knew which ones she could hide behind if she didn’t want Vinyl to see her.

But Pinkie didn’t have much time to ponder why she was suddenly so much more observant and knowledgeable than she was used to, as Vinyl suddenly rotated 180 degrees. Bangarang mimicked her, and emitted another sound blast while doing so. If she didn’t have the time to think about it, Pinkie decided to go with her usual strategy of just doing. In this case, she teleported behind a flipped table that would be just out of Vinyl’s sight once she had completed her rotation.

Unfortunately for Pinkie, previous attacks had destroyed the front entrance. Now there was nothing but an impassible pile of rubble in its stead. Now Pinkie Pie was trapped inside of the club with no way of getting out. This meant that fleeing Vinyl was no longer an option and the only one that she was left with was to try and subdue her somehow.

Currently, Pinkie’s location was still unknown to Vinyl. This gave her some leeway, for now. She had spent enough time with Vinyl to know how the DJ ticked. She would try things the simple way first, probably calling out her name and searching around for a bit. But, when that ultimately doesn’t work, she’ll get frustrated and take a more extreme approach. That’s just how Vinyl was, very quick to frustration if she can’t do something right the first time.

Pinkie remember specifically a time when they were trying to plug in an old stereo the two of them had bought together at a garage sale. I looked like it worked great at the time of purchase. When they got home and tried it out, however, they discovered why it had been so cheap. Something was wrong with the power cord. The third prong on it, the grounding prong, was bent in a weird way that the two of them didn’t even think possible. It would not go into the outlet. After five minutes of trying to bend it into place, Vinyl’s brow furrowed and she attempted to slam it into the socket as hard as she could a few times. Before Pinkie could warn her of what a hazard this was, Vinyl had hit her last straw and just tore the grounding prong off with her bare hands.

Most likely Vinyl was about to take a similar turn of events in her search for her perceived enemy. After a daring peak from behind the table, she saw that Vinyl was on the other side of the room, and the edge of her mouth was beginning to twitch. Whether it be for her or Vinyl, twitching was never good. Pinkie judged that it would only be a minute before Vinyl went to the anger phase. There, she would most likely do something rash like attack the entire room in a manner that Pinkie could not hope to dodge. She would need to incapacitate Vinyl before that happened. But how?

The pink ninja, which was apparently Pinkie’s “Stand”, was crouched into a ball right next to her so it would be obscured by the table as well. It could teleport Pinkie. Could it, teleport on its own as well? Maybe, she could get it to a position where it would be perfect for a sneak attack?

But then what? After a single sneak attack, Vinyl would most likely not fall for the same tactic again. With how her Stand attacked, a frontal assault would be suicide. If Pinkie were to launch an attack, it would need to be a single, decisive one.

Could Pinkie launch an attack though? She understood that there were sometimes where there was just no other choice but violence, and she has even been forced into those times before, but that was on some heartless monster or hivemind insect. Vinyl was none of those things. Vinyl was Pinkie’s best friend. Attacking her is completely out of the question, even if she is trying to kill her.

No, Vinyl wasn’t trying to kill her. Pinkie affirmed that with conviction in her mind. Vinyl was her friend, and something was making her do this. Even if what she was claiming Pinkie would do was true, there was no way Vinyl would resort to violence first. Something was making her friend attack her. That something, Pinkie concluded, was probably this Stand thing. So, she wouldn’t attack Vinyl. She would attack Bangarang.

“You know Pinkie,” As Bangarang broadcasted Vinyl’s voice throughout the club, Pinkie had her Stand jump to the corner on the other side of the room. “The least you could do is stop hiding and do this with some dignity. Come on and face the music. I know you want to take Bangarang away. Well guess what? I’m not giving it out without a fight!”

With a grunt, Vinyl hit play and had Bangarang resume its song of eardrum destruction. Thankfully, the blast of rising cords was three feet shy of where she was hiding. Double thankfully, Bangarang moved the blast in the opposite direction. The walls around her shook. More debris fell from the ceiling as a result. A twitch in her rump told Pinkie that she needed to move or be crushed. She had her Stand teleport atop a dangling rafter, and Pinkie rolled out into the open just before a flood light fell on her.

“There you are,” Vinyl was staring right at Pinkie. Bangarang had its arms bent, ready to blast Pinkie from where she stood without a moment’s hesitation. But there was hesitation from Vinyl. “You’re a slippery bitch, you know that? Every time I try to wub you away, you just slip out of my grasp. Well that’s because my setup sucks. It’s time to crank up the tunes, know what I’m saying?”

Pinkie did not like the look on Vinyl’s face. It was not a good look. The irrational anger was definitely there, no doubt about that, but there was also something else. It reminded Pinkie of, joy, some sort of twisted joy. Then Pinkie realized she recognized this look.

There was a point when Vinyl had first opened her club that she was trying to be as loud and daring as possible. It got to the point where she had hooked up at least twenty large stereos around the club. Not only that, but they were hooked up to a laser light and pyrotechnic show. There was a look on her face at that time. A look that said that she knew that she was doing something reckless and crazy, but she couldn’t have been more excited for it.

That was the same look that Vinyl had now. Vinyl looked as though, she was going to do something so reckless but she couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of excitement. Instead having Bangarang attack Pinkie, Vinyl turned and walked in the opposite direction. She walked right towards her DJ equipment, which had been spared destruction by falling debris.

“It’s probably pretty freaking obvious by now,” Vinyl stood behind her equipment, like she normally did when she was DJing. Bangarang stood behind her. Pinkie’s Stand leapt to another rafter behind the two of them. “But my Bangarang amplifies vibrations from whatever it’s plugged into by a lot. And I mean whatever it’s plugged into.” Vinyl gave a tug on the cord attached to her neck.

“I could never move my mouth right. I just, I tried everything Pinkie. Therapy, negative reinforcement, studying how lip movements work. But, no matter what, I can’t move my mouth to talk like a normal person. But now, I don’t have to! Bangarang just amplifies my vocal cords! And you want to take it away from me?” Vinyl slammed her hands down onto the equipment as hard as she could.

“Well I won’t have it! I’m not going to let you!” Her angry expression went back to one that was building up excitement. She took her MP3 player, tore the second cord out from it, and threw it away like an empty soda can. In a motion that might have well been a punch, she plugged it into her equipment.

And that’s when Pinkie realized what Vinyl intended to do. The look on her face said it all. She was going turn up her sound system as loud as possible and have Bangarang blast it. Most likely, she would play something right when it hit the bass drop, when the vibrations would be the strongest. With how much damage the club had taken already, Pinkie could only guess that it would bring the entire building down on top of them.

Looking at Vinyl’s face, there was no doubt that’s what she intended to do. There were no signs of regret that Pinkie could recognize. Only resolve and conviction. This was the expression Vinyl’s face held when she was dead set on doing something. Nothing would stop her.

However, there was another subtle detail in Vinyl’s face that Pinkie picked up on from where she was standing. A slight bulge in her cheek. She was lightly biting her tongue. That meant that excitement was building inside of her. But, not just any kind of excitement, excitement related to music. Specifically, she was thinking about how great the buildup would be before the bass drop. Because Vinyl always emphasized that the base drop by itself was not what made the climax of dubstep.

“It’s like climbing up a ladder to a diving board,” Vinyl had written in a guide she drafted for how she composed her music. Nothing ever came of it, but Pinkie was more than happy to look it over for the brief time she was writing it. “And the bass drop is like diving into the pool. If you just jump in from the side, it’s pretty lame. You gotta get up high before you do that sweet dive. So, if you want to make the dive better, you have to climb up the ladder.”

Pinkie was sure of it. Even if she wasn’t acting like herself; even if she was driven with murderous intent; there was no way that Vinyl would violate her principals of music playing. She would start the song right when it started building up. Even if she didn’t know how loud Bangarang would make it, Pinkie knew she had thirty seconds before the bass drop hit. That would be her window. That would be when she would use her Stand and ambush Vinyl’s.

“It’s time to freaking end this!” Vinyl put her fingers on all of the volume sliders and turned them up as loud as possible. She slid the time bar on the touch screen display in the center of her equipment to the exact position she wanted to start at. Just as Pinkie predicted, she started right at the buildup. That’s when Pinkie took a deep breath, and started in a slow walk towards the podium. Steadily, her steps increased speed until she broke out into a full-on sprint.

The DJ equipment had much higher sound volume than Vinyl’s MP3 player. That much was certain from the fact that the whole building felt like it was quaking in tune to the beat of the music. All of Pinkie’s insides felt like they were being thrown through a washing machine. Still she pressed on. She continued her charge.

The closer she got to the epicenter of the sound hurricane, Bangarang, the stronger the vibrations coursing through her body became. But Pinkie kept her eyes locked onto Vinyl. Even if those eyes felt like they would be shaken out of her head at any second. Inside her mind, Pinkie made a counter based on the position of the song. When that timer hit zero, then the bass would drop. If her surprise attack were to be successful, she would need to launch as soon as it hit one.

Currently the song was at five. Pinkie was at the foot of the podium. Her eyes were locked straight on Vinyl’s. Even if she couldn’t see them behind the dark sunglass, Pinkie could read enough on Vinyl’s face to know exactly what the DJ’s eyes were saying. They were meeting Pinkie’s gaze, as if locked in a contest of staring. Pinkie kept their stares locked, not even looking upward at her Stand to make sure it was still in position, as that would give her plan away.

Down to three. Pinkie had hopped up onto the podium. It felt like she was trying to push a brick wall back at this point. The sounds were so strong Pinkie was sure that her ears were bleeding. But that was the least of her concerns now. It was life or death, do or die. If she backed down now, it would be death.

Two. Vinyl was still grinning, her lips was quivering. It was a quiver of pure irrational excitement, of pure bliss. Pinkie’s expression, however, remained determined. But her body was shaking, she could feel her skin being yanked back on her bones. Everything hurt. Her ears were still bleeding, soaking the napkins that had somehow stayed in all this time.

One. There was no mistaking it. Vinyl’s expression shifted to where she was at the point of no return. Absolutely nothing would distract her from watching Pinkie suffer. Her gaze was laser focused and unbreakable. Pinkie knew this well. If that was the case then she certainly wouldn’t see…

“TA-DAH!”

“Wha…” In an instant, Pinkie’s Stand was between Vinyl and Bangarang. In that same instant, the pink ninja launched both of its fists to either side of it, making contact to both of the aggressors. The force of the blow caused both of them to be launched in their respective directions. Both of the cords coming from Bangarang, the one in the stereo and the one inside of Vinyl’s throat, were disconnected.

Zero. The bass dropped. The song reached its base drop and played it at its normal volume through the normal speakers of the club. Admittedly, this was still too loud for Pinkie’s ears at the moment. But the club was still standing and she was still alive. That was what was important. She hated that she had to hurt Vinyl, but this was to save her.

Pinkie turned her attention towards Bangarang. This was what was causing Vinyl to act like this. All she had to do was destroy it, and Vinyl would be saved. With this resolve dead set in her head, Pinkie and her Stand both turned toward Bangarang. The ninja appeared behind the walking stereo. Pinkie willed all of her will, all of her anger, all of her desperation into it. The Stand reacted accordingly.

Accordingly meaning that it started to launch a series of well-coordinated punches and kicks directly at Bangarang. Each blow connected in such a way that Bangarang was knocked in a different direction each time. The entire time, the Stand let out a cry from deep within its throat.

“TA-DAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAHDAH!!! TA-DAH!”
 
Resorting to violence was wrong, Pinkie knew that. Given the chance, almost anyone could be reasoned with and made happy somehow. But, this Stand thing wasn’t a someone. It was something that was influencing her best friend in negative ways. She just couldn’t forgive that. Her rage translated into extending the fury of blows from her own Stand. Pinkie had decided to name the Stand after the sound it was making, and the general feeling it’s power gave her.

Ta-Dah!

Just looking at the assault caused a wave of exhaustion to wash over Pinkie. She decided that should be enough and willed Ta-Dah to stop. She started to pant as Bangarang crashed onto the ground and suddenly disappeared. Pinkie was filled with relief. It was over, Vinyl would be ok now…

But when she looked over to her friend, she saw her laying on the ground. Instantly Pinkie ran over to her aid. The DJ’s body was covered in bruises. One of her teeth was missing and it looked like an arm was broken. This is not at all what Pinkie had intended to happen. She intended for everything to get better! But it was turning worse.

As the song she had set up drew to a close, Vinyl could feel herself fading from consciousness. She saw Pinkie’s concerned face through her cracked sunglasses. For the first time in she didn’t know how long, Vinyl didn’t feel anger or fear towards it. She remembered it for what it truly was. That was the face of her friend. She reached out for Pinkie as her eyes struggled to stay open. Right before she faded from consciousness, Vinyl swore she saw a golden bracelet on her wrist shatter.


~~~


Talking, shouting, singing. These were all things Vinyl was born without the ability to do. It frustrated her to no end. It seemed to be the most basic of skills that everyone else didn’t even need to be taught how to do. They could all just learn it when they were dumb babies. But not Vinyl. It was impossible for her to learn.

She felt alone. She felt like she didn’t belong anywhere. If she had a thought she wanted to communicate, it would take her a greater amount of effort than it should have. She refused to learn sign language because it would have made her feel like even more of an outsider. Vinyl was in a bubble, completely isolated from the rest of the world. She could not venture outside this bubble to make contact with any of the outsiders. No, instead, they must make the active effort to come inside. Few ever came inside.

Communication was an aspect of her life she had little to no control over. Instead she almost exclusively had to rely on others for that part. It was a vital part of her life that she could not ever hope to command. Though she put on the most carefree face she could muster, Vinyl always longed to come out of her bubble. To be a normal person and use the voice that had been robbed from her at birth by the cruel hands of fate.

The details were extremely hazy, but recently she had been handed just that. Bangarang. It was hers. It was her new voice. She knew a friend gave it to her. That very same friend had warned her that Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends would come to take it away when they got the chance. He was her friend. He wouldn’t lie to her.

So when Pinkie Pie came walking into her club…


~~~


Every part of Vinyl’s body ached as she regained consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened, only to be greeted with a bright light. Her ears registered the constant beeping coming from a source near her. Once her eyes had adjusted, the DJ was able to see that she was in a hospital room. She tried to reach out, but found her arm restricted. When she looked down, she saw that it was in a sling.

Panic started to seep into her mind as Vinyl remembered what had happened before she passed out. The first thing she did was will Bangarang to appear.

To her relief, it did. Her Stand appeared just as suddenly as it always did. It’s large, hulking form stood at the foot of Vinyl’s bed, looking down at her and awaiting orders. Her voice, hadn’t been taken away. Pinkie Pie had beaten her, and yet she still had her voice.

Pinkie Pie! Where was she? Was she ok? Was she in a hospital room too? Had Vinyl hurt her badly, or worse? With a groan, she tore the pulse monitors and IV’s from her body, causing numerous loud, digital noises to shriek through the room. Her whole body was stiff, and it hurt to move. But, she needed to find Pinkie Pie. She needed to make sure she was alright.

Just as she was forcing her good arm to grab the doorknob, the door opened from the other side and Vinyl found herself staring face to face with Princess Twilight Sparkle. But rather than her friendly smile, her lips were pursed into a pensive frown.

“We need to talk,” She announced.
> The Meeting and Candy Coated Fury!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Crystal Meeting Room of Princess Twilight’s palace sat the Princess of Friendship herself and an audience of eight. Of those eight, two had recently attempted serious bodily harm and possibly death upon three others. Of the nine in the room, six were Stand Users. Of those six, only the aforementioned Princess knew exactly how she obtained hers. To the rest, both the method and the reason were a mystery.

Tapping the table with a finger, Twilight pondered slightly on what those numbers meant. Within the last week, four attempts had been made on her friends lives; even if one had been instigated by Rainbow Dash. Two major attempts had just happened three days ago. Twilight knew it couldn't have been a coincidence that they had all manifested within the same week. The attacks were originating from one source, minus Rainbow’s excursion.One of the objectives of this meeting was to piece together clues as to what that source was.

As if either to empathize a point, or in some sort of attempt to show off, each Stand User at the table had their respective Stand manifested for the rest to see. Both Applejack and Spike confirmed that they could not see any of them, meaning they did not mysteriously develop a Stand. Nevertheless, they were adequately educated on the subject. The lesson also helped provide some explanations to those who hadn’t already heard Twilight’s lecture.

From there, information was shared among the party of what had happened the previous day. In particular, the whole table was interested in hearing the stories of Aloe and Vinyl. They had clearly not been themselves at the time and instead were controlled by some outside force. Twilight had hoped that their stories would help her figure out what that force was. But there was no such luck.

“I’m sorry,” Aloe admitted with her head held low. “But I simply cannot remember what happened between last weekend and yesterday. All I know is that it was one last customer came in right at closing. Lotus and I felt sorry for them and decided to give them a treatment. Then, the next thing I remember is thinking Princess Twilight had kidnapped Lotus. Slippery When Wet didn’t feel foreign to me, it was more like, it had always been there.”

“Pretty much the same for me too.” Bangarang projected Vinyl’s voice for all to hear. To those who couldn’t see the Stand, hearing the otherwise mute DJ have a voice was off putting. But Pinkie, who was fine aside from some bruises and bandages, had made it clear beforehand to not make a single comment about it especially with Vinyl still in casts, “Somepony came in right before I closed up and went home. We talked, and he, I’m pretty sure it was a he, felt like my best friend. Then, he gave me Bangarang and said Princess Twilight was going to take it away.”

“So whoever this pony is, they must have something against you Twilight,” Spike pointed out. Of all of them, he was probably the one who was the least off put by all of these developments. If only because he had lived his entire life with Twilight, and things like this were the norm for him.

“And a freaking coward too!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she slammed her hands on the table. “I mean, that’s the lowest of the lows you can get! Forcing other people to fight your battles for you...”

“And thanks to the information we were able to get out of Verde Chase yesterday, we now know why,” Twilight’s eyes glowed and the entire crystal round table lit up. A magical image of several figures in robes of various mismatched colors that obscured their faces appeared. Slowly they rotated so that everyone sitting around the table could see them from all angles.

“What’s with the weird fashion show?” Applejack raised her eyebrow, “Those are some fancy getups.”

“There not just for fashion,” Twilight activated her magic, magnifying the image of the robed figures, “At first, I wasn’t sure. As you all know, when Rainbow and I defeated Verde Chase, we found a chamber hidden under the Castle of the Two Sisters that contained artifacts from a very, very old group. I believe that our friend Verde was attempting to scavenge some of it.”

“Wait, he was going there just for some clothes and that weird painting and coffin?” Rainbow quickly interjected, “That sounds… well, dumb.”

“Well, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight frowned slightly, “It’s far deeper than that. In the Discordian Era, Discord’s Chaos Magic spread across the entire world, twisting and corrupting it in every conceivable way, as well as every inconceivable way. Those of a weaker mindset had their minds instantly altered into logic defying fantasies. Others who had a stronger mental constitution required some sort of psychological defeat before they were corrupted. Most who evaded corruption cowered in fear until the world was eventually liberated by Princesses Celestia and Luna.”

“Oh.. my…” Looking down, Fluttershy rubbed her hands together. She’d seen the small pocket dimension that Discord lived in, and she recalled vaguely what Ponyville had looked like after Discord had first returned. The thought of someone having to live in that permanently…

“However, there were those who went unaffected by the magic and saw it as a sign,” Sitting up, Twilight pulled up another image; this time, the robed figures were Standing in the center of a chaos magic filled Ponyville, staring up to Discord on his chaos throne and bowing to it, “To them, it was a sign that Discord had chosen them to serve some sort of higher purpose. They had been spared because Discord thought they were special. Of course, this is obviously completely untrue, but that’s what they thought. Regardless of why they started, they did start to worship Discord and his Chaos Magic, forming a cult around it.”

“Worship Discord?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “That weirdo? That just, sounds even weirder.”

“When Discord was sealed away by the Princesses, the cult swore revenge on not just them, but all of ponykind who had rejected his magic,” Twilight frowned, “For a decade or so after the Discord’s imprisonment, they caused trouble as a fanatic terrorist group. But they were too few in number and no match for the power the Princesses held. So, they were forced to quietly retreat into the shadows. It was thought that they had just faded into obscurity as the years went by, becoming nothing but footnotes in history. But, after Discord’s revival, they apparently have been gaining numbers slowly.”

“And let me guess,” Applejack sighed, “Now they’ve sworn vengeance against us for ending his magic again?”

“Pretty much,” Twilight confirmed. “And especially against me and Fluttershy because of recent developments.” She was of course, alluding the reformation of Discord.

“So, I’m assuming that this Verde Chase you and Rainbow Dash apprehended is a member of this cult?” Rarity inquired as she watched with slight amusement as her Diamond Dogs scurried around the table and fought with each other, “Are we also correct to assume that whoever put Aloe and Vinyl under the spell is a member of this cult as well?”

“Correct on both counts,” Twilight affirmed. “Unfortunately, Verde did not know anything about who this member is. He doesn’t know their name, appearance, or even what their Stand ability is. It seems he was purposefully kept in the dark in that regard “

“Are you sure he wasn’t just lying about that?” Vinyl asked.


“I’m positive. I am very thorough in my interrogations.” Twilight held up her hand and it was surrounded with a purple aura to emphasize her point, “All it took was a few spells and he was spilling everything he knew to me. That’s why I was able to learn all that I did.”

“Well if we don’t know who’s turning our friends against us, then what do we know?” Rainbow Dash was getting even more impatient.

“We know what the cult wants, besides just getting revenge on the six of us.” Twilight swished her hand and the magical image above the table changed. It was a replica of the mural her and Rainbow Dash had found at the bottom of the Old Palace. The slightly abstract art style took the table a few moments to process it.

Rarity was the one to speak up first, “What are those two figures lying beside our dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?”

“Those,” Twilight raised her finger, “Are the Stands of Celestia and Luna. Celestia’s is called Vanilla Twilight, and Luna’s is Dark Side of the Moon. What struck me as odd about this was the thing in front of Discord, which I’m assuming is his Stand.”

During the entire conversation, the voice of Pinkie Pie had been oddly silent. At that moment, however, the pink haired ball of energy suddenly teleported across the table, Standing beside Twilight to look closer at the image.

“Gah! Pinkie!” Twilight gasped in surprise, “Don’t just, use your Stand like that!”

“Sorry, still getting the hang of it!” Pinkie blinked back into her chair and pointed at the image, “If that’s Discord’s Stand, why is it he didn’t use it on us when we fought him the first time?”

The words taken right out of Twilight’s mouth, Twilight blinked slightly in annoyance, “That’s, exactly what I was wondering.”
                                                                                                                                         
Now fully having joined the group, Ta-Dah appeared  behind Pinkie as she sat. It was at this point Twilight noticed an alarming number of snacks around her throne. While the thought of where they’d come from briefly crossed her mind, Twilight shook it off in favor of her more academic thoughts.

“As Pinkie mentioned,” Twilight magnified the image to show just the humanoid figure, “The figure is drawn in a way that appears to be a Stand. However, Discord didn’t even attempt to use it when we used the Elements of Harmony him.”

“Well,” Applejack leaned back in her seat, “He was sure full of himself when we did. I think he was honestly surprised that we did it in the first place. He might not have even had time to use it.”

“But that’s just the thing!” Twilight leaned forward, “Stands can be called out instantaneously. A Stand that would let him defeat both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia would surely be able to block the Elements. Or at least we would've felt him resisting it in some way. It just doesn't add up!”

“I think you’re giving that ruffian a bit too much credit, dearie,” Rarity pursed her lips, “He wasn’t the most… observant about our actions after he used his dreadful spell on us.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow piped up, “Plus, if that stuff is as old as you say it is, then maybe they just made that painting up!”

“No… I’ve seen Vanilla Twilight in person,” Twilight slowly began to chew her lower lip, “Even if they had made that image up, they wouldn't have been able to so accurately render the Princess’ Stands like that. Plus, in that era there were ponies who specialized in painting scenes just as they happened as a way of recording them. The level of detail in their faces and their Stands, these have to be real!”

A series of murmurs went around the table, many of which were filled with doubt. Twilight chewed her lip a bit more as she tried to think about how to phrase this in a believable way.

“Uhm,” Vinyl’s Stand-enhanced voice cut through the air directly to Twilight with slight reverb, “So, you guys keep talking about Stands, what exactly are they? And, well, do you got any ideas on how Aloe and I got ours?”

With a new topic to bank on, Twilight suddenly perked up, “Ah, that was something I wanted to talk about too! A Stand is a manifestation of your fighting spirit, that’s how Princess Celestia put it. From a scientific Standpoint, they’re a manifestation of energy tied directly to your will. The power and ability of your Stand are unique to your own spirit, and thus are linked intrinsically with you. That’s why when your Stand is hurt, you are likewise hurt; any attack on your spirit’s manifestation will link back to your own will, and as such your mind interprets this as physical damage.”

Vinyl crossed her arms and leaned back. A second later, Rainbow spoke up: “Basically it’s a cool ghost thing that you can use to defend yourself and fight back, and when it gets hurt, you do.”

“I like her explanation better,” Vinyl grinned and nodded her head, her glasses not moving even slightly.

“Well… that’s one way to put it,” Twilight’s expression fell slightly as she muttered, “But it’s not a ghost… even if it is ethereal...” 

“So, uhm,” Fluttershy’s quiet voice spoke up once more, “How exactly do you, get a Stand?”

“That’s something that Equestria has yet to understand,” Twilight sat up again, “As far as science and magic are concerned, Stands are completely separate from both of them. From what I know from both firsthand experience and the Princess, there are only two ways to develop one. Either you’re born with the potential to develop it naturally, or it’s drawn out of you.”

“Drawn out of you?” Rarity furrowed her brow, “How exactly does that happen? That sounds, rather odd.”

“You’re not wrong, Rarity. So far, there is only one substance that’s been known to draw out Stands. It’s incredibly dangerous, and very rare. From what I’ve gathered, a long time ago a meteor fell to Equestria. Those who first tried to harvest it eventually got sick with a mysterious illness and died. Those who didn’t, became the first Stand users. It was later mined and turned into arrows, which were eventually scattered across Equestria, and eventually beyond.”

“Arrow..?” Rubbing her head, Aloe slowly looked at the floor. Arrow? Why did Arrow seem so familiar?

“Huh? Why an arrow?” Munching down on a cupcake, Pinkie paused when Twilight described the arrow, “Arrows sound like a strange thing to make out of a super duper cool and awesome meteor!”

“There isn’t any documentation as to why they did this,” Twilight answered, “This happened long before the age of libraries and books. All we know is that the arrow can draw a Stand out from someone if they’re pierced by it.”

“Pierced?” Fluttershy scooted back in her chair, “So, if you’re shot with an arrow, you develop a Stand?”

“Theoretically, you either do, or you don’t,” Twilight frowned, “There isn’t anything on what happens to somepony who gets pierced and doesn’t develop a Stand. Outside of the arrow, most ponies simply won’t ever develop a Stand. Only about one in every one thousand ponies has the potential to develop one, and without proper training, maybe one in ten of those will actually get it naturally. That’s partially why I was so shocked to hear a Stand user was in Ponyville.”

“Don’t even get me started on Basil Leaf…” Rainbow frowned.

“Arrow…” Aloe rubbed her temples. It was like a memory was trying to resurface, but it wouldn’t come forward. Something was blocking it…

“So how in tarnation did Rainbow, Rarity and Pinkie get one of these Stand thingies?” Applejack waved her hand, “If they’re so goshdarn rare?”

“I’m still figuring that out,” Twilight looked down at the notes she’d been looking at, “It doesn’t make sense! The odds of this happening within the same week, and with Rarity and Pinkie Pie getting their Stands at the same time, they’re so small I can’t even come up with the number.”

“Arrow…”

This time, when Aloe started to mutter, Pinkie perked up from her snacks once more. Without a moment’s notice, she was beside Aloe, cocking her head slightly. Ta-Dah Stood behind her, slightly bent over as though expecting an attack.

“You alright, Aloe?” Pinkie tilted her head the other way, “You keep muttering arrow!”

“When, Twilight said arrow it, it feels like I remembered something…” Pausing, Aloe thought for a second, “I… I noticed something yesterday…” She stared blankly towards the table, as though her memory was fighting her as she tried to call upon it.

“Remembered something? That’s great!” Pinkie grinned and took hold of Aloe’s hand, “Anything will help us get closer to this weird cult group! Just work on drawing the memory out, just like pulling a pan of cupcakes out of an ove-”

“I think I remember now, Pinkie,” Aloe slightly grunted, “Lotus, the last time I saw her, we were cleaning up some of the bottles from that day, right after the stranger left. One of the bottles was leaking, and she got a bit on her hand. She… she pulled back and I noticed she had a cut, right between her thumb and pointer finger. The shampoo had gotten into it and she left to go and clean it… but, that was the last time I saw her.”

“Wait, cut?” Immediately following this, Vinyl reached her hand not in a sling up, spreading out her thumb and pointer finger. A small cut was in the exact position that Aloe had described.


“Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, do any of you have any of these cuts?” Twilight inquired. Each of the girls shook their heads, lifting their hands up for proof. Twilight’s brow furrowed as this development was presented to her.

“I don’t either,” Aloe raised her hand, “But I still have my Slippery When Wet. If this arrow draws out Stands, where did Slippery When Wet come from?”

“I don’t know… but this is important,” Staring down at her notes, Twilight’s eyes flashed with curiosity, “It means whomever is making Stand Users is using an arrow. It’s obvious that this cult wants something, and they view us as a threat. They’re specifically using someone to turn the town against us, as evidence with Vinyl and Aloe.”

“Wait,” Applejack raised a hand slightly, “If they’re making these Stand thingies out of our friends… doesn’t that mean, anypony could be an enemy?”

“Exactly,” Twilight bent over the table, “And that means until we figure out what this cult wants… all of us in this room are targets.”

An uneasy silence filled the room. To Aloe and Vinyl, it was an uncomfortable one, and one that made them both share a look of fear. For the other five, however, it was a familiar feeling, and one that they slowly nodded their heads to.

“On that note, Twilight,” Rarity raised a hand, “I think it’s about time that Sweetie Belle should be getting done with school for the day. I think it’d be wise if I told her to be careful these next few days while we sort this out…”

“Yeah!” Rainbow quickly added, “I think I should do the same with Scoots. That squirt is tough but this is on a whole nother level! You probably should too, Applejack!”

“I know, I know,” Applejack sat up in her chair, “I’ll tell Applebloom that if she wants to meet with her friends she’ll need to have me with her. She’ll be upset, but it’s for the best.”

Pursing her lip, Twilight nodded, “Alright, Aloe and Vinyl, if you remember anything else, contact me the second you do. And girls, one last thing before you go.”

Stopping from getting up, the group turned to face Twilight. Pinkie, who had already teleported to the door, stopped and appeared beside Rainbow a second later.

“Rainbow and Pinkie already learned this, but if somepony attacks you with their Stand… don’t forget you could really hurt someone,” She gestured to Vinyl, “If you go too far, you could even kill them. So if any of you get attacked, try your hardest to subdue them. Please, don’t hurt them unless you have no other option.”

“What if we have no other choice but to hurt them?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. 

“Then just remember your Stands are lethal,” Twilight’s eyes darkened, “And it isn’t just a Stand you’re beating up… it’s a pony. If you have to hurt them…”

“We’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Twilight,” Applejack cut her off, “And let y’all know if we come across anypony not acting right.”

“Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight smiled ever so slightly, “Alright girls, stay safe!”

----

“This is just the most dreadful situation…” Rarity shivered as she, Rainbow and Applejack made their way out of the massive crystal castle, “To think that someone is turning our poor town against us! It’s like something out of a movie… a horror movie no less!”

“This ain’t the first time that we’ve had this happen to us,” Applejack reminded her, “We’ve dealt with worse than just a couple of crazy ponies with weird ghost thingies.”

Rainbow opened her wings, hovering above Applejack for a moment, “Uhhh AJ, are you forgetting that you don’t have a Stand? You’re probably the one most at risk out of all of us! Only a Stand can beat another Stand!”

Applejack rolled her eyes, “I’ve dealt with worse than this before, Rainbow. If the worst these Stands do is punch me, I know how to handle that.”

The three ponies stood in front of the massive castle, the sunlight reflecting off the crystals and casting a slightly purple light in front of them. The air, however, hung with the slightest hint of dread, and the town in front of the castle looked to be far more of a hive of bees rather than the calm and friendly place to spend the day.

“Actually, Applejack,” Rarity reached down and picked up Harrison, setting him on her shoulder along with the other Diamond Dogs, “Though her wording is rather blunt, she makes a valid point. From what our friend Rainbow found, only a Stand can attack another Stand, but a Stand can still attack us. And given how… varied each of these Stands can be, it could be almost anything used to attack you before you even know what happened.”
 
“I already knew all that, Rarity,” Applejack furrowed her brow, “As Granny puts it, ain’t no use in worrying over nothing you can’t change. I told y’all I’d keep you posted if anything happens to me.”

“True,” Rarity raised a well manicured finger, “Yet this situation calls for the upmost caution. It would be devastating if any of us were to be hurt by these ghastly Stand users.”

“I get y’alls concerns, I really do. But right now we need to go pick up our sisters and get them home safe,” Applejack turned to them both, “Can we agree on that?”

Nodding in unison, Rarity and Rainbow Dashlooked down the path into the city. As they did so, Rainbow Dash pointed to Diamond Dogs resting on Rarity’s shoulders.

“I think we should probably put our Stands away,” Rainbow frowned, “It’s super cool to walk around with them out but if we’re as big as targets as Twilight says we are, it’s probably way smarter to keep them hidden until we need them.”

“Oh I agree Rainbow Dash, I’ve just grown slightly fond of my little Diamond Dogs since I met them. They’re rather amusing to watch,” In the short span of time that the three had been talking, Lennon had been attempting to gain control over the other three and failing miserably. As a response, the four were arguing amongst each other, knocking each other in the back of the head and yelping in pain before retaliating in kind. Rainbow had to admit they were rather funny, even if she thought her Stand was way cooler.

“Lennon, Harrison, Cartney, Starr!” Rarity spoke firmly and calmly, “I believe that we’re finished with our business for now. I will summon you again when I have need for you. Understood?”

“Yes Ma’am!” Drawing his ripper, Lennon crossed the sewing tool over his chest before bowing. The other three followed suit before Standing upright, sheathing their blades and blinking out of existence.
 
To Applejack, who was unable to see any of this, her eyebrow raised as her friend spoke to seemingly thin air, “If you’re quite finished, we should get going.”

With their Stands hidden, the two mares nodded, walking beside AJ as the three made their way down the road. The purple light of Twilight’s Castle left them and instead was soon replaced by the warm yellow sunshine that blanketed Ponyville as per the weather forecast that day.

Ponyville hummed and bustled with life as the three entered into the heart of the city. Flower vendors waved signs and cheered about their wares, foals getting off from school scampered about underfoot, and the steady noise of chatter and laughter filled the air. To most, it was another day in their lovely city.

Yet with Twilight’s ominous announcement, suddenly the air had taken on a much different tone. The normally pleasant background chatter became riddled with suspicion as each wondered if someone was making plans even now as they walked. The large crowd of ponies became a dangerous throng of potential watching eyes and dangerous Stands.Each corner could be hiding someone waiting to attack them; every face could be one that could turn on them.

Thankfully for the trio, while a longer walk, it was a straight shot to Cheerlie’s schoolhouse. The throng of ponies slowly began to subside, and likewise the nerves of the group, the closer they got. Rainbow Dash dropped onto her feet and folded up her wings as the sight of the cheery red building came into view, and with it a sudden loud shout.

“Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash!” The sharp and loud voice of Scootaloo came barreling towards the rainbow haired mare, to which Rainbow grinned slightly.

“Heya, Squirt!” Smirking as she got down onto a knee, Rainbow smirked to Scootaloo, “Did ya ace that test we went over?”

“Heck yeah I did!” Scootaloo reached into her backpack, pulling out a paper with a large 105 circled on top, “And that bonus question! I’m totally gonna do great in math this year at this rate!”

“That’s awesome!” Still grinning, Dash got back up onto her feet, “I told ya, once you learn how to study, you can ace anything!”

Still beaming and nodding her head, Scootaloo was quickly joined by the pink and lilac haired Sweetie Bell. Rarity likewise smiled as she greeted her sister.

“I trust your day at school went well?” Rarity smiled, but slowly raised an eyebrow at the same time.

“Yep! I passed that test too, though I didn’t get the bonus question like Scootaloo did.” Sweetie cast an appreciative glance towards her friend.

“It’s all in the multiplication!” Scootaloo beamed.

“Ah, good, our study sessions didn’t go to waste,” Rarity nodded, “Have either of you seen Applebloom?”

“Oh she went home already!” Scootaloo quickly chimed in, “Said something about needing to get some chores done before Applejack found…..”

Upon seeing Applejack, Scootaloo slowly trailed off. AJ narrowed her eyes before sighing slightly.

“Did she forget to stack the hay bales again?” Rubbing her temples, Applejack shook her head, “Guess this is where I part ways with y’all, I need to check up on her and she what she forgot to do.”

While Rarity nodded her head, Rainbow gave AJ a sideways glance for a moment. Before she could ask anything, however, AJ tipped her hat and turned towards the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, “I’ll catch y’all tomorrow, tell Twilight I’ll let her know if I see anything!”

“See anything? Are you guys doing something cool?! Oh, oh, is Twilight trying out some new spell?!” Scootaloo turned and looked up at Dash, 

“Nah, nothing like that!” Rainbow Dash started to frown as she watched AJ leave, but quickly smiled again at Scootaloo, “Just Twilight asking us to watch out for anything weird. Well, excluding her that is.”

Sniggering together slightly at Rainbow’s joke, the two sisters turned back towards the main road. Rarity likewise made a small noise from her throat, to which Sweetie instantly turned on her heel to follow her.

As the four made their way back, Rainbow and Scootaloo laughed and joked about things that Scootaloo had see throughout the day, about the new way that Diamond Tiara had started to work towards helping them secure more field trips and some of the random stories that she, Sweetie and Applebloom had gotten into over the course of the week. In kind, Sweetie kept her conversations with Rarity to short and quick statements, to which Rarity responded in kind. The two had learned their differences and knew how to work around them. With less words, they held a conversation of equal importance to the loud and boisterous one between the other sisters.

Eventually, the four made their way down one of the main roads of Ponyville. Scootaloo’s house and Rarity’s Boutique were relatively close to one another, with Rarity’s shop centered just across the small river behind Town Hall for business purposes. The crowds around Town Hall were slightly thinner than normal, a fact which Rarity hypothesized might have been due to the abundance of vendors she and Dash had seen on the way over.

The four rounded their way about the Town Hall, Scootaloo’s wings excitedly buzzing as she got closer to her house. Her test had long since been crinkled up in her hand and more so in her bag, while Sweetie had held her own bookbag tightly against her back. The four continued to round their way around the front of the Town Hall, the sun coming into light from behind the large spire.

“I do believe this is where we can part ways, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity smiled, “Tell Twilight I’ll call her later tonight when I get the chance. I just need to finish up a client’s order bef-“

“HEY YOU!”

In unison, the four turned to look towards the sound of the noise. As they did, the speaker slowly rounded about the wooden railing atop the Town Hall, causing Dash to blink in confusion and Rarity to raise an eyebrow.

The speaker was none other than Twist. The filly grinned as she pushed her large purple-rimmed glasses up her face. Her scrunched red hair bounced atop her face as she looked down from the stairs of Town Hall at them. They could see her backpack nearby propped up against  the front door. Most peculiarly, in her right hand was a massive rainbow swirl lollipop.

The lollipop was of a brilliant and vibrant color, one that looked like something Pinkie Pie would make. The lollipop was also incredibly large for Twist, large enough that it eclipsed almost half of her face. The entire lollipop glistened slightly at the same time, likely due to the she seemed to have been licking it.

“Can we help you, darling?” Rarity smiled gently, her lip twitching, “As you can see we’re a bit busy but we can try to hel-“

“I’m the one talking here!” Twist countered, taking a long lick of her lollipop, “You two have been doing some nasty things, and I think it’s about time that somepony teaches you a lesson!”

“A lesson?” Rarity furrowed her brow, “Darling, I’m not entirely sure who you’re confusing us with, but”

At that moment, however, Rarity turned to see that Dash had summoned 2 Minutes to Midnight. Had it not been for Sweetie Bell, she would’ve immediately scolded her for doing so. 

Instead, she twitched before whispering, “Rainbow Dash, what in Celestia’s name do you think you’re doing?!”

Dash, however, was not paying attention. Instead, Rarity felt a small current flow around her, going directly towards Dash. Narrowing her eyes, Dash stared directly at Twist, one hand planted firmly on 2M2M. Within seconds, Dash immediately turned to Rarity.

“Rarity, take Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell out of here right now…” She hissed, “Get them away from here!”

“Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo looked up, “What’s going on? What’s bad? She’s in our class!”

“Yeah!” Sweetie pipped up, “Twist won’t hurt us, I’m sure she’s just pulling some sort of prank.”

“I don’t prank ponies!” Twist pouted, “I’m being serious up here! I don’t want them to have to see any of this!”

“Rainbow Dash, what exactly are you talking about?” Rarity huffed, “You’re acting very improper and you’re scaring our sisters!”

Not responding, Dash paused as she thought about how to convey this without showing their sisters. She willed 2M2M to point towards the massive lollipop Twist was spinning around in their hand, then had it point to itself. 

“...Alright, come now Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo! I think Dash has a… erm, fan here! Yes, yes, a fan that wants Dash to erm… teach a lesson about, flying!” Rarity ordered quickly.

“Huh?” Sweetie blinked, “But, Twist isn’t a pegasus! I don’t even think she likes the Wonderbolts!”

“Come along now!” Without another word, Rarity took hold of Scootaloo’s and Sweetie’s arm. Giving one last look to Rainbow Dash, Rarity quickly ushered the two along, making her way towards her Boutique with haste.

“Good, I’m glad they’re taken care of!” Twist smirked and drew another long lick of her candy, “I actually like them, so I don’t wanna get them hurt with what happens next!”

Moving so that 2M2M was to her right, Dash took a step forward, “Hey look, kid, I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I can tell you right now me and my friends aren’t evil. We’re awesome, cool and maybe a bit weird, but not evil.”

“Really? Not evil?” Twist paused and tapped her chin, then crossed her arms, “Liar! I know exactly what you all are planning to do!”

“Kid, whatever you think you have against us, I can tell you it isn’t true,” Dash put her hands up slightly, “It’s just some guy getting into your head and telling you lies.” 

“He wasn’t lying to me! Everypony thinks foals aren’t able to handle these things, but I’ll have you know I know exactly what Pinkie Pie is doing!” Twist snarled, “It’s hard enough running a sweet shop when Bon Bon works here, but now Pinkie is using Twilight as a Princess to buy out all of them! I worked hard to get good at my talent! If I do this to you two, then maybe she’ll back the flip off!” 

“Woah, woah! Slow down kid!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t follow her logic; how exactly did she even piece any of that together in her head? “Look, I really, really don’t wanna hurt you. I’m telling you, somepony has been messing with your head. If you just put the Stand away, then we can talk like grown-ups. Okay?”

“I’ll put mine away if you put yours!” 

So that confirmed it. Twist did have a Stand. And given that the only thing about her that looked out of place was the massive lollipop, that had to be it. Dash wasn’t entirely sure how it could be, but it had to be what she was rolling with. 

“So you know what a Stand is?” Dash gripped one of the handles of 2M2M, “Well then, I don’t know what sort of Stand you got or who this ‘he’ is, but I’m not going to turn tail and run because some kid tells me to! In fact, I’ll give you to the count of 3 to turn around and go home. One! Tw-”

“You don’t get to tell me to go home!” Twist spat, “It’s time for you to listen to me!”

At that moment, Dash’s heightened perception from 2M2M picked up a subtle shift in the lollipop. Just as she turned to hop onto 2M2M, the lollipop suddenly glowed, the various rainbow swirls rapidly rotating about the center of the disc-shaped candy. Twist grinned widely as the swirls became faster and faster, blurring together until the colors blended together to form a single white band. And at that moment, it came out.

In a single instant, a spray of white viscous fluid shot out straight from the center of the spinning candy. Dash had just thrown her legs up onto 2M2M when the spray hit the frontside of 2M2M, splattering across the Stand’s torso. Another quick burst landed right at her Stand’s feet, pooling around it and quickly seeping underfoot. 

“What the?!” Dash looked over her Stand’s shoulder to stare at the sticky substance, “Ugh! Yuck! What is that?!” The substance looked like melted taffy, the white standing out starkly against her Stand’s muted blues. 

“It’s my Stand!” Twist smirked, “And it’s not gross! Just wait until you see what it can do!” 

“I just did!” Dash grimaced, “Now let me show you what a real Stand looks like!”

As Dash said this, she kicked back on 2M2M, activating the jets and pointing its head up at the sky. She awaited the rush of air that came with taking off, the velocity pressing down on her from its sheer speed. Then she realized something, something very important: she wasn’t moving at all.

“Huh?” Confused, Dash tried once more, but 2M2M, while its jets hummed, didn’t budge. Dash looked down at the ground, and what she saw made her both blink and raise an eyebrow.

As Dash tried to raise 2M2M’s foot, she found the substance pulled upwards like taffy for a second before it snapped back down elastically, dragging her Stand’s foot down with it. The substance had slightly darkened, losing viscosity to become elastic. The substance that had gotten on the front of 2M2M’s chest likewise had turned into the strange sticky material, and as she willed 2M2M to scrape it off, she found it didn’t budge.

“What the heck?!” Dash growled, looking down at the ground, “What is this stuff?!”

“That’s my Stand!” Twist shouted smugly, “He showed me how to use it! It binds someone in place and prevents them from moving! Pretty cool, huh?!”

“He?! Cool?!” Dash snorted, “It’s gross! What even is this?!”

Her mind flashed to jumping off and attack Twist head on. As Dash tried to move her body, she realized she was stuck. In an instant, her mind flashed back to when Twilight had first subdued 2M2M, and her expression fell instantly.

“And since you were so mean to me, take this!!!” Extending her arm once more, Twist smirked as the Lollipop shot another long jet straight at the legs of Dash’s Stand. The spray shot straight out towards 2M2M’s legs, immediately dousing them in the stuff. In that moment, Dash felt her own legs growing warm in response.

Before Dash could react, Twist had prepared another stream of the strange substance, this time aimed at Dash’s face. With her legs bound, Dash gasped and threw her weight backwards, bending over. Her knees still glued to her Stand, the stream narrowly missed her, but meant that now Dash was hanging backwards from her Stand.

“Guh…” Her head now upside down, the blood had begun to rush into Dash’s head. The mare coughed before, now reversed, she saw another stream coming straight for her face.

Jerking her head up, and thanking the hours of curls the Wonderbolts had put her through, Dash tightened her core, lifting herself back upright. As the strain overcame her, however, she felt the tip of the stream gracing the back of her head.

“Ugh, gross! It’s in my hair!” Instinctively, Dash reached up to swipe the stuff of. As her fingers made contact with it, however, the substance hardened once more, and a quick tug made her realized her hand was stuck.

“Haha, now you look like you’re trying to think of a way out of this!” Grinning, Twist took a long lick of her lollipop, slurping on it for a long moment before she pointed it at Dash again.

This time, Dash’s eyes widened as she saw he was now aiming right at her own torso. If she was glued to her own stand… no, she wasn’t going to let that happen! As the stream flew towards her, Dash willed 2M2M to twist it’s entire body, pointing its chest straight at Twist. The stream hit her stand straight in the chest, adding to the already small amount that was already there. As it hardened, Dash peaked her head above her Stand’s shoulder, only to shout as she was forced to duck back down to avoid another shot of the sticky stuff.

“You’re fun to try to hit!” Twist giggled, “You look so silly right now!”

Dash huffed, twisting her Stand once more, bending over now so that it’s right side was facing Twist. Stream after stream of the sticky stuff flew over her sides and head, and soon Dash was sweating with the effort of contorting both her Stand and body to avoid the spray. Twist’s Stand obviously could hit Stands and ponies alike. And as she was painfully aware of now, if her stand was immobilized, that part of her would be likewise. She couldn’t get away from it! 

“Hmm…” Twist thought for a moment, “I wonder if you can dodge this!”

Placing her hand on the other edge of the lollipop, Twist suddenly gave the Stand a massive spin. The colors swirled together to form a solid disc of white, all while Twist continued to spin the candy over and over again, adding momentum to it with each application. Soon, her hand had to move so fast she was rubbing the top of it. The entire thing began to vibrate and twitch in Twist’s hand, and clearly something was coming, and coming fast.

“What in Celesti-” Dash started, but then the Stand acted.

The Stand throbbed one final time. Unlike before, what came out was far, far worse. Rather than a single stream, this time a massive glob of the sugary substance came out. It built up further and further until the massive glob in front of the Stand both completely obscured Twist, and was large enough to cast a shadow over Dash. 

“Dodge this!” Shouting over the sloshing of her Stand, Twist thrust the candy forward, causing the massive glob to shot straight towards Dash. 

Her eyes bulging, Dash looked straight up the sky, her expression dropping as she kicked back on 2M2M again, firing its jets on full while shaking it with her hands now, “Oh Come on come on Come On Come On COME ON COME ON!!!” The glob was almost at her Stand now, and Dash stared at it with a mixture of disgust and fear. 

“Miss Rarity says fly south!”

When the voice stopped, Dash felt a strange tingling in her legs and knees. Just as the sensation faded, however, 2M2M was freed, and shot straight into the sky at an extremely high velocity. 

Shouting at the sudden unexpected liberation, Dash looked down just in time to see one of Rarity’s Diamond Dogs waving at her, just as the glob smashed down over it. The Diamond Dog shouted and tumbled backwards as the liquid wave washed over him, sending him splashing backwards as his mouth filled with the stuff. 

With the order from the creature in mind, Dash banked hard south, going upside down as her perception fully kicked in. Now moving, she looked straight ahead, seeing Rarity behind one of the buildings across from Town Hall, her mouth covered by both hands. 

Dash desummoned 2M2M, opening her wings and using the excess speed granted by her Stand to fly, touching down hard down towards Rarity. Twisting her body at the last second, she landed on her feet and quickly shifted her weight to take the impact on her knees instead. 

“Ugh, oh Celestia what is this taste?!” Rarity was sputtering through her hands, “It tastes like… sugar, the most awful sugar!” 

“That’s Twist’s…. Stand, it’s that lollipop!” Rainbow Dash shuddered, “...is it just sugar?”

“Not just sugar!” Rarity gagged, “It’s… it tastes like... salty sugar!” 

“Uh….” Passively turning away, Rainbow leaned around the side of the building the two were in front of, looking straight down the alleyway towards the Town Hall. The building was centered on the outer edge across from Twist’s position, and Dash could just barely make out Twist looking around in confusion, likely due to Dash speeding away faster than any Pegasus could. 

“Ugh, phtu!” Rarity sputtered, “Ugh this is dreadful! Why hasn’t Lennon come back yet?!” 

“I dunno!” Dash huffed, “Is Lenny one of your Stands?” 

“Lennon!” Rarity sharply corrected, “Wait, did Lennon get caught when I sent him out to save you?!” Rarity gasped, leaning her head out beside Dash’s, “We must rescue him!” 

“Yeah!” Harrison cried out; Starr hopped over to Dash and shook his needle in turn.

“Hold on a minute!” Dash snapped, “That kid has a really fast Stand! It just kept going off at me, I barely could avoid it on 2M2M!”

Staring into the alleyway, Dash took notice of Twist’s location. Twist was staring blankly at the sky, her eyes widened and her arm still outstretched. She walked over towards the edge of the stairs of the building, but refused to leave the veranda. She began walking around the exterior to look for them.

“Then what’s the plan?” Rarity huffed, “And how are we supposed to get Lennon out of there? We have to get there quickly before she comes looking for us!” 

“I don’t think she’s coming to look for us...” Summoning 2M2M once more, Dash placed her hand back onto one of the handles. Around her, the air began to rush around the two figures, covering them and swirling about them as Dash narrowed her eyes, “She hasn’t left the deck yet to come looking for us. She has to know about our Stands already… at least mine.” 

“How would she know about our Stands?” Rarity leaned around, seeing Twist emerge from the side of the building to the front entrance again, “Who would’ve told her about them?”

“I dunno, but first things first, we need to get your Lenny guy out of there,” Rainbow pulled herself up onto her Stand, “Rarity, I’m going to go back in there and try to grab for her Stand. While she’s distracted, get in there and get your Lenny guy out.” 

“Lennon!” Rarity snapped, “And is that the wisest move right now, Dash? She was able to trap you before I arrived! What if she does so again?” 

“I’m not seriously going for it,” Rainbow shook her head, “I’m just causing a distraction!”

Rarity couldn’t respond in time before Rainbow had taken off. With her Stand’s enhanced capabilities, she knew it was roughly two hundred feet from where Rarity stood to the stairs where Twist was. 2M2M could blast there in only a couple seconds. She arched her Stand into the air, then dove straight for the veranda. 

However, before Dash even had gotten a third of the way there, a shot of white goo shot straight beside her head. In another instant, a warning flashed in her head as she banked left, avoiding another long strand of Twist’s Stand. Before she’d even made it there, she was forced to bank away and make a loop just to avoid tasting defeat literally and figuratively. 

Twist’s Stand was incredibly fast, and Rainbow knew 2M2M was super fast. Another arc towards the veranda hailed three more shots, making it seem she had no significant period of time between her shots. And all this while she was flying through the air on her Stand! 

“I hate that lollipop!” Dash shouted in anger, growling hard as 2M2M did a massive barrel roll, making a beeline for Twist’s position. With the raw speed of 2M2M, she had to be able to get there before he could hit her… or at least not directly!

“I heard that!” Twist shouted, “I’m sure you WISH you had my Stand!” 

Getting so close to the veranda meant she had to slow 2M2M’s speed down so she could bank her turn. Yet her perception kicked in: Dash suddenly realized Twist had shifted position, slightly now to the left of the front of Town Hall’s doors. Before Dash could truly figure out why she did this, she felt a massive gust of wind hitting her right side. 

Ignoring it, Dash turned her Stand so it angled toward Twist. The best bet right now was to jump off and tackle her. Once she had her hands on the filly, she’d have won. The distance between them was closing rapidly, so close it would be three seconds before contact. Just as she started to extend her hand to reach out, a warning flashed in her head for a split second before 2M2M jerked upwards in her hands.

“I did it!” Twist shouted. ‘It,’ as it turned out, had been landing a shot directly on top of one of 2M2M’s two exhausts. Suddenly, her position made sense; she’d moved upwind so her shot would arc around 2M2M. She’d been so focused on getting to Twist she hadn’t considered the shots would have an arc!

“Woah woah woah woah woah!” Gasping, Dash yanked up on her Stand, only to feel she was beginning to bank right. She knew without looking her right exhaust must have been covered up. As she shot up, another stream smacked into her Stand’s left foot, dousing it in the sticky stuff. 

However, Dash couldn’t think about that right now. Her Stand was now going up and right, straight towards Town Hall’s spire. Making a split decision, Dash leaned her Stand’s weight to the left, causing it to bank around the top of the spire. While she was safe now, she couldn't turn around, and quickly she realized she’d have to go around the building to make another attempt. 

Yet for the moment, it took all her concentration to prevent 2M2M from diving straight into the roof. Her fingers curled frantically around the handles, yanking upwards on them with all the strength her arm possessed. It reminded her of trying to fly on a torn wing, always having to adjust for the weight and having to go at a slower speed to compensate. Yet 2M2M was still going incredibly fast, and slowing down wasn’t an option.

The wind whipping across her face, Dash forcing herself to calm down. Her enhanced perception quickly picked up she was going fast enough it’d only be a second to round the building’s spire. As the mare finally rounded the side of Town Hall, however, what she saw made her eyes widen. 

In her dilemma, she’d forgotten about Rarity! In the center of the field, Rarity was crouched down, pointing towards the squirming mass in the center of Twist’s first massive glob attack. Starr and Harrison had just begun to plunge their rippers into the ground, when Dash saw Twist’s lollipop starting to twitch again.

Rarity hadn’t even seen Twist preparing her lollipop. Twitching for another moment, the lollipop jerked upwards before the long cone shaped stream came out. The massive glob grew rapidly as it approached Rarity, all while Dash was still fighting for control of her Stand.

Dash was too far away to do anything. She jerked hard on her Stand to move left, up, down, anything, but anything she’d do would be too late. The Stand wasn’t going to be moving in any direction just yet… and as she looked up, Rarity had begun to notice the blob rushing towards her. She barely had enough time to even point for one of her Diamond Dogs to react.

At that moment, 2M2M did something she didn’t expect. Extending its right arm halfway, the entire Stand vibrated underneath her as Dash noticed something about its hands she hadn’t before. In the center of its palms were small discs that were cut straight through the center, each one embedded into its palms. Extending its arm fully, the disc suddenly slid apart, retracting into either side of the Stand’s hand. And that’s when she noticed it.

In a split second, Dash knew what ‘it’ was. A small black orb had emerged from it, growing to three inches in diameter. It was a small vacuum, another fact she knew instantly. And due to the motion of 2M2M’s arm, the vacuum shot straight out into Twist’s attack. 

As the vacuum came into proximity of the large glob, the glob suddenly began to contort and get dragged into the vacuum. In an instant, the glob was gone, disappeared within the black mass. The vacuum remained completely black as it fell towards the ground, resting on top of it with the blades of grass being drawn towards it. A second later, it disappeared.

While surprised, Dash couldn't rejoice yet. Just as her Stand had started to vibrate, her speed had faltered. While she hadn’t seen it, her left jet had inverted while creating the vacuum, thus cancelling out her speed. And that meant she was now going down, hard.

While Dash thought her perception would take care of it for her, it seemed to have vanished. The ground was now coming towards her faster than she could account for. So she had only enough time to brace herself as 2M2M hit the ground, slamming into the dirt and throwing Dash off. She tumbled a few feet across the grass as 2M2M faded from existence.

“What?” Twist blinked as she looked to where that strange vacuum had been, “What was that?”

As Dash groaned and looked up, seeing the lollipop filling her with adrenaline. Dash reached up, crossing her arms over her face to protect it. Thought confused, it didn’t take long for Twist to frown and launch another glob at her. 2M2M appeared in front of Dash again, preparing to take the blow head on.

Then it happened again. As Dash willed 2M2M to protect her, her Stand open its palms up and released another orb. It shot up and collected the oncoming attack, easily sucking it out of existence. Taking advantage of the brief moment, Dash scrambled up shakily onto her feet. Turning her head, Dash quickly zeroed in on Rarity’s location, seeing her several feet away to her right. Thinking quickly, Dash threw the vacuum into the air in front of her, before darting to her right towards Rarity. 

“Heads up!” Shouting, Dash wrapped an arm around the startled mare, dragging her quickly towards the pavilion. Twist growled and launched another stream at the retreating mares, only for the shot to be sucked into the previously launched vacuum. 

Confused and startled, Rarity didn’t fight as Dash dragged her quickly towards the pavilion. Thrusting the two of them up against the bottom of it, 2M2M climbed up onto the deck, taking a fighting stance. The Stand quickly caught the vacuum it had tossed up, hold it it out in front of them to absorb Twist’s oncoming blows. 

Without a word, Dash peered up. Twist had already shot another stream directly at them, but just as she had calculated, she was focusing on 2M2M. Each attack was either sucked completely up by Dash’s vacuums, or her Stand would dodge whatever remained swiftly. Twist was too afraid to approach 2M2M head on, and thus, had backed a considerable distance away.

“What are these things?!” Twist shouted, “And why can’t I get past them?!” 

Still hunkered down, Dash turned to Rarity, “Rarity, did you get Larry?!”

“LENNON!” A tiny noise spoke up. The small Diamond Dog was perfectly fine, completely separated from the goo that had encased him. He quickly scampered over to stand on Rarity’s forearm, quickly joined by his three comrades.

“Why did you think the best way to get me over here was to… to tackle me?!” Rarity huffed, “And why did you bring us closer to her?!” 

“Because!” Dash pointed to him, “She won’t leave the deck! The only bit of cover in the field is the deck. I saved you from having to get it all over your face, and right now we have a shield protecting us.” 

“Shield?” Rarity looked up, “Are you referring to that… black thing your Stand is holding?”

“Yeah,” Dash looked up, “They’re vacuums. I just, sorta knew what they were when I saw them. I saw her about to attack you while I was going down, and it just kinda happened. Something similar happened with that Verde guy…”

Dash peered up over the deck again. Twist had stopped firing her Stand at 2M2M. Instead, she rubbed her stand rapidly again and released a massive burst of it around the floor in front of her. The sticky substance would mean getting to her would be a task. Dash already knew that 2M2M couldn’t go too far away from her anyways, though. 

Thinking for a long moment, Dash pondered as to what she could do. Twist seemed determined not to leave the pavilion, and likewise she would hit either of them if they tried to leave. They had to drive her out into the open. She had the advantage in open air. Then she could get Twist separated from her Stand and snap her out of what she though.

“Rarity, I got a plan,” Dash turned to her, “At the meeting, you said your Stand can separate stuff if they’re connected together, right?” 

“We’re able to sew together any two objects or remove them if they’re joined in any way!” Starr answered, “But they must be two separate objects.”

“Good,” Dash grinned a toothy smile, “I’m going to have to use you then!” 

Before Starr could protest, 2M2M leaned down from the pavilion and picked up the struggling cloth doll. Dash in the meanwhile got up onto her knees, gripping the forearm of 2M2M.

“Which one is this again?” Dash asked, casually pulling the squirming Stand to her.

“Starr!” Rarity rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation, “Starr, Harrison, Lennon and Cartney! They aren’t hard names to remember!” 

“I need you to scare Twist out from under the roof,” Dash pointed towards it, “Once you drive her out, I can handle it from there. I’m gonna borrow this little guy for when you do. Got it?”

“Hey Rainbow, Rarity!” Twist called out, “I dunno what exactly you’re planning, but you can’t hide forever!”

“Alright, I know what to do,” Rarity ignored Twist and nodded, “But darling, you’ve been hit by that filly’s… sugar twice now. Are you sure you can avoid her once more?”

“Now that I figured out what 2M2M can do… yeah, I can!” Dash beamed as she hoisted herself up onto her Stand. Even as she did so, another spurt of the Stand flew towards her, narrowly missing her face. 2M2M leapt away from the pavilion and carried them out into the field. Starr yelped as he clung to 2M2M with all his might.

“Don’t hurt Starr!” Rarity called out, a loud twinge of concern in her voice, “Take care of him!” 

“I will!” Dash called back. Now that she was out, she flipped her Stand up onto it’s belly. Activating the jets, she had it push off the ground, giving her a forward and upwards direction for her jets. Just as she started to take off, a massive glob of the sticky substance came flying directly towards Dash’s face. 

“There you are!” Twist smirked, “I was starting to think I wouldn’t get a chance to show off my Stand again!”

Dash summoned another vacuum, sending it soaring in front of her Stand as she banked right into the air. The attack was quickly sucked into the vacuum before Dash willed it to orbit around her Stand as she flew, creating an effective shield for herself.

Now that she was airborne, Dash knew what she had to do: “Try to hit me if you can!” Dash shouted, turning her Stand upwards to form a loop-de-loop motion.

Growling, Twist swiftly raised her lollipop, gripping the edge of the disc, “I know I can hit you!” She called out, “Get ready to take my sugar!” 

“Starr!” Dash turned towards the Diamond Dog, “Your job right now is to get rid of anything that hits 2M2M, got it?” 

Starr tried to react, but whatever he said was lost in the wind. Dash drew 2M2M until it was flying in the edge of the field, hovering there so she could gauge the range of Twist’s Stand. Given that shots were still flying towards her, it seemed that her range was far longer than 2M2M’s personal one. 

Twist, however, was far more than just range. With the vacuum that Dash had in her Stand’s arms, something became apparent to her: her perception filter was gone. She hadn’t thought about it, but now that she was in the air, she wasn’t hearing everything nearly as well, or seeing every shot nearly as quickly. Her enhanced senses still let her keep up with Twist, but having Starr now as assurance was key. 

“Come on kid!” Rainbow shouted, “Hit me!” 

Twist rolled her eyes, aiming her lollipop again. Dash banked around some of the buildings around the field, rolling in and out of the field to evade each of Twist’s attacks. Every shot felt far too close for comfort, and any shot that did land was being rapidly undone by Starr with ripper clutched fiercely in one hand. In the other hand, 2M2M clutched its vacuum.

Dash spun her Stand and flew low to the ground, so low she could see the flattening grass blades. Twist took this as a chance to fire a series of shots right at Dash, causing her to swerve to the left and light rapidly. Twist rubbed up another massive glob, but Dash spread her own wings and grabbed Starr in hand. She opened them hard and flew upwards, the shot passing through air. 2M2M appeared under Dash again, to which she grabbed onto it and flew quickly away. 

Twist now had a little furrow in her brow. Dash was incredibly unpredictable, making this harder than it needed to be! She looked across the entirety of Dash for a moment, only to see Starr scraping off a little bit of her Stand from 2M2M’s side. Twist closed one eye and leaned her body in like she was firing a bow, holding her lollipop out and firing. 

Starr, whom had just succeeded, was suddenly splattered with the goop. The force of impact sent him flying off of 2M2M. He squeaked out as he tumbled away into the sky. 

“Little guy!” Dash quickly turned, her Stand now pointed to intercept his fall. He was flailing right towards the outside of the field, right where Twist could hit them. Dash tried to weave, but she had to focus on grabbing Starr, meaning Twist was free to attack. 

“That’s it!” Twist beamed, “Now you’re right in my sights! Get ready to… to…”

That was when Twist heard something. Something creaking. She snapped her head to look above her, only to see the entirety of the roof collapsing! Her body froze as the entire roof seemed to be starting to slide down like a lid on a bottle! Twist rapidly turned her head to see something that made her shake. 

Rarity stood on the outside of the pavilion, a glistening diamond thread in hand. Twist followed the thread with her eyes to see that the thread had been sewn through each and every pillar of the pavilion. Yet the roof was no longer connected to the pillars either! Rarity, giving Twist a long look, smirked before she let go of the thread.

“G-Gah!!!” With no other option, Twist saw the stairs to the deck, quickly rushing out and launching herself into the field. She tumbled onto the ground, landing on her belly and groaning, lollipop in hand.

As the roof began to slide down, Rarity backed away from the structure. Still in close proximity, Twist heard the loud creaking as the roof started to slide down towards her, getting on his back to see it. As she threw her hands in front of her face to shield it, Lennon and Cartney quickly jumped from Rarity’s shoulders, scattering out into the field. 

At that moment, Rarity grimaced as she tugged hard on the string she was holding. The string ran through the roof and each support that’d been separated, and the tug caused the two to come back together once more. The supports quickly began to drag back outwards, scraping against the now ascending roof.  Struggling to pull them together, Rarity turned to look up at Rainbow Dash, seeing Starr holding onto Rainbow’s arm. 

“Go!” With the simple command, Lennon and Cartney dashed forward to where Twist had fallen to the ground. Brandishing their needles, each quickly drove them into Twist’s feet, sending their strings into the dirt. With her feet sewn, Twist looked down to see the two pin dolls, and she shouted in fear. 

“A-Ahh! Get off me!” Swinging her lollipop at them, Twist quickly jerked up to his feet, only to feel she was now stuck to the ground. Stunned, Twist quickly rose his Stand into the air, aiming it at the two retreating Diamond Dogs who’d sewn her into the ground. “W-Why can’t I move?! I can’t move!”

“Yeah, you can’t!” Lennon called out from behind him, sticking his tongue out, “PHBHBHT!”

Twist heard a massive rush of air from behind her. She twisted around to see 2M2M speeding back into the air, having caught Starr before he hit the ground. The Stand quickly used its ripper to separate the goop from its body, spitting in disgust once it was sent flapping into the breeze.

“Alright Starr!” Rainbow grinned, “You ready?!” Nervously, the normally outspoken Stand timidly nodded his head, his face a bit green from the massive tumble. 

“Great!” Smirking, Dash kicked 2M2M into gear, pointing it at the ground to the right of Town Halls’ entrance. She’d have to go around the building in order to gain the speed to do this, but her Stand was incredibly fast. She’d be around Town Hall before he had a chance to do anything! 

While 2M2M began to bank down, however, Twist looked around in fear. Rarity was still clutching onto the string, trying desperately to hold the now collapsing roof together. Dash was outside of her field of view, and she needed to do something, something… something fast! 

“I… I didn’t wanna have to use this, but you’re forcing me to!” Twist took a few deep breaths, “It’s time to show you the true power of my Stand!”

“True power huh?!” Dash’s increased hearing easily picked him up as she started to turn to go around the building, “You got a round two or something?!” 

Twist slowly gripped the side of her Stand, giving it a long and slow rub before she spun the candy harder than she had before. She wasn’t rubbing it like she was before; instead, now she was more so thrusting it up against her hand to increase its speed. Stray globs before to douse the grass around her as the normally white color of the lollipop when active turned a bright rainbow.

However, just as he spun the candy a second time, a blur of blue light zoomed in front of him. Shrieking, Twist jerked backwards, nearly falling over without being able to move her feet to balance herself. She quickly resumed what she was doing. 

“Come on!” Dash shouted, growling, “Rarity said you guys were fast!” 

“I-I’m very fast!” Starr shouted, “But I can’t see it when we’re going THIS fast!” 

Sighing, Dash quickly forced 2M2M into another loop around the building. She had to keep getting Starr close to the lollipop, but she had to avoid crashing into him too! Growling, Dash quickly throttled her Stand again, sending it zooming around the building. 

“Come on, come on!” Twist nervously gasped, spinning her lollipop faster. Slowly, a cone of rainbow light started to form around it, dancing across the steps of Town Hall. Another blur in front of her, however, made her shriek and jerk back once more, almost losing her balance. 

“STARR!” Rainbow shouted, “COME ON!” 

As she watched, Rarity herself had backed away, seeing Dash’s form incoming and knowing she wouldn't slow down for her. She pursed her lips, wanting to try to do something. But the string was all that was holding the roof together!

Dash had just started to go in for a third pass. Twist’s hand spun faster and faster on the candy, the rainbow light growing. Finally, the candy started to jerk up in her hands. And that was when she gained a wicked grin. 

“On your marks!” Twist shouted, turning her body into the direction he knew Dash would attack. Just as Dash rounded the corner, Twist spun his Stand one last time, “Get ready!” Starr extended his needle just as the two were mere feet away from the Stand.

“FOR CANDY COATED FURYYYYY!!!” Just as Starr recoiled from plunging in the needle, Twist’s Stand violently jerking in her hands. A glistening cone of rainbow light emanated from the Stand, swirling about it like something from a carnival. A second later, however, the Stand completely erupted. 

Unlike the controlled and calculated shots from before, the lollipop began to shoot random and massive globs of the substance out of the center, each one arcing in every which direction. The Stand quickly coated the ground around her in its goop. The rainbow light danced about the ground, almost as though a rainbow disco light was hanging in the sky.

Rainbow Dash, having had her face directly above it, wasn’t given any time to react. A massive glob struck her directly in the face, coating it entirely and sending her and 2M2M spiraling. The two soared past Twist, heading right for the ground. The mare shirked in disgust, followed by a cry of pain as she hit the ground hard.

“MMGMH!” Shouting on the ground, Dash found her hands she’d raised to try and scrape the stuff off had now become stuck to her face. Oddly enough, the strange substance was just porous enough for her to breathe, but just like Rarity, she could taste the strange salty sweet flavor of the stuff, which had now glued her tongue to the roof of her mouth. 

“AND THAT’S THE MONEYSHOT, BABY!” Twist shouted, giggling her head off as she pointed at her, “HAH!” 

Her eyes widening, Rarity gasped as she tugged hard on the string, “W-Where did you learn that?!” 

“He told me to say it if I hit someone in the face!” Twist grinned, “Now let’s give you one too!”

Jerking upright, Rarity was forced to leap backwards from Twist’s now geysering Stand. Looking over towards Dash, Rarity pursed her lips as she looked up to the lollipop, still holding onto the string. The Stand’s attacks hit with a massive force, enough to make her arm vibrate with the impact.

“Miss Rarity!” Gasping, Starr quickly scampered his way up Rainbow’s arm, trying to separate the substance stuck to Rainbow’s face, “You need to go!” 

“I’m not… going to… let the roof collapse!” Rarity shook her head, “Property damage is not something a lady causes!” Rarity grunted, “And I’m doing just fine!” 

Trading glances, Cartney and Harrison slowly nodded before the two backed up, surrounding Rarity and watching nervously. Massive globs of sticky goop had begun to pool around the ground, frothing about. Unlike before, the goop didn’t turn into taffy on contact; rather, it remained viscous and thick, only causing Rarity to gag as she leapt further and further back.

“I’m beginning to get… rather tired of that lollipop of hers!” Rarity muttered, jerking backwards as a hard glob splattered against her shield. 

“You can never get tired of my lollipop!” Twist smirked, “I think Rainbow Dash already learned that!” 

Turning her head, Rarity could see Starr wasn’t making any progress with Dash. The mare was hysterical, her hands stuck to her face and writhing on the ground. Starr was still holding onto his needle in one hand, and thus he couldn't steady his ripper enough to get the stuff off. 

Grunting, Rarity turned and peered towards Twist. She had to do something in order to finish Starr’s string! But she also couldn't let go of the string holding the roof together just yet. Grunting, the mare looked to Twist again. She had to get Starr’s needle over to her! 

However, that was when Rarity noticed it. The vacuum that Dash had been using for protection! It was still there, floating in the air above Dash! 

“Harrison!” Rarity hissed, “Tell Starr to throw his needle into that vacuum!” 

“What?” Harrison gasped, “But, what’ll happen to the string?!”

“Do as I say!” Rarity snapped, “And then make Rainbow Dash launch that vacuum towards me!” 

With a nervous gaze, Harrison slowly nodded, turning his body and quickly rushing out into the field. The tiny Stand was forced to jump and dodge attacks, and Rarity knew just what she needed to do. 

“Your Stand is awful!” Rarity shouted, “The most dreadful kind! Somepony aught to take it away from you!” 

“Now you want it too?” Twist shrugged, “There is only one of me and two of you, you just gotta wait your turn! I’ll get to you when I’m done coating your friend!”

At that moment, Rarity felt the pressure on her shield increase. Twist had turned the spurting Candy directly towards her! Looking down, the pool of goo had spread to her feet, and Rarity didn’t have time to pull them up before her feet were now glued to the ground. 

“Yes… you ought to learn… how to use your Stand in the proper way!” Rarity shot a glance over. Harrison had just reached Starr! “You should be punished!” 

“No, you’re the ones that are getting punished!” Twist narrowed her eyes. 

Pursing her lip, Rarity stole another glance over to her Stands. Rainbow had stopped writhing for a half second, and her Stand had likewise reached out to grip hold of the vacuum. Thinking fast, Rarity looked over to Twist again, smirking this time. 

“You should have a Stand like mine!” Rarity called out, “Elegant, graceful, and a perfect reflection of how you should use it! Your ghastly lollipop just doesn’t even compare when put to the test!” 

“My Candy Coated Fury is all I need!” Twist stuck her tongue out, “I don’t need any stupid dogs!” 

Just as he said that, Rarity saw 2M2M had started up a throw. Starr gave her one last glance before he threw his needle into the vacuum, just as 2M2M threw. 

“Then you’ve made a mistake!” As the vacuum came soaring at Rarity, the String connected to the lollipop began to tighten. Being yanked away from Dash had caused a large amount of slack to form, which was quickly getting pulled in. Silently, Cartney jumped onto her shoulder, getting the ripper out just as the vacuum fully approached them. 

“Because with Diamond Dogs!” Cartney reached out, cutting the string going into the vacuum. Rarity reached out and took it in her other hand, giving it a hard yank. At the same time, she threw the end of the string holding up the roof into the vacuum, the string quickly disappearing into it. 

“I can separate anything!” The string connecting the roof suddenly tightened due to the force of the vacuum, causing the roof to yank back together. With the string in hand, Rarity gave the string a hard yank, causing Twist’s eyes to jerk wide as her lollipop went flying from her hands.

With a few final spurts, the Stand’s ability deactivated once it was out of Twist’s hands. Twist’s eyes went wide as she realized this. Gasping hard, she cried out, trying to run towards Rarity. Yet the strings in her feet caused her to fall flat on her face. 

Turning to Rainbow, Rarity quickly pointed at her face. The four dogs quickly rushed over, each gripping a corner of Dash’s face and using their rippers in tandem. With their combined strength, the now flat piece of taffy fell from Dash’s face, and another quick use freed it from her hands. 

“Gah!!!” Dash spat, shaking her head, “Guh, GUH!” spitting, Dash slowly trembled as the substance began to melt in her mouth, “Ugh, there’s so much salt in this…” 

“Well,” Rarity sighed, “That’s what you get for flying in without thinking.” 

“I was thinking!” Dash snapped, “What part of my plan wasn’t thought out?! Starr would plant the string, then I’d shoot up and he’d plant it in the roof and yank it there! Honestly, that was a smart plan!” 

“P-Please don’t hurt me!” The feeble voice of Twist came from where she lay on the ground, trembling visibly at the two mares standing near her, “I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Dont’ hurt me, and don’t take my Stand! Please!” 

Staring at her, the two mares slowly stalked forward, Dash having anger shining heavily in her eyes. Twist looked up, only to see shadow covering their eyes. 

“P-P-Please!” Twist clasped her hands together, “I-I promise, I wasn’t going to hurt you! I-I, he wanted me to hurt you!” 

“He?” Rarity inquired, “Oh please… do go on.”

“I-I don’t know his name!” Twist babbled, “I-I met him outside of school! H-He said that he’d help me make friends, and he gave me a lollipop! I-I met him each day after school, and then he, h-he gave me a weird handshake and I developed my Stand! T-Then he told me you guys were nasty, and said my Stand was perfect for you two!” 

“That’s all you know about him?” Dash asked coldly.

“Y-Yep!” Twist shouted, “I-I don’t know anything else about him, t-that’s all! I-I don’t even know his name! B-But the lollipop he gave me, t-that’s what my Stand became!” 

“Alright, let her go,” Rainbow waved to Rarity. 

Raising an eyebrow, Rarity slowly nodded, speaking up quietly, “Do as she says, Lennon.” The dog quickly rushed forward after nodding, undoing the strings holding Twist down. 

“You… you won’t hurt me?” Twist asked as she slowly got up, pushing the hair out of her eyes.

“Nah, I won’t hurt you, kid,” Dash’s frown curled upwards, “But I think you need to be taught a lesson about using that Stand on mares.” 

“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity hissed, “She’s already apologized, let’s just let her go and report this to Twilight.”

“Not yet!” Dash growled, “I wanna teach her a little lesson I learned back in the Wonderbolts Academy… a lesson about tornadoes.” 

Wordlessly, Dash slowly summoned 2M2M again, turning the Stand around. Slowly, the Stand produced 6 vacuums, moving them into a column formation. The air around the three began to suck into the large orbs, causing their hair to flap in the wind. 

“I don’t know much about vacuums,” Dash pointed back, “But I do know something about how we make tornadoes for our shows. It’s all about moving fast enough to create a fast enough speed around a fixed pointed. Normally tornadoes form when hot and cold air meet and swirl around each other… but if you make the air around the point colder than the air inside, you can form a small funnel. And if you turn that funnel into a cone, you get a tornado.” 

2M2M suddenly pointed to the left, the vacuums sliding out to form a diagonal line. The vacuums began to rotate where the three stood, slowly at first and gaining speed. Each one lagged slightly behind the one above it, but with every rotation, the vacuums began to form a wall of air. 

“Normally, I’d have to have at least four ponies with me to fly fast enough just to produce a small tornado,” Dash grinned, “But the whole reason it works is because we form a funnel of air behind us that sucks in air. That’s why they teach Wonderbolts not to fly directly behind somepony. But,” Dash pointed up, “With these vacuums, I can accelerate the process. And we’re in the eye of it!” 

The vacuums by now had rotated to the point a small tornado had formed around them. Rainbow’s hair whipped backwards, sucked towards the funnel. Soon enough, the vacuums disappeared, the entire tornado turning slightly black. Rarity pressed her back up to Dash, nervously gripping her arm. 

“RAINBOW DASH!” Rarity shouted over the roar of wind, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” 

“Like I said!” With a grin, 2M2M suddenly wrapped an arm around Twist, hoisting her into the air, “I’m teaching her a lesson about tornadoes!” 

With that said, 2M2M suddenly threw Twist into the air, a scream coming from her lips. Twist was quickly sucked into the vortex, whipping around inside of it as she continued to scream. Rarity shouted something to Dash in anger, but as she turned to yell, Dash was gone. 

Twist screamed in terror as she whipped around in the vortex, her body dragged around inside of the wall of the storm. She cried out in fear, throwing her arms out wide. She was unable to stop her momentum, unable to do anything but helplessly tumble about inside of the storm. 

With a massive jerk, Twist suddenly realized something: she was out of the funnel. Opening her eyes, he saw the ground, specifically that she was rushing towards it. Twist let out a scream of terror, seeing the grass rushing up towards her. Shutting his eyes, she prepared herself to hit the ground with tremendous force. 

Something caught her just before she hit the ground. The weight in her gut made her gag, but she wasn’t falling anymore. Twist coughed as she stared at the blades of grass tickling her face. Slowly, she looked behind his shoulder, only to see Rainbow Dash on top of 2M2M, staring at her with a smug expression. 

“So?” Dash grinned, “How was that demonstration?” 

Shaking, Twist looked up to Dash, her terror being filled with relief. The intense emotion caused her to start to slowly nod her head, unable to speak. 

“Now,” Dash slowly laid him on the ground, “If we give you your Stand back, do you promise not to hurt anyone ever again with it?” Still terrified, Twist slowly nodded.

“And if I ask, will ya come help me prank some ponies with it?” Twist nodded a bit slower.

“Good,” Dash smirked, making 2M2M disappear and landing on her feet gracefully, “Now go get your Stand from Rarity and go home.” 

With the order, Twist slowly at first but quickly broke into a run. With the vacuums gone, the tornado had disappeared, leaving a very messy Rarity in standing in confusion. As she passed Rarity, she nabbed Candy Coated Fury, quickly running off into the distance. As she did so, a small band of red around her wrist slowly shattered. 

“What was all that about, Rainbow Dash?!” Rarity regained her senses enough to shout, “You just endangered the life of Sweetie Belle’s classmates for your own amusement?”

“Remember what they all said?” Dash stretched her back out, “She has to beat up Vinyl to get her out of it. I didn’t wanna hurt the kid but I had to get her out. I figured a nice little scare would do the trick.” 

“That..” Rarity paused, “That’s still incredibly dangerous. Why would you pick something like that?” 

“Because!” Rainbow turned towards Rarity, “Pinkie taught me sometimes the best way to get scared is to go sky high!”

---

Once more, a figure sat in a quiet room. The soft hum of a television played in the corner, yet otherwise the room was quiet. As the figure looked down at his right arm, however, his expression was anything but tranquil. His lips were quivering as the charm containing Twist’s image started to quiver, before breaking apart and fragmenting into tiny pieces, much like Aloe and Vinyl’s had. 

“I… what’s going on?” Averting his gaze, the figure’s fingers started to tap against his knee, “This, shouldn't be happening! How are they getting past my friends?!” 

Looking down at his wrist again, the figure thumbed through the remaining bands, narrowing his gaze onto them. As he twisted them about to show the charms, a figure stood out among the rest. 

“Well… this one will do!” Pressing his fingers against it, the figure’s expression darkened, “Alright Sparkle… let’s see what you and your friends do against this one…”
> Mr. Sandman
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the center of the Crystal Map floated a small black orb, a few stray pieces of dust slowly being drawn into it. A small hissing noise filled the silent air, all while the dark orb remained aloft several inches above the table. Around said orb were two pairs of eyes, one opened wide and the other slightly lidded.

“Dash this is… this is!!!” Gasping, Twilight reached forward, slowly pressing a scientific instrument against it. The jaws of the vernier caliper disappeared into the tiny orb before Twilight pulled them back out, “Dash this is incredible!” 

Sighing, Dash rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair, huffing slightly, “Twilight, it’s a vacuum. It’s really cool when I do stuff with it, but you’ve done nothing but stare at it for five minutes!” 

“Oh Dash, you don’t understand!” Twilight slowly lifted a piece of paper up to it, watching as it was sucked into it with a little squee, “Dash this is something science hasn’t been able to achieve...ever! This isn’t like what you think of when you think of a vacuum cleaner! This is a full on perfect self-sustaining vacuum!” 

Groaning, Dash leaned her head into the side of her chair. After dealing with the foal and his… lollipop, Dash had told Rarity to go to look over their sisters while she went back to deal with Twilight. After the typical lecture on her being too reckless with her Stand, Dash had gotten fed up and shown Twilight what her newly discovered ability was. That was a mistake, for that alone had caused Twilight to go full egghead on her!

“Okay, okay! Dash, let me explain!” Still observing it, Twilight waved her finger for Dash to move it closer to her, “A vacuum is a point at which there is no matter in a point mass! Or, well, if the pressure is so low that particles don’t actually interact with each other but, that’s besides the point!” Twilight slowly held her hand in front of the orb, letting it get sucked towards it before almost giggling with joy, “Do you understand how… how impossible it is to remove all matter from a particular point in space?! Even with the most advanced magical spells we have, we’ve not even come closer to achieving a 20% vacuum yet!” 

Sighing, Dash leaned forward, “Did I tell you how I created a tornado with these? That’s way cooler than learning how they work.” 

“Your Stand has found a way to extract all matter from a point and inserted what equates to a controllable mass of pure nothingness!” Twilight leaned closer to observe it, “Vacuums are literally unachievable by anything we have today! The only perfect vacuum we know of is Space, and even at points there’s evidence to prove it isn’t!

“And you can fully control its location through the application of Stand energy! According to the application of Bernoulli’s theorems, somehow you’re also managing to bypass decreasing the pressure in a spot without causing an increase in particle velocity! Assuming that your Stand is treating this like a particle that is!” Magically enhancing her vision, Twilight grinned, “Well, whatever it is, it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Twilight…” Dash spoke up halfheartedly; after Twilight got started, trying to stop her was impossible. 

“But you also said that somehow the actual fluid was sucked into these vacuums… which is perplexing…” Twilight leaned back, “And you’re able to cancel them at will. If these were true vacuums then whatever goo you were talking about would just be drawn onto it and get stuck to them…” Pausing, Twilight thought for a moment, “Dash, are you sure the foal’s attack was sucked into the vacuum?”

“Uhm, yeah!” Dash rotated so she was perpendicular to her chair, her knees over the armrest, “And Rarity’s strings, Rarity was able to pull one of her dog’s needles out after she threw it into the thing!” 

“Hmm…” Pausing, Twilight stared at the vacuum, “Dash, do you need to have your Stand consciously controlling the vacuum in order to keep it manifested?” 

“Huh?” Dash thought, “Well. no I don’t think so. I mean, that one vacuum I had protecting me in the air was still there when I completely forgot about it. So I guess not.” 

“Then…” Grinning, Twilight suddenly formed a magical box the vacuum was now trapped in, pulling it up close to herself, “I need to study this! I have to study this, this could be the answer to so many questions!! Eheh!!!” 

While Twilight squeed in scientific delight, Dash sighed and slowly lifted herself up, “Well… if you’re that interested in it, keep it. Right now I need to go and get a shower.”

Cocking her head, Twilight’s gaze looked the mare up and down, “Huh? I thought you said you got all of Candy Coated Fury off of you…” 

“I did,” Dash grimaced, “But I got hit with the moneyshot… I need to go and wash my face and forget about that.” 

~~~

Studying Dash’s vacuums had, unfortunately, been inconclusive. While running tests on the strange occurance of science, the vacuum had not yielded any results outside of proving what Dash had already done. The frustration had set in after being unable to determine anything about the vacum’s point mass or internal forces, and soon enough it’d turn into a hatred for the thing. Hatred for being unable to discover the unknown! 

Dash had been using some of the showers in the castle, and thus for those few hours Twilight had been fine. After Dash had done some practicing and hung out with Spike, she’d finally told Twilight she was going home. After a few seconds of Dash darting off, the vacuum that Twilight had been studying vanished. Given how fast she’d recorded Dash before, it seemed that the vacuum only stayed manifested if it was within… roughly 100 meters of Dash? Either way, the sudden loss of her variable had caused Twilight’s frustration to hit a peak.

After a few minutes of calming down, Twilight had finally decided to take a break from her studies and go to rest. She’d gone upstairs and started to change her clothes, a shower and a few books on the mind. It was during her attempt to rest that she’d gotten a call from Fluttershy. 

Of course, Twilight had wished Fluttershy had relayed this information to her earlier. Of course, it would have been very relevant at the time and helped her in getting closer to solving this Stand mystery. But she had learned that bringing up things like that wouldn’t do anypony any good over her years. It would just make them feel bad, which is not something she wanted to actively strive for. Especially with Fluttershy.

So, instead, Twilight was just grateful that Fluttershy had remembered that in all of Discord’s strange, enigmatic warnings, one of them had been to go to his favorite jazz club in Fillydelphia should she ever need to find him. Twilight was grateful for that information, as finding Discord would hopefully give her some much needed answers.

What she wasn’t grateful for was the caveat that only Fluttershy would be able to find him. Apparently Discord somehow remained hidden while partying it up like this, and nopony else would be able to recognize him. That meant that Twilight couldn’t just travel to Fillydelphia herself to find Discord. No, she had to take Fluttershy with her, as she was the only pony whom Discord would reveal himself to. And in turn, this had led to the two friends sitting side by side on the Ponyville Express, chugging their way along to the city. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate her company, far from it. If asked, one would be hard pressed to find a single pony who would be adverse to spending time with Fluttershy. She was just that pleasant a pony to be around! But it was the fact that Twilight and her friends were in constant danger of being attacked by evil and/or brainwashed Stand users that made the princess so reluctant to bring along her friend.

Had it just been herself, Twilight would have been more than capable of handling any attackers. She was well versed enough in combat to take on any Stand User, especially if they had only just been given the ability recently. However, with the addition of Fluttershy, somepony who was not capable of defending herself from a Stand user, Twilight’s trek suddenly became a lot harder. Her attention would have to be split between defending both herself and her companion at the same time. If her focus wasn’t at one hundred percent for even a second, there was a very real chance one or both of them could end up seriously hurt.

On top of that, Twilight had no idea as to what or who would be coming for them. Pinkie had been attacked in her favorite club, Rarity in the Spa she spent so much precious time in and even Dash had first encountered Death Leopard in the middle of the streets. Now Twilight had decided to confine the two of them on a train, a relatively unfamiliar environment, and given herself the handicap of having to also bring along another pony to protect.Thankfully, her royal privileges gave herself and Fluttershy a car to themselves.

What had originally been intended by Twilight to be a short, simple trip where she would stay constantly vigilant and defend herself if need arose, had now transformed into a game of chess where every move she made needed to be calculated at least three steps in advance.

When deciding even the simplest actions, the risk associated with it must be taken into account. Obviously, Fluttershy’s safety was the number one concern with anything. But Twilight’s own safety was a top priority as well. At first thought, staying in large crowds when they moved would maximize their safety, as normally crowds were one of the best ways to not get attacked in public. But Twilight quickly realized that fact was flawed in this scenario.

The main reasons staying in large crowds would protect you from attackers under normal circumstances was because firstly, any and all chances of the attacker’s identity being hidden are minimized.  Secondly, there is a high chance that the crowd will retaliate and defend the victim.

Both of these points, however, were rendered moot when the fact that the attack was from a Stand User. Since a Stand can’t be seen by the majority, the element of stealth would come a lot easier. Stand Users are also capable of overpowering even the best examples of physicality in ponies. Plus, given that the Stand User attacking them would be hypnotized by an evil cultist, or even an evil cultist themselves, there was the real possibility that members the crowd which the two of them were taking refuge in would be collateral casualties of the assault. It was taking into account all these factors that made every moment of their train ride a stressful situation for Twilight. In fact, it took her thirty minutes of risk assessment before she even decided that they would take the train to Fillydelphia. 

“Uh, Twilight?” Fluttershy suddenly spoke, “Is, everything alright?” 

Having been startled from her massive thought train chugging aimlessly about her head, the purple alicorn perked up and blinked as reality came back to her, “Huh? Oh, I’m, I’m fine, Fluttreshy. I’m just, thinking right now…” 

It didn’t take nearly as much analysis for Fluttershy to see how much stress Twilight was under right now. As a friend, and as she feared, likely the reason for a lot of that stress, Fluttershy felt it was her duty to ease at least some of it by keeping Twilight calm and preoccupied. “Twilight, I think you need to relax. I mean, if somepony were to try and attack us on this train, they probably would have done it by now.” 

Her fingers drumming on her thigh, Twilight turned to Fluttershy, “That’s, most likely right,” Twilight accepted. “But, we always have to be vigilant. If anything goes wrong, I’m not sure I’ll be able to…”

“You’ll do fine Twilight,” Fluttershy grabbed both of Twilight’s hands and held them tightly, looking into her eyes with a warm, reassuring smile. “You’ve always done a great job at everything you do.”

Fluttershy’s infectious energy seeped into Twilight, causing her to smile for a long moment, “I’m... glad you have so much confidence in me Fluttershy,” Twilight pulled her hands back with a sigh, “But I think the problem is, I don’t know if I have that much confidence in myself.”

“You don’t?” Fluttershy leaned forward slightly, giving Twilight an inquisitive gaze, “But, why wouldn't you be confident? You’re one of the strongest ponies I know, Twilight. If anypony on this train should be confident, it’s you.” 

Once again, Twilight found herself smiling, “W-Well thank you Fluttershy but, I just don’t. Not in myself, and definitely not in my Stand.”

“But why?” Fluttershy led the mare on, continuing to stay close to her for Twilight’s comfort. The train rocked over over a few bumps in the brief moment of silence between Fluttershy asking her question and Twilight answering.

“I...I don’t have the same mastery of my Stand as I do, in other fields of magic..” Twilight wasn’t even looking at Fluttershy at this point. Instead, her gaze was directed at her own feet. “I told Dash this but, until recently I hadn’t manifested my Stand in over two years. I only brought it out when I saw Dash panicking so badly. But there’s more to it than that. Up until that point, I could count the times that I’ve actually used my Stand on my fingers.”

“Really?” Fluttershy continued to lead on, still smiling for Twilight.

“Really. Before Dash, I had only seen two other Stands before in my entire life! My own, and Princess Celestia’s. Vanilla Twilight, it’s the very definition of awe inspiring! The power to engulf all in flames, then rebirth it in its original form! It alone could return a barren wasteland back into a lush place! I even remember the day that she showed me.”

Sensing that Twilight wanted to go on, Fluttershy scooted a tad bit closer and leaned in, “What happened the day she showed you Vanilla Twilight?”

Looking nostalgic, Twilight’s gaze deepened, “Celestia took me to a tree that had withered in the main garden. I think I was, maybe twelve at the time? She told me about how the tree had been a place where it was said couples would meet to fall in love all the time. I got so sad, I asked she if she planned to plant another one when it died. Celestia then told me she had another way of doing it, and suddenly the entire tree caught fire with brilliant blue and yellow flames! When it subsided, the tree looked like it’d been planted the day before, just a tiny seedling in the ground!”

“At first, I thought it was magic! I mean, it was incredible! I asked her what had just happened, and she told me about how she had something called Vanilla Twilight let her return something to its original state, and that the ‘original state’ had been the seedling that she and Luna had planted together. To demonstrate even more, she tipped over a flower pot and then used the same thing again, and there it was! Right back to normal!”

“Now imagine, with that as the only thing you can compare to, finding out about your own Stand. Imagine finding out that your Stand’s power is, ink.” Twilight chuckled hollowly as she gripped the seat. “Having reincarnation at your disposal, versus being able to make hard shapes. Now that I’d had that emasculation in the back of my mind, I really stopped caring about Stands. I mean, to me a Stand was just, a weapon. So, I saw no reason to ever practice with it or learn anything more about it beyond what I already discovered with Princess Celestia.”

“Do you remember the night we met, Fluttershy?” Twilight suddenly asked, meeting her gaze for the first time in her story. 

Nodding her head, Fluttershy looked up for a moment, “I remember, it was your first day in Ponyville and Nightmare Moon came back! It was scary and nerve-wracking! But you helped us figure out how we could beat her!” 

Blushing again, Twilight rubbed her arm, “Well, when I went to challenge her on my own, for a brief moment, I considered using Night Wish against her. But, images of Vanilla Twilight filled my mind. I didn’t even know what Dark Side of the Moon did then, and I still don’t! But, if it was anything like the Stand that belonged to its user’s sister, I would likely have been dead on the spot if I had forced her hand in drawing it. So, I didn’t. I didn’t because I had no faith in my own Stand.”

“Now, that very same Stand I have no faith in, I have to use it to keep you, and the rest of my friends safe! Me, the one who’s teaching you all about Stands, the one who’s known what a Stand is from the very start, isn’t confident in her Stand at all!” Twilight buried her hands in her face and tired her best to keep herself from exploding in frustration.

During all of her rant, Fluttershy had kept a hold on Twilight’s hand. As Twilight buried her face away, Fluttershy was forced to pull her hands away, looking over her now angered friend. Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy scooted closer, pressing her shoulder up against Twilight’s own and putting a hand on Twilight’s back. 

“Can I say something?” Fluttershy cooed, “Even if you didn’t use Night Wish on Nightmare Moon, you still managed to save us by showing us the Elements of Harmony. And even without Night Wish, you still managed to help us defeat Discord, Chrysalis, and even that big meanie Sombra!” Fluttershy rubbed her hand back and forth, “None of us even knew you had a Stand up until recently, but we all still saw you as an amazing pony.”

Her anger starting to simmer rather than boil, Twilight kept her face in her hands, Fluttershy pressed on, “And even if you think Night Wish isn’t that great, I think it sounds amazing. You brought it out to help calm Dash down, and you succeeded in it too. Doesn’t that mean you used your Stand in a way that helped a pony?” 

“Well, technically I brought it out because Dash was going to hurt herself if she didn’t calm down…” Twilight muttered. 

“I think the problem is you’re trying to compare yourself to other ponies,” Fluttershy continued, “And because of that, you’re feeling like your Stand doesn’t mean anything. But, if you were meant to compare your Stand to somepony else, wouldn't you both have the same Stand? I mean, I can’t compare my rabbits to my chipmunks just because they’re both cute. Just because they’re both cute, doesn’t mean they’re anything alike. So, if you can’t compare your Stand to others, why should you feel upset about it?” 

“Because Rainbow’s is so much more amazing and does stuff that can’t be achieved with normal magic! Perfect vacuums, literally no internal resistance and sustaining itself under its own forces...and....and…” Twilight stopped her rambling and complaining, looking up at her friend. “Shouldn’t I be the one telling you these things? Isn’t that what I normally do.” Fluttershy had succeeded and bringing at least a chuckle to her princess friend.

“I think the problem is that you’re too stressed out,” Fluttershy suggested. “When I’m stressed out, a nice cup of coffee helps me relax.” She got up on her knees and looked out the window. They had just entered Fillydelphia. The club that was their destination was at the other end of the city. If they went straight there, they would go through two more stops, then have to change trains, arriving at their destination in about twenty minutes. According to Twilight’s miles of forethought that is. If they decided to leave the train early and make a quick pit stop, then that would probably add, at most, an hour onto the trip.

“If I may, here’s what I suggest we do.” Fluttershy stood up as the train came to a stop. She reached down and offered to take Twilight’s hand. “We should get going off the train and take a break. We’re going to get lunch before heading to the club.” Twilight started to talk, but Fluttershy interrupted her. “I, uhm, don’t know much about ponies but, I know about bullies. If somepony really was following us, then they would either have attacked us by now, or would be waiting for us at the end of the line. So if anything, this would help us avoid them, right?”

Twilight wanted to find any reason to protest this. But with any alternative she thought of, she found that she would create another  reason to protest that as well. She came to the conclusion that she was just simply looking for a reason to protest anything because she was so unsure of what to do. Thus, Twilight found herself accepting her traveling companion’s offer and getting off the train before they originally intended too: “Alright, but let’s try not to take too long.”

Once out of the train station, the two of them wandered around the city streets until they found an outdoor cafe in the middle of a plaza. Neither of them had been there before, but the found the scene to be friendly enough. It was decently populated by friendly staff and patrons alike. Within ten minutes they were at a seat and had two cups of coffee ordered. 

“Do you wanna order anything to eat, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, her warm inviting smile never leaving her face.

Picking up her menu, Twilight gazed over the options. Daisy sandwiches, salads, fruit trays, some scones and biscuits, a few pastries, as well a few exotic offerings like wolfsbone and yakilaf. Despite normally being one to dig in the second she got the chance, Twilight’s stomach disagreed with her. 

“No thanks…” Twilight sighed, putting the menu down, “I don’t see anything. I’ll just stick to the coffee for now.” 

Despite Fluttershy’s consolations and assurances that everything would turn out fine for the two of them, Twilight was still constantly on edge. She knew that she had no reason to be; Fluttershy’s reasoning and logic was perfectly sound. There was almost no way at this point that somepony could have been following the two of them. In spite of this knowledge in her mind, however, Twilight was still being constantly vigilant of her surroundings.

Even if she was irrationally paranoid, Twilight had to admit Fluttershy was doing a great job at quelling her delusions. The Pegasus was casually talking about settling territorial disputes between two animals without it breaking down into violence. Twilight found her knowledge on diplomacy tactics commendable if not impressive. In fact, Twilight felt that she should have been taking notes.

Fluttershy was so busy talking that she didn’t notice when the waitress brought the coffee they ordered. Twilight took both cups from her tray and set her friend’s down in front of her as she held her own by the handle and listened to Fluttershy describe the needs of a bear vs the needs of a wolf. Twilight nodded along and put the cup up to her lips. As soon as she did, however, she instantly froze.

Back when she had first become a princess, Twilight still had a rather romanticized image in her mind about what the life of a princess entailed. No doubt this view was fueled many a fantasy novels she had read in her foalhood. As she learned more and more about being royalty, she discovered many of her preconceptions to be false. Before that, however, she believed that she would be the target of many assassination attempts. In order to combat this, Twilight had trained herself to detect dozens of unique poisons by sight, taste, and scent.

As it turned out, this had not been pointless. Twilight was still in a paranoid state of hypervigilance. As a result, she had a charm cast on herself that heightened her senses, specifically that of smell and taste. Said charm allowed her to instantly detect a very distinct aroma mixed in with her coffee. 

“Fluttershy, no!” Twilight cried as she swatted Fluttershy’s drink out of her hand mere second before she drank from it, much to the would be drinker’s shock. “It’s poisoned!”

The cup of tainted coffee fell to ground and shattered upon the pavement, “Poison!?” Fluttershy gasped. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Twilight picked up her cup and sniffed it again. “That is undoubtedly Midnight Mandrake I smell. Normal Mandrake forcefully crossbred with Nightshade via Earth Pony magic. The resulting plant, when ingested, will cause the victim to be too drowsy to realize that their organs are shutting down one by one.” She focused and cast a spell to boil both the coffee in her cup and the puddle of the stuff spilled all over the ground in order to neutralize the poison. 

“Do...do you think it’s the work of…” Fluttershy paused and leaned in to whisper, “..a Stand?” She had started to bite her nails nervously as Twilight’s worries turned out to be true.

“It’s hard to say,” Twilight’s eyes darted all around the plaza. Everypony looked normal, only a few had noticed her knocking the cup on the ground. “Unless the Stand’s ability is specifically to create poisons or manipulate plants in some way, I doubt that the poisoning itself is the power of a Stand. Still, we need to be on guard.”

Twilight stood up and defensively stood in front of Fluttershy. She was her responsibility to protect.  Not just because she was the only way that the princess could meet with Discord, but also because she was one of her closest friends. Poor Fluttershy was defenseless and had become the target of this would be assassin through no fault of her own. If anything, it was mainly Twilight’s fault.

Twilight had to think. Even if this had just been a random assassination attempt, it was important to take in the details around her. There were roughly ten ponies sitting around the exterior of the cafe, and even more inside. There were 8 tables, each with roughly two ponies at them. Six ponies were having drinks, five of them had food. They were evenly spread across the eating area; none were clustered in a way that would be suspicious.

“Nopony else seems to be drinking coffee at the moment,” Twilight observed. “So I can’t say whether only our cups specifically were poisoned or if the entire pot it they were poured from was. Regardless, I think we should start investigating the kitchen.” Twilight pointed to a door at the south end of the plaza marked “Employee’s Only.” 

“Stay back, but don’t wander off,” Twilight ordered. Standing up slowly, Twilight walked slowly towards the door. She couldn't start a panic, and running straight at the door would stir the crowd. Once she got to the door, Twilight cast a glance over her shoulder, making sure nopony was watching her. Then, with all the tension of a bomb defusal, the princess reached for the doorknob and turned it. 

To her surprise, however, the door swung wide open. It had already been opened. As soon as the pair of mares walked inside, they were greeted by the sight of every worker in the small kitchen lying on the floor unconscious.

Fluttershy gasped and ran past Twilight, instinctually running forward to make sure that they were okay. To her relief, they were merely knocked out and no serious harm was done to them. Lying on the ground in the center of the three unconscious workers were two notecards. While Fluttershy was busy checking their pulses, Twilight picked up the left most notecard and overturned it.

Written on the side that was previously facing the floor was a clear, concise command written in equally concise handwriting. “Set off a Mandrake bomb in the cafe kitchen.” 

Already Twilight was trying to make sense of what she was seeing and forming theories in her mind about what was going on. These cooks were put to sleep by Mandrake vapors it seemed. And it was thanks to Twilight’s enhanced sense of scent that they avoided assassination via Midnight Mandrake. Was this some sort of Mandrake-based Stand they were dealing with? But why the notecard displaying what had happened?

“Twilight,” Fluttershy turend, “I, I think they’re alright. But, we need to get them out of here!” 

“Agreed,” Twilight looked around, slowly looking down towards the nearest down pegasus, “But be careful, we could be under attack right now…”

Before Twilight could bend down to pick up the second card, her superior sense of smell detected something else. Gas. She smelled it when she came in the room, but thought nothing of it. After all, it was a kitchen, it was expected to smell gas coming from the stoves. But now she had realized just how much gas she was smelling. Way too much for simple cooking and boiling. In haste she read the second card.

“Break all of the gas valves to the cafe kitchen stoves on their highest  setting”

It didn’t take long for the danger this message presented to register in her mind. Immediately Twilight went to grab Fluttershy and drag her out of the room. That very second, however, she heard the door shut. A panicked sprint and a few desperate pushes and pulls on the door revealed that it had been been barred shut from the outside.

Pivoting around urgently, Twilight scanned the room for any potential firestarters. The flames of the stoves were already on a low burn and steadily growing. All of the knobs that controlled the flow of gas to the burner had been torn off. Twilight held out her hand and attempted to attempted to forcefully turn off the gas using her magic. But to her dismay, whatever had broken the gas knobs had done so in such a way that rendered turning what was left of the knob useless. 

Since cutting off the flow of gas was out of the picture, the next course of action Twilight thought to take was to find any way of forcing as much gas as possible out of  the room. She held up her pointer finger and let a stream of bright purple aura emanate into the air. The idea was that Twilight could use this to track the air flow in the room and find a point where it is escaping.

At first, the aura seemed to be going towards the door, suggesting that all of the air in the room was leaving through the crack underneath. But a few inches away from the door, it stopped. A closer examination revealed that somepony had put a seal at in all of the door’s cracks. The magical aura stayed in the room now, signalling that every possible way of evicting the gas had been cut off. Not only that, but now there would no longer be any fresh air coming in the room. The stoves’ flames were steadily burning out the remaining oxygen, leaving Twilight, Fluttershy, and the unconscious cooks with not much time before they all suffocated to death. 

Grabbing one of the two notecards and a wooden spoon, Twilight began communicating to Fluttershy the situation they were in. She used the spoon as a makeshift pen by dipping it in the pot coffee and writing with it on the blank side of the notecard.

“Gas. No way out. Don’t talk. Breathe slow.” 


Almost immediately Fluttershy understood what her princess friend was trying to communicate. She took spoon and wrote reply underneath her message.

“Use magic, break door?”

“Too sturdy. Too much effort.”

“Teleport?” 

For a moment, Twilight considered it. There were a few problems though; she wasn’t familiar enough with the area outside to Teleport, and the energy required to teleport herself, Fluttershy and the cooks would be far too great. And doing it one at a time was out of the question due to time restraints. Twilight shook her head.

“Stand?”

Twilight looked at the brown writing, then up to her friend. She would have lectured the Pegasus about how a life or death situation was not the time at all to try and force her to have the confidence she was previously missing if they weren’t in a life or death situation. Though, the coffee spoon writing did hold a valid point. She would be a fool to not consider Night Wish in as a valid option just because she had no faith in it.

As opposed to her regular magic, Night Wish’s ink constructs required very little active mental effort to maintain. Which meant that they would would serve as an effective means of plugging the gas pipes. Since she was not so petty as to not use her Stand on the pure principle that she thought it to be inferior, Twilight conjured Night Wish and its quill into existence. 

A thin layer of ink wrapped itself around the heads of each gas pipe, forming an airtight seal that prevented any more gas from seeping into the room. In addition, the flames on the stoves cut out since their fuel source had been halted. Now the only thing depleting the small room’s oxygen supply was the slow, steady breathing of the two conscious mares and the three unconscious cooks. 

Now that she was fully exploring it as an option, Twilight considered Night Wish in how she was going to deal with the door problem. Like she had communicated to Fluttershy, using normal magic to solve this problem would have taken too much energy, probably causing her to fall unconscious in their environment which was constantly losing breathable air. Lifting something on it’s own wasn’t a problem. While weight did factor in a little, Twilight could feasibly left anything within reason using magic.

The problem stemmed from the fact that the door was attached to something. Using magic to break things took a lot of effort. Night Wish wouldn’t fare any better in destroying the door. Teleporting was still out of the option, especially if she had to keep Night Wish active now to stop the gas flow. She had to get the door down… 

However, Twilight soon realized that destroying the door wasn’t the solution she should have been working towards. What was keeping the door on the wall and making it hard for her to move? The hinges that attach it to the wall in the first place. Now attempting to rip those off magically would cause the same problem. And unscrewing the hinges via magic was so difficult that it wasn’t even worth trying. Telekinesis was good for broad tasks, not fine details. 

On the contrary, that was what Night Wish was about. She controlled it’s form and movements down to the finest, most minute details. In terms of a battle prowest, 2 Minutes to Midnight far outclassed it. But, in terms of utility, Twilight could do a lot of is put her mind to it. With some quick wrist movements, Twilight shaped Night Wish’s ink into a series of small screwdrivers. One screwdriver for each screw of the door hinges. Simultaneously, they unscrewed the hinges and detached the door from the frame.

Now no longer attached to the from, Twilight was very easily able to move the door aside with magic, opening the door and letting fresh, breathable air in. Almost immediately she bolted outwards and started to take deep breaths of sweet oxygen. She saw Fluttershy trying drag one of the cooks out and used telekinesis to move all three of them out for her, propping them up against the outside wall.

The Friendship Princess and her companion darted their way back into the crowd on the former’s order. This was in order to hide from the enemy user, who was could very much have still been watching them. Just before they did so, however, Twilight was able to see another notecard laying on the ground in front the previously barred door. 

“Use calk to seal the kitchen door shut.” 

When they were hidden among the crowd, Twilight put her fingers to her temples and tried to come up with conclusive facts in her head. By this point they were obviously dealing with an enemy Stand, because otherwise everything that was done so far would have been noticed by the cafe goers. They were all just going about their day as if regicide was not being attempted around them. 

This Stand’s ability was as of now unknown to Twilight. All she did know was that wherever it was, it left behind notecards with concise commands written on it. But how did that factor into the poison and sleeping gas? And why wasn’t the Stand’s user nearby either? All her knowledge about Stands was being challenged here. She pressed her fingers into her forehead and clenched her jaw tightly. Why couldn’t she figure this out?

“Gas valves, kitchen door, midnight mandrake..” Shaking her head, Twilight rubbed her temples hard, “Notecards with orders on them, enemy Stand…” Setting her jaw, Twilight ground her teeth together, “What’s going on, what’s going on?!”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy took her friend’s forearms and gripped them tightly, forcing the Alicorn to look directly at her. “Calm down and focus. I know this is stressful, but panicking isn’t going to do us any good. Right now we need to get to Discord. Absolutely nopony will be able to touch us when we’re with him,”

Giving Fluttershy a long look, Twilight slowly nodded, “You’re, you’re right,” Twilight exhaled. “Let’s get out of this plaza and to the streets. We’ll hail a cab and hopefully get lost in traffic.” 

Twilight pulled Fluttershy close behind her and kept vigilant as the two of them walked out of the cafe plaza. The only way out of the, baring through the buildings that connected them, was through a narrow alleyway. This fact, as well as the dangers it brought, didn’t dawn on Twilight until she and Fluttershy were halfway through it.

This realization lead to a momentary lapse in Twilight’s judgement. One just long enough for her to step on a thin tripwire. Her foot snapped it, causing a simple bucket trap to spring. Two buckets fell overtop of Twilight and Fluttershy, drenching them in a some sort of liquid.

“Is this…” Fluttershy sniffed a little, a familiar scent touching her nostrils from the liquid. She’d used it with medicine and helping give bland food some flavor for some of her more stubborn animals, “Lemon juice? And... lime juice too?”

On the ground in front of the two was yet another note card. Reading it proved to be a little difficult because it too was soaked. The ink was running, but Twilight could just make out the command.

“Using the trip wire and the juice buckets, rig a trap that will spill the buckets on the head of whoever trips it.” 

More mysterious commands. The only useful thing this card revealed is that it was in fact lemon lime juice spilled on them. But what did that have to do with anything? Was it to entice them to drink it because it was poisoned? Surely the assassin couldn’t be underestimating their intelligence that much. 

From the rooftops above them Twilight and Fluttershy heard the sound of a large object being rolled. Instantly their eyes darted upwards, and that’s when Twilight finally saw it. The enemy Stand. At first, it didn’t even look like a Stand. Rather, it seemed like a gray pony, with a completely grayscale color for its mane and hair. As it started to turn, however, it became apparent it was not some pony; the figure had no face. The gray faceless figure moved, and as Twilight narrowed her eyes, she could see that the ‘skin’ of the figure seemed to have small wave patterns flowing across it. It moved slowly, and combined with the strange waves moving across its body, the figure seemed almost like some sort of ghostly apparition. 

The Stand seemed to be wheeling a large flood lamp on the roof. Both it and the lamp were too high up to be in Night Wish’s effective range. All Twilight could do was observe what it was doing. She noticed that the lamp’s light bulb was a strange color. It almost looked like, it was an ultraviolet light.

“Ultraviolet light?” Twilight muttered, unfurling her wings, “Lemon lime juice? Lemons, limes...citrus…Citrus?” The princess’s eyes widened to double their size as she connected the dots in her head. “No no no no no no no!” But she had finished the puzzle just too late, before the Stand turned the light on. 

At the speed of light, Twilight and Fluttershy suddenly felt their skin start to sizzle and burn. The juice on their bodies wasn’t boiling. It was their very skin itself. It felt like their skin was being sizzled away in a hot skillet. It felt like the worse case of poison ivy and sunburn the two had ever gotten combined and tripled in pain. Fighting her body’s natural urge to curl up into a fetal position, Twilight manifested Night Wish and created an opaque dome of ink around them.

“W-what’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, sitting down in the ground and panting heavily as she wrapped her arms around her body. Her skin was a bright red and were almost to the point of blistering. The mare’s body trembled heavily as to got to her knees, curling herself up to protect herself from anymore harmful rays.

“Phytophotodermatitis,” Twilight said, heating up the inside of the dome with her magic so that they’d dry off, “It’s a chemical reaction that makes your skin react and burn quicker in ultraviolet light. The chemical required is found in citrus fruits. We learned about it in Celestia’s Academy for some science projects…” Bending down to check Fluttreshy for anything serious, the mare grimanced as her own skin stung from the movement, “D-Don’t worry, I used Night Wish’s ink to make a dome around us, blocking us from the lamps.” Non-Stand Users couldn’t see Night Wish’s ink, so Twilight needed to clarify what was going on.

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy winced as Twilight’s hand moved over the major sunburn she was just given. She was looking at Twilight for answers, like most ponies did when something was going wrong. 

Looking around, Twilight realized that it wasn’t just one UV light that was shining on them; there were 3 of them, each pointed strategically to cover the entire alleyway. The two mares were pinned down! The pain coursing through her limbs was preventing her from focusing her magic, and to use it, she’d have to drop Night Wish. Flying would take too much effort, and wouldn’t protect Fluttershy. And despite having the juice dried off, a good deal had gotten soaked into their skin. 

“I-I don’t know,” Twilight fell to her knees and put her hands over her face. “This is just what I was afraid of. I can’t think of a way out of this. My Stand is useless here! If I had 2 Minutes to Midnight, I could break those lamps in an instant. If I had Ta-Dah I could teleport much quicker and easier than with my magic to turn them off. If I had Diamond Dogs I could sew the ground tiles to our skin to shield us. If I had Bangarang I could blow the lamps away. If I had Slippery When Wet I could make a mist of the ground to dampen the light. But all I have is my Night Wish! Night Wish can't do any of those things!”

“Twilight!” Once again, Fluttershy had to be the voice of reason for Twilight in her endless doubting. “Stop it, this isn’t helping. You’re making yourself more upset than you have to be. I know what that feels like. I know that you just want to point out every little flaw you have and make yourself feel worse and worse because it’s much easier than trying to work your way back up. But that’s not what we need right now! Stop focusing on what’s wrong and focus on what’s right. I want you to stop telling me what Night Wish can’t do and tell me what it can! You have magic, what makes Night Wish different from that?”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight looked up from her hands. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I don’t think this will…”

“We’re not going to get out of this situation until you figure away out of it,” Fluttershy interjected sternly. “So tell me.”

“Fine,” Twilight sighed and sat down in a more relaxed position. “I’ve explained to you that Night Wish’s ability is to command a mass of ink how I see fit, hardening it when I please. When I was still putting thought into how it worked, I came to the conclusion that I’m not moving it like I would with normal telekinesis.”

“You see when a unicorn is first learning telekinesis, it’s almost instinctual that we think of it like a new appendage. When you see our auras wrapping around something we’re lifting, we’re actually feeling it in a sense and using that aura to manipulate it. Think of it like a hand, only it can wrap around the whole thing. I could accomplish the same effect as Night Wish like this by enveloping ink in an aura. But that would be like lifting with your back, inefficient and way too exhausting. Plus it would be hard to get the level of fine control I have with it.”

“So that lead me to theorize that instead of moving the whole mass at once, Night Wish is instead moving every single individual atom of the ink. And it’s actual body, it has a body by the way, it’s not just ink, is there to streamline the process for me and only make me handle what I need to. I would explain why I can move harden the ink and manipulate it with such precision. And theoretically, I could phase the ink through solid objects if I had enough focus. But I’d lose line of sight and not know what I was doing afterwards.”

“Alright,” Fluttershy was remaining calm and stoic through Twilight’s explanation on how her Stand worked. “Now why can’t you do anything about the lights with Night Wish?”

“Because they’re too high up. Night Wish only has a limited range in which it’s able to influence its ink.”

“What happens if it leaves that range?” Fluttershy was not letting up and letting Twilight defeat herself.

“If it somehow gets forced out of Night Wish’s sphere of influence through some outside force,” Twilight tried to recall the experiments she did with it. “Then I believe that the ink will return to the main mass whenever it loses velocity or after five seconds. Whatever comes first.”

“So you can use it outside of its range.” Fluttershy was beginning to think of a solution to their problem. She hoped she was leading Twilight on the path to figuring one out as well. “You just have to force it. How did you use it to get us out of the kitchen?”

“I partitioned off some of the ink and turned it into screwdrivers to unscrew the door from its hinges.” Twilight explain. “It’s probably the one thing Night Wish is good for: making tools.” Twilight jolted up. Gears turned in her head.

“So?” Fluttershy leaned in, “Can you make something to get us out of this?”

Twilight pursed her lips, “If… If I can make a tool to force ink to the lamp, then I could break it and stop the ultraviolet light.” She walked over to the edge of the dome and used magic to peer through the ink. The lamp was there, and it would be easy enough to get a shot. “But, how would I make the firing mechanism? I couldn’t make a string with Night Wish’s ink, it can only get sturdy solid. But, magic can!” 

Already Twilight was going to work with Night Wish. She shaped the ink into a black crossbow and a single bolt. For the string, Twilight made a purple aura, stretched as thin as possible. Everything was in place, now she just needed to execute her plan.

“I’m going to take down the dome,” Twilight announced, taking careful aim with her ink crossbow. “If all goes right, we’ll only a few seconds of pain. You ready?” Fluttershy nodded and Twilight acted as fast as she could. 

The dome disappeared, and Twilight snapped the magic string forward. As the two mares seared in pain, the bolt flew through the air and struck right in the center of the lamp. It sparked for a second, before shutting off and finally freeing the friends from this trap. A large section of they alleyway was freed from the oppressive lighting. 

As the two mares dove into the now safe area, Twilight took in deep breaths as the magic string disappeared and the ink she had used began to reform into a single mass underneath Night Wish’s cloak. She was getting closer to solving this predicament, the princess could feel it. She had seen the Stand now. And after seeing it, however briefly, Twilight had put the pieces together now to figure out exactly what this Stand’s ability was. 

“I need to figure this out!” Twilight opened her wings again, “I’m going to find out more about this Stand!” 

To confirm her theory, Twilight took off from where she was Standing towards the rooftop where the shattered UV Lamp was. Right on the ground next to it was yet another notecard. If her theory was correct, Twilight should already have a general idea of what the card would say. But just to put the final nail in that coffin, she picked it up and read it.

“Shine the ultraviolet flood lamps on the juice when the bucket trap is tripped.”

Odd jobs, that’s what this Stand’s ability was. It would accomplish any task given to it as long as it was submitted in writing. From the way the commands had been worded, it most likely could only accomplish a single objective with per order. It also needed to be provided with any items involved in the task, given that the preposition “the” was used instead of “a.” 

“I’m done with this,” Twilight announced as Fluttershy landed on the rooftop behind her. “I’m going to finish this Fluttershy. I’ve figured out this Stand’s ability, At this point, we could probably just run, but I think that’s exactly what this enemy wants us to do. They’ve plotted our every move, or had someone do it for them. To defeat them, we need to do something they would never expect me to do.”

“What would that be?” Fluttershy inquired, growing nervous at Twilight’s attitude shift. 

“Charge right for them!” Twilight left Fluttershy with very little time to process what she said before taking to the air above the cafe plaza. The key to defeating this Stand was to catch it before it acted and stop it. Now that she had seen it, Twilight would be able to look for it more easily.

It didn’t take much effort at all to spot it. It was Standing on the roof of the cafe it had previously trapped Twilight and Fluttershy in. It was setting up another industrial device. This time, it appeared to be a fan spraying, one used for large fields of crops. Twilight got the feeling that this wasn’t going to have a payload of water or pesticides however. 

Once she had landed right next to device, Twilight wasted no time in assaulting the enemy Stand with her own. She used Nightwish to draw the tightest series of interlocking chain links she could around its limbs and then solidified them. With its arms and legs bound, Twilight’s hope was that the Stand would no longer be able to be threat. That soon turned out not to be the case.

Without breaking a sweat or even showing any signs of effort, the Stand broke out of the chains. This caused Twilight to recoil in shock, as even 2 Minutes to Midnight took at least some effort to break her ink bindings. The Stand seemed to be ignoring Twilight as it bent over to pick up a bucket of what Twilight didn’t need enhanced scent to know was Midnight Mandrake.

The enemy intended to mist it all over the crowded cafe! In an attempt to kill the both of them? Or just as a means of causing mass chaos? Regardless of their intentions, Twilight knew that she could not let them go through. She used every last ounce of ink she could to form a barrier between the Stand and the fan sprayer.

For a moment, the Stand paused. It eyed the wall curiously, before setting the bucket down and placing the palms of its hands on its surface. Slowly its fingers dug through the wall, which by Twilight’s own accounts should have been as hard as solid steel. Then, as if it were made of paper, the Stand ripped the wall in half and tossed both halfs away. It picked up the bucket and casually began to load the machine with the noxious liquid. 

The princess cried out as she attempted to use telepathy to force the poison from being inserted, but some outside force was seemingly preventing her from doing so. Twilight concluded that whatever order this Stand was following, absolutely nothing would be able to stop it from completing that order.

In a last ditch attempting at preventing an act of chemical terrorism, Twilight used Night Wish to create a flurry of sharpened ink arrows and drove them all into the Stand’s body with as much force as she possibly could manage. But each one merely just bounced off of its body, the Stand not even registering what was going on as it reached down and flipped the switch to turn the machine one. While Twilight felt despair overtake her yet again, the Stand disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving the notecard used to submit its order on the ground where it once stood. 

There was no time to feel hopeless, however. Twilight knew she couldn’t afford that. Too many lives were at stake. Using her magic, she formed a magical membrane around the fan where the mist was being emitted from. Like a balloon, the membrane expanded as the liquid poison was sprayed out into it. It took all of Twilight’s concentration to keep it from bursting while the heavy air blowing out. Once the last of the mist had been spat out, Twilight turned the fan off and returned all of the collected liquid into the bucket. 

Exhausted from the mental stress she was just put through, Twilight sat down on the edge of the building as she collected herself. She figured this must have been the Stand user’s plan all along. None of the assassination attempts so far had been that effective on their own. But they were just coming one after another with no signs of slowing down or stopping. Sooner or later Twilight felt that she might die from exhaustion if this keeps up. 

While looking over the crowd below, Twilight knew that she needed to end this quick to prevent that from becoming the case. Fighting the Stand itself was impossible, as she had just discovered. Her only option was to locate the user and subdue them. But how? Nopony stood out here, it was obvious they were blending in. And with such a huge array of foreign faces in this city, trying to find one would be impossible.

Twilight paused. Foreign faces. That was right, her and Fluttershy were in a place that they normally weren’t. It would make sense that the vast majority of faces here wouldn’t be recognized by them. However, the assassin who was targeting them followed them here from Ponyville. It was also extremely likely that this assassin was one of the town’s citizens being mind controlled. So in a sea of faces that she didn’t know, one she did should stick out like a sore thumb. The Stand user would have to be close by if it was giving this Stand orders. If she could just pick out a familiar face in the area...

There! Sitting towards the bottom left corner of the cafe was somepony Twilight knew well: Golden Harvest, ponyville’s premiere botanist. She’s made it well know in the past that she prefers the soil fields of the country to the concrete ones of the city. That, and given the fact that nearly all of the assassination attempts were specifically plant based, meant that there was no doubt about it. Golden Harvest was the enemy Stand user.

But still, Twilight didn’t want to do anything brashly. Being brash is what gotten her into more horrible situations in her life than she could count. Golden could just happen to be here enjoying herself. It could have just been a coincidence that she was here at the exact same time as Twilight and Fluttershy when they were getting attacked by an enemy Stand user.

All of the pieces fit so well together though! Too well for this to be pure coincidence. Twilight growled as more complications arose. She decided it would be better to confront Golden nonviolently at first than to risk falsely attacking somepony. From what Twilight had observed about the Stand, she wouldn’t be able to immediately retaliate with it if it truly did belong to Golden Harvest. Calmly, Twilight teleported to the ground on the other side of the plaza and made her way over to the table where Golden Harvest was sitting.

“Golden Harvest!” Twilight said, acting surprised to see her. She tried to hide the fact that she was constantly looking all around her for signs of the enemy Stand. “It’s such a surprise to see you here! What are you doing in Fillydelphia?”

As Twilight teleported in front of her, Harvest’s eyes widened. The mare flung backwards in her chair, scrambling to pull herself back up as she looked up to Twilight, “G-Gah! Princess Twilight! You scared me!” 

Blushing apologetically, Twilight took a step forward, her legs wobbling under her, “Heh, sorry about that! I just saw you out here and I wanted to say hello!” 

Staring at Twilight for a moment, Harvest nodded, “Well… hello! What brings you out to Manehatten, Twilight?” 

Internally thinking of all the options, Twilight decided to go with something plausible enough, “Oh, I’m here visiting some friends! Princess of Friendship and all!” 

Harvest smiled warmly, “Well that’s good!” Her hands moved down into her lap, “I’m surprised I ran into you! I had to come here to pick up some stuff for my business, I don’t stay too long.”

“I am too!” Twilight smiled back, “It’s a big city! Kinda weird I bumped into such a familiar face so quickly!” 

“Yeah… it really is!” Harvest twitched, “Well, I should leave you to your lunch!”

“Nonesense!” Twilight’s gaze followed Harvest’s hands, “I’d love to sit down with you for a few bites! I’m in to rusaaahhh!” 

Twilight had noticed that Harvest’s arms were strangely behind her back most of the time they had been talking. Feigning a fall, Twilight hit the table, knocking it into Garden. As she looked up, she heard something hit the ground. A pen. 

With a quick motion, she looked darted her head around the botanist's side and saw that she had been slowly writing on a notecard this entire time. As soon as she realized that her her suspicions were be true, Twilight attempted to grab it from her hands and attempt stop Harvest from issuing another command to her Stand, but she felt a sharp prick in the arm.

“Why did you have to go and do that?” Harvest asked, pulling a needle back. Twilight’s whole arm fell numb, unable to be moved. With a swift motion, Harvest pricked Twilight’s other arm and it fell to a similar effect. “Things could have gone so much easier for us.” Twilight attempted to back up, but her legs and wings soon fell to the same fate. “Now I have to use more Nightshade to have our fun.”

In rage, Twilight’s horn lit up and her aura wrapped around Golden. But she didn’t look afraid or like she was in any danger at all. Instead, she looked rather smug about the whole situation. Nopony in the plaza seemed to notice what was going on either. They were all just enjoying their lunches or finishing them up. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Golden told the princess with a grin. Between the fingers of her right hand was a notecard with a finished order on it. “All I have to do is call my Stand and that’s it.” Twilight focused on the card and read text written on it. 

“Serve the wolfsbane to a random patron inside the plaza.”

“That’s right princess,” Golden smirked as she saw Twilight’s gaze return, “I’m sure you’ve seen it by now. My Mr. Sandman is unstoppable. Once he has his order, absolutely nothing will stop him from carrying it out. Of course I can’t make specific people the target of its requests, or else you two would be dead by now. I have to get creative. And so far, it’s been working.”

“I can’t control who will get it, but it’s likely you won’t be able to save them when they do.” Golden laughed. “It’ll be a big enough dose to kill them within a minute. So if you don’t want to be responsible for a random pony’s death, I would suggest letting go of me.”

“Why,” Twilight asked while not complying Golden’s orders. “Why are you doing this? What could they possibly be offering you that would make this worth it?”

“Why?!” Golden growled. “You know exactly why! The changes you’re going to make to Ponyville’s market, the restrictions you’re going to put on it, will completely kill my business! If I don’t kill you now, I won’t be able sell my plants ever again! Someponies have lives outside of ‘friendship’ you know!” 

Arguing that this was all lies would be pointless. Twilight knew that at this point. Whatever spell the cultists put them under caused the lies that were put in the victim's head to be nearly unbreakable. Reason was completely out of the equation. Sighing in defeat, Twilight released her telekinetic grip on Golden Harvest.

“Why thank you for being so civil.” Golden complimented as she straightened herself in her chair. “Now it’ll be so much easier to break your spirit! Mr. Sandman!”

“Wait, NO!” Twilight’s eyes showed desperation was they widened as much they could.

But it was too late. Golden Harvest’s Stand suddenly materialized in front of her before wordlessly taking the notecard from her hand and disappearing. Now that the order was put into motion, there was no stopping it. A pony was now going to die, and there was nothing Princess Twilight could do to stop it. 

“After this, I’ll have Mr. Sandman go out and get Fluttershy for me. Then I can take you both out with one fell swoop.” The mare grinned, “I’m suprised you even fell for the tripwire. Even I thought that wasn’t going to work! I had at least three more traps planned for you, and… and…”

When Golden Harvest turned to look at the princess, to the Earth Pony’s shock, the Alicorn was laughing. She had burst out laughing seemingly in a fit of madness. She had found something so funny that in this situation she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Stop it!” Golden Harvest demanded. “Why are you laughing? What is going on?!” 

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said through her laughter. “I forgot that you don’t have a hearing charm on you like I do, so you aren’t hearing this. Here, I’ll put it on you so you can hear this for yourself.” Twilight’s horn began to glow, and suddenly, Golden could hear a lot better than she normally could. She could pick up on nearly every conversation in the plaza. One in particular stood out to her.

“...And when I turn around this plate of wolfsbone is sitting on my table! I didn’t order this! Was it brought to me by mistake? Did somebody just not want it and dump it on me?”

“You see?” Twilight laughed even harder. “I actually can’t believe that worked! It was probably the dumbest, most long shot plan I had ever come up with, and it worked!”

“What are you talking about? What did you do?!”

“When I was grabbing you with my magic, I also used it to move my wrist,” Twilight used her magic to move her numb arm from behind her back and show that Night Wish’s quill was in her hand, and that her wrist was making writing motions. When Golden Harvest looked behind her, the form of Night Wish was floating there. It had been there this whole time. “And did the simplest thing. I changed the a in “wolfsbane” to an o.”

“W-what?!” Harvest stared at Twilight in disbelief, “You did what?!”

“A common Gryphon lunch.” Twilight’s voice switched to a cocky lecture. “Pork, beef, and chicken jerky all seasoned and rolled into a big log of meat. Commonly referred to as wolfsbone. I saw it on the menu when I was ordering my drink. I’m so lucky that wolfsbane was your poison of choice. If it was anything else, I don’t think I would been able to do anything as stupid as that.”

Golden Harvest was completely speechless. As Twilight had said, it was a completely stupid counter, but it had saved somepony’s life. And she looked so smug about it! In a fit of rage, she turned and rewrote the order again. This time, she had wrote it in all capitals so that it could not be altered again. She summoned Mr. Sandman and gave it the order. 

“There!” She shouted. “Now there’s nothing you could possibly do about that!” But when Harvest looked back at Twilight, her grin still persisted. “What now?!”

“Look at the table,” Twilight simply instructed.

When Golden Harvest turned around, the pile of notecards she was using had one with writing on the top of it. The writing was the exact order she had just written and thought she had given to her Stand. 

“B-but, then what did I give to Mr. Sandman?! It would only go if I actually give it an order!” She darted up from her chair and took Twilight by the collar. “Tell me! What did you do?!”

“Changing an a to an o wasn’t the only thing I wrote with Night Wish,” Twilight explained. “While you weren’t looking, I wrote a different order on the bottom notecard. Then, at the last second, I used my magic to swap them. Here’s what I wrote:“

“Go to the limits of Fillydelphia and inscribe the first 604,800 digits of pi in the soil with no less than a second between each number being written.”

“You said it yourself, nothing can stop Mr. Sandman once an order has been given. So I’m going to assume that includes you as well, right? If so, then that means you will not be able to use your Stand for the next week!” 

“You…” Golden’s eyes glowed red with fury. She tightened her grip and moved it to Twilight’s throat, putting the needle up against it, “You think you’re so clever, I’ll kill you! I’ll stop you right here and right now! I got enough left here to paralyze your goddamn throat! I’ll help everypony! I’ll…”

“Golden Harvest!” Fluttershy shouted as she landed right in front of her. “Stop it, right now.” She grabbed Golden by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You need to calm down. They’re all lies. They’re feeding you nothing but lies. Just calm down and think rationally. Calm down.”

“Fluttershy!” Jerking her needle upwards, the mare aimed it at Fluttershy’s arm, “Don’t get any closer! I got enough Mandrake here to stop your heart!” 

As the needle came towards Fluttershy’s arm, Fluttershy’s gaze stared into Harvest’s eyes. The mare’s needle stayed in midair as Fluttershy gazed even harder into her eyes. 

“Calm down, Harvest.” Fluttershy spoke calmly, “Somepony has been telling you lies. You’re going to be fine. Put the needle down, and listen to me and Twilight.”

Slowly, Golden’s grip on Twilight’s neck loosened. As it did, Twilight saw a wristband form on Golden Harvest’s wrist and instantly shatter. The needle in her hand dropped, hitting the table with a little bit of the liquid dripping out of it. 

Gasping, Twilight quickly sat up. Slowly, Harvest stumbled backwards, falling back into her chair as her eyes dilated. After a few moments, the mare looked around, “W...What’s… Fluttershy?” Harvest rubbed her head, “I… what’s going on? I got on a train to Manehatten… but… I was… coming after you two?” 

Turning, Twilight slowly panted, “Fluttershy, what did you do?” 

Her cheeks turning red, the mare rubbed her arm, “I-I used the Stare. I’ve never had to use it that fast though… but, you were in danger, and Harvest was…” Sucking in a breath, Fluttershy turned, “Come on, Harvest. Let’s get you someplace comfy and talk.”
> A Chaotic Encounter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Class was definitely not on the list of words Twilight would thought she would have used to describe somewhere Discord called one of his favorite places. Yet, as soon as Twilight and Fluttershy entered The Feather Duster, the Princess felt that she had entered a somewhere her father would be hanging out back in Upper Canterlot. 

Upon Fluttershy’s instruction, the two mares entered in glass doors to what looked to be a massive hotel. Without a word, however, Fluttershy went up to a door in the back of the room with an attendant standing watch. The yellow mare casually flashed some sort of ID to the pony there, to which the attendant stepped aside to let them enter. 

Through the doors was a long dimly lit hallway, almost something from a suspenseful movie. The walls were lined with upscale paintings and a sculpture or two, but felt more like a storage hallway than an entrance to some sort of jazz club! Yet at the far end was a set of double doors with two stallions waiting there, both dressed in nice suits with walkie talkies on their hips. As the two approached, the stallions moved to block their entry in front of the door. 

“I’m with a Mister Pone De Lancie,” Fluttershy spoke up calmly, flashing the ID yet again, “Along with Princess Sparkle here. If, you two kind sirs would please let us in.”

Nodding to each other, the stallions checked the card before stepping aside, letting the two in. The sheer degree of poise and confidence Fluttershy held in talking to the guards was something that impressed Twilight. It was a far cry from the mare she’d met all those months ago.

As the two stepped inside, the entire vibe of the room changed. The Feather Duster club was dimly lit to set the atmosphere against the mostly midnight blue interior. The club seemed to be divided into two halves, the half they were on being a mixture of a bar and seating area. Stallions and mares were dressed in suits and dresses, laughing to each other and drinking down large glasses and shots. Their words were lost to the rather loud and upbeat music coming from the other half of the club.

Once one went down a center aisle, a large velvet rope divided them from the dance floor. The floor at the moment was a simple black and white checkerboard, but the humming of lights indicated it could be made to turn any number of colors. A few ponies were swinging and swaying to a solo by the saxophonist, letting their bodies rock in the light of the floor. The band stood on a raised stage at the very end of the dance floor, currently consisting of an upright bassist, a drummer, a saxophonist and trombone player. 

The air in the club, strangely enough, did not have the vibe of a place of chaos. The place itself felt rather… calm, if one could get that vibe from the coloration of walls and clientele alone. The warm dim lights, the upbeat band, the darkened walls… this felt far more like just any regular upscale jazz club than any place for a spirit of chaos to hang out at. 

Yet Fluttershy insisted that this is where Discord said that, should need to contact him ever would arise, to come to this club. And judging by the level of confidence and relative comfort Fluttershy had when she led the Princess inside, Twilight decided that she would trust her friend’s judgement.

In the center of the room, Fluttershy seemed to pause and scan for something. Twilight could barely hear herself think over the shear amounts of soul emanating from the onstage band’s lead saxophonist. While she did feel the power and emotion behind the music, jazz was never the Princess’s favorite genre. The whole thing felt too, disorderly and debaucherous for her. She would have prefered the structure and harmony of a proper symphony any day.

At last it seemed as thought the Pegasus had found whom she was looking for. Or at least, it seemed that way based on Fluttershy turning to stare at a figure outlined against an overhead blue light. Instead of the unmistakable, chimera-like form a Draconequus that she knew Discord for, Fluttershy was leading Twilight towards a booth that contained an average, upper middle-aged stallion. The only colors that were about him were the greys of his mane and the browns of his coat, both of which faded with age. The stallion had a chiseled beard and the beginnings of a gray goatee. His choice of attire was a simple: dark blue suit and green bow tie. 

The whole thing seemed far too proper to be Discord. The Spirit of Chaos, a being so powerful it’d taken the Elements of Harmony and Tirek’s power at near full strength to stop, was a middle aged stallion humming to a jazz band in a quiet underground Fillydelphia Jazz Club? Nevertheless, this is the booth Fluttershy sat at.

Unsure of the whole situation, Twilight took a seat next to her, both the mares sitting across from this stallion who didn’t seem any different from the rest of the patrons of the club to the friendship Princess. At first, their tablemate seemed too preoccupied with the blasting mixture of brass and woodwinds to notice them. But once the tempo died down, he turned to face them.

“Ah, young Ms. Twilight,” The stallion said in a distinguished voice. “How kind of you to drop in for a visit. It’s been ages since we’ve last talked.”

“Last talked?” Twilight put her hands on the table and raised one eyebrow. “I’m sorry, but, do I know you?”

“Why, you don’t remember me?” The elderly gentlecolt leaned back in offense. “Professor De Lancie of Canterlot Academy! You were enrolled in my Transfiguration 303 course. Why, I was the one who taught you how to transform yourself into a chicken, but you used the spell before I could teach you to transform yourself back.”

“That’s absurd!” Remarked Twilight. “That never happened once in my...entire...college…” Even though Twilight a few minutes ago swore that such a thing never took place, she was suddenly gaining vivid memories of a painstakingly long and humiliating week she spent stuck in the form of a chicken. Of running around Princess Celestia’s room as a lavender chicken, squawking for help while the Princess was holding back uproarious laughter. Of being told that the spell would wear off eventually, of Celestia saying this would be a learning experience for her...

“Discord,” Fluttershy tapped her fingers on the table, eyeing the stallion with an impatient glance.

“Hmm?” The stallion turned, meeting Fluttershy’s gaze, “Oh... alright,” Sighing, the stallion snapped his fingers.

In an instant, Twilight realized that there was no point in time where she had ever been transformed into a chicken. Or of going to college in the first place! Her eyes twitched and nostrils flared from believing those chaos magic fabricated memories in the first place. More importantly, however, the stallion’s voice changed from that of a refined stallion to the familiarly condescending one of Discord.

“Discord,” Twilight leaned forward and questioned, “Why do you look like that?”

“Oh, this is the just the form I take when I’m out on the town, my dear Princess of Friendship,” Discord replied. “Because I dare say if I were to come as normal, it would upset the delicate atmosphere of this fine establishment. An establishment which I am so delighted that the two of you have decided to join me at by the way!” 

“We’re not here to joi-” Twilight attempted to explain why the two of them had come here, but as usual, the God of Chaos cut them off to keep on talking about what he enjoyed.

“This band right here I have been following every since they started out playing in a seedy, run down bar back in Manehatten,” Discord turned back to the stage and put his chin on his fists as he watched the band he was referring to perform. Snapping his fingers, pictures of that very band in black and white photos spread across the table, “Didn’t have a bit to their name at first. Wearing all second hand suits. The drummer even had to steal the set he used to play their first gig! But I’ll tell you what they did have: passion. Passion for their music, and well, now look at them!”

On cue, the photo of the band during that first gig started to play. At the same time, the other photos suddenly animated, beginning to bounce and jive about as their entire history was spelled out in chaos infused photographs. The bass player was swinging, the drummer was playing his heart out, and the singer was pouring his all into every note!

“Discord,” Fluttershy calmly reached across the table and took Disord’s wrist. This brought his attention back over to her, causing him to rotate back in the direction of the mares opposite him and straighten his bowtie. “We’re here because we’re sure you know what’s going on right now.”

The photographs vanished, giving Twilight time to focus her thoughts again, “We’re certain that you have something to do with all this,” Twilight commented with a tone of annoyance. “Or else you wouldn’t have made finding you such a nightmare!”

“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it, Princess?” Discord leaned forward, “I didn’t make it harder for you. Fluttershy has known where i’ve been all along. You should’ve trusted your friends a bit more, don’t you say?” 

Taken aback, Twilight shook her head, “That’s, that’s not what I came here to talk to you about!” Twilight frowned harder, “We have something important to talk to you about!” 

Discord’s eyes suddenly expanded past the normal scopes of his skull, taking them in as the pupils seemed to turn into almost X-Ray specs, “Ah yes,” Discord rubbed his bearded chin, attempting to look distinguished. “Judging by the exhausted state I find the two of you in at the moment, I bet those little pests have found you.”

“Pests?” Twilight questioned. “They’re a cult dedicated to worshiping you and upholding your ideals of chaos and anarchy, resorting to terrorism and far worse to do so! They just attacked Fluttershy and I literally an hour ago! And you see them simply as pests?”

“Well what else would you call annoyances who wouldn’t be affected by your wonderful chaos and instead started worshiping you?” Discord sighed, his body seemingly melting back into the chair, “I made it very clear I didn’t want them around, but alas!” Discord snapped and a glass of wine came into existence on the table in front of him. “They refused to go away and didn’t quite get what I wanted in the first place. So I had to send them away on some pointless tasks just so I could enjoy myself. I had thought they all disappeared when my plans were halted for the first time.”

“So the cult does date back to the Draconequn era…” Twilight muttered.

“But, you knew they were resurfacing, didn’t you?” Fluttershy asked. “And that’s why you asked me if anypony strange had contacted me while we were on vacation.”

“I had heard rumors,” Discord admitted as he sipped the yellow wine he had made for himself. “But outside of potentially harming you, my dear Fluttershy, I again really didn’t care for them or thought it would be any issue. I had thought that what I heard was just that, rumors. There are still many ponies out there who might say something about me just to get attention.”

“But they weren’t,” Twilight informed her tablemate. “Not only is the cult formed around you back in operation, but they are far greater of a threat then they were back in ancient times. Somehow they’ve gained the power of Stands and are attacking Ponyville.”

Darting his head up, the wine Discord was drinking suddenly seemed to shot out towards Twilight like a high velocity missile spitake. The Princess summoned a magical shield just in time to avoid getting drenched. 

“Stands?” Discord spat. “Those nimrods have resorted to using those droll things?”

“You know what Stands are?” Fluttershy asked in surprise.

“Oh I am well acquainted with those awful apparitions.” Discord sighed, “Just like I can tell that you have one, Lady Sparkle.” 

While the fact that he knew she had a Stand shouldn’t have shocked her, given it was Discord saying it, Twilight was shocked for a number of reasons, “Wait, you can sense it?” 

“Sensing a Stand is one thing,” Discord raised a finger, “But yes, I can practically smell the energy coming off you!” Discord’s nose suddenly flew from behind Twilight’s neck back onto his face, “You know that the earliest time  ponykind remembers them is when your princesses attempted to use them to stop my glorious reign?”

“Y-Yes, I’m quite familiar with their history.” Twilight struggled to keep her eye from twitching, as that fact was pretty much the only thing she ever found in most of her research on Stands. Given that Discord’s eyes were constantly on her, she was certain he was testing her. 

“Well, as you can expect I didn’t take too kindly to them,” Discord continued. “I mean, a power that you can’t fight unless you stooped down to an equal playing field? That’s just not how I roll! But I couldn’t just ignore those powers, or else they might have actually won!  Before, they actually won of course.” 

“Then,” Twilight interrupted, “How did you defeat them?” 

Tssking, Discord waggled his fingers, “So rude, Princess. As I was getting to, I just did what anypony would do in my position. I simply just changed the rules so they weren’t an issue anymore!”

“...You, changed the rules?” Twilight was struggling to wrap her head around just what that meant. 

“Yes Twilight, get with the program! I tend to do that often when things don’t exactly go my way. What I did was change how Chaos Magic works so that Stands have one simple interaction with it: they don’t work. So no matter what those pesky princesses did with those fancy Stands of theirs, it would amount to absolutely nothing against me and my chaos magic. Problem solved!” 

“But of course, this came with the added side effect of working in the opposite way as well. Chaos Magic is a two way street after all, but sometimes you’re just stuck going down one way or the other. My Chaos Magic will not work against Stands at all. So I’m afraid that I can’t offer you any assistance in combating this bothersome cult. I’d just be a non factor in any jocular joyrides of the bizarre encounter and might as not even be there in the first place.”

Twilight shrugged, “Well that’s quite alright,” Twilight said, reaching into her bag to pull something out. “That’s not what we’ve come here to ask you for anyway. Underneath the Castle of the Two Sisters, Rainbow Dash and I found this mural. I believe it to be pertinent to the cult’s goals. Could you take a look at it and tell us what it means?”

Twilight laid a magical recreation of the mural underneath the palace in photograph form on the table in front of Discord. The god disguised as a pony took  it and studied it, stroking his goatee as he did so. He squinted and made out all the details, holding it close and far away from his face.

“Well I can't say I’m too familiar with the piece,”  Discord admitted as he place the photo back on the table and turned it towards Twilight. “But I do like the work of the artist. Do you know who they are? Do they take commissions?” Fluttershy shot Discord another glare of daggers, which caused him to roll his eyes and point to Celestia and Luna in the picture. 

“Those are the annoying Stands of your princesses, I know that all too well. That phoenix nearly reset Equestria to a boring orderly form. And that crystal used my own devilry against me! As to why your princesses are on their knees, I do not know. Once I changed the rules they simply fled until they discovered the Elements of Harmony. I can’t tell you how satisfying it would have been to see a scene like that.”

“And what of this?” Twilight put her finger on the giant figure behind Discord.

“Not a clue I’m afraid. The artist’s depiction of my absolute awesomeness? Like I said, they’re a very good painter.” 

“So what you’re saying is that you can’t give us anything of use to deal with this problem?” Twilight groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“I’m afraid not. Well, aside from insisting that Fluttershy stay with me for the time being for her own safety,” Discord offered, “There are very few ponies who even know the location of the little pocket dimension I call chaos sweet chaos.”

“I second that,” Fluttershy raised her hand, “I’m not going to be helpful in this. It, probably would be best if I stayed out of your way until you can figure this out, Twilight.” Fluttershy punctuated her words with a smile.

“No objections here,” Twilight agreed.

“I can give you all the tribute that the original members of  this chaos club gave to me.” Discord continued. “It has quite a lot of details about them. But I’m not sure how much good that’ll do, since they’re all probably long dead by now.”

“I’ll take anything at this point,” Twilight said as she looked up at Discord’s pony form. “Anything to make this trip not feel like a total waste.” At a finger snap, a box appeared in front of Twilight with the worlds “dumb lozer smelly ponys” poorly written in crayon appear in front of the princess.

“Thanks… Discord…” Twilight sighed and levitated the box over into her bag. 

“Oh you’re quite welcome,” Discord chuckled, “Now that I’ve given you a gift, perhaps you would indulge me with something, Sparkle?” 

Raising her eyebrow, Twilight leaned backwards, “What… are you talking about?” 

“Nothing that would be considered dangerous if that’s what you’re worried about,” Discord waved his hand dismissively, “I just want to see your Stand.” 

Twilight’s fingers curled up around the booth, “My Stand? Why?” She narrowed her gaze, “Are you planning something, Discord?” 

“Oh most certainly not,” Discord’s arm suddenly wrapped around the table, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her in tightly around the booth against him, “I just had a pang of curiosity. It shouldn't be too much of an issue to draw it out, would it?” He waved his hand around the room, “Do any of these ponies look like Stand Users to you?” 

Twilight’s magnified gaze cast itself around the room. There weren’t that many ponies, and Golden Harvest was in a nearby hotel room with a tracking spell on her in case she tried to leave the building. Harvest had come alone, she said, and thus there wasn’t much chance of other Stand Users being nearby…

“Fine,” Twilight exhaled and summoned Night Wish beside her, almost sitting on the booth beside her. The ink ball inside the cloak was almost impossible to see in the low light, while the cloak seemed to flap slightly in some invisible breeze. 

Upon seeing it, Discord didn’t say anything. He simply looked the figure up and down, trying to imagine something with it. He twisted his head until it was at a 90 degree angle, then twisted it in the other direction. His fingers tapped on the table. 

“Well?” Twilight huffed, “Why did you want to see it?” 

“Oh I was just checking something,” Discord smiled devilishly, “It does look rather boring the more I think about it.” 

“Boring?!” Twilight retorted, “What, how can a Stand be boring just by looking at it?!” 

“It just does, Sparkle!” Discord leaned back, “I’ve seen Stands that can literally reset anything in a blaze of fire, ones that could bring nightmares to life. Yours looks rather… well,” He smirked, “I guess you do need some ink to write all those letters, don’t you?” 

“Discord!” Fluttershy suddenly spun towards him. The mare eyed him with a harsh glare, one that even Discord couldn't look away from. The two were locked in a sort of staring contest for a long moment before Discord finally sighed and turned his head back. 

“Well then,”  Discord snickered. “I’d love to stay in chat, but I’m afraid my dear princess, you’re about to find that you’re needed elsewhere at the moment. So why don’t I give you a head start on that?” With a final snap, Twilight was suddenly and rudely transported out of the club along with the box.

~~~

With a blip, Twilight appeared outside the club. The Princess still had Night Wish out from the sudden teleportation, a fact she quickly rectified with a small biting of her lip. 

Checking to be sure nopony had noticed she’d had her Stand out, the Princess reached down into her bag to look at the box again. This could have the answers for why the cult was going after her and her friends. It could explain what the group was hoping to accomplish, as well as maybe lead to the identity of what exactly was happening with all of this. Or, it could very well just be information from a time long since past, of no help to her at all. 

Turning her way back towards the hotel building where she’d left Golden Harvest, the mare’s steps were slow and awkward. As she walked, something was eating at her mind. Gnawing at it, making her slow. Even if Discord was stopped, he’d affirmed exactly what she was thinking: 

Was her Stand… weak? 

No, Night Wish wasn’t a weak Stand! She’d saved Fluttershy with it! Discord had just been trying to get under her skin, like he always did when she was around. It wasn’t like Rainbow Dash had a much cooler Stand, or Rarity are more versatile, or Pinkie on that matched her to a P. No, it wasn’t like Twilight’s Stand wasn’t something that seemingly had nothing to do with who she was or what she wanted to do… 

Shaking her head, Twilight grumbled and put her focus over towards the buildings. Discord was just riling her up. Fluttershy had even stopped him. That had to be a sign she knew exactly what he was doing! Right? 

Right. 

With that in her head, Twilight sucked in another breath as she started her way towards the hotel again, her fingers curling and uncurling into her hand as she did so.
> We're Going Straight to Video!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was bad enough that Pinkie Pie had to deal with an evil cult that was brainwashing her friends and turning them against her and the rest of her friends. It’d been bad enough she’d literally beaten one of her friends into submission, without even knowing she was doing so. It was even bad enough that she’d missed out on a stand called Candy Coated Fury, a Stand that sounded incredibly awesome! (Though both Dash and Rarity refused to answer any details on it) But to add onto that already doozy of a problem, Pinkie had learned that someone had broken into Sugar Cube Corner last night. 

Due to the small business nature of Sugarcube Corner, the Cakes didn’t keep any money in the cash registers overnight, so thankfully nothing had been stolen. It was still disconcerting nonetheless though. Whoever had broken in had been meticulous, and it’d only been a sheer lucky flaw by their assailant that they’d even realized someone had broken in at all. A bit of glass surrounding their doorknobs had been cut apart and then replaced, and had Pinkie not used her back to open the door to take out the garbage, she would never have seen the glass fall apart and shatter on the ground.

That is why Pinkie found herself going to the local video store in order to buy security cameras. She was charged with this task because her employers trusted her far more when it came to the subject of technology than they trusted themselves. In truth, Pinkie wasn’t much more knowledgeable in that regard past the understanding of how to use a computer. At most, she knew how to work a stereo, and knew how to even do some basic DJing. Yet Mr. and Mrs. Cake had tasked her with this duty, and she was determined to not let them down.

Despite having a large electronic market, Ponyville had only one store that truly specialized in electronics. The store was more of a television and accessories store that sold video cameras on the side rather than an appliance shop, but it had a wide enough selection to sate Pinkie. Pinkie herself had been to Spark-Up Electronics a few times before, but she had always been there to simply observe, rather than to buy. Yet once more, the responsibility was placed on her, and her alone. 

Her task at hand, however, didn’t stop Pinkie from her normal routine and saying a greeting to everypony that passed her on the street. Each pony was given a specialized greeting, exercising a massive encyclopedia of name-face recognition and an even larger one of greetings. The mare beamed as she made her way down the street, the store in sight. 

Just as she was about to turn the corner for the store’s entrance, Pinkie noticed a flower cart had been pulled up across the street. Instantly noting Rosebud, Pinkie grinned as she quickly called out a greeting.

“Howdy!” Pinkie waved a hand over towards the three mares, each hard at work unloading their flowers onto some extendable shelves from the cart. 

After a moment, Rosebud perked up, “Oh, hey Pinkie!” Rosebud called back, whilst the other two gave a polite wave back, “Still having that party on Friday?” 

“You betcha!” Pinkie chirped back, “And you three are aaaaallllll invited!” 

Bringing smiles to the three faces, Pinkie herself beamed once more before turning back to the road. Even if this was just a simple run, bringing even the smallest bit of joy to others always made a simple errand feel that much more satisfying! 

Turning the corner, Pinkie saw the glass doors of the entrance in front of her. When she entered the store, Pinkie already had her plan of action in mind. She would go up to the clerk at the counter and ask what they recommended to her. She had enough faith in ponies that they would give her an honest answer. Of course, she would ask to see it in action first. Not that she would think they were lying, but to make sure that it was really what she was looking for. The Cakes’ instructions were very clear on what they wanted.

The cameras had to have a decently wide coverage area. Enough to capture the whole of shop area and kitchen with just one camera in both rooms. They also had to be small enough to not be intrusive and make their customers feel uncomfortable. The store wasn’t too big, so finding cameras of that size shouldn’t be too hard. And if they didn’t have anything like that in stock, they could always just order something for her. In her mind, this was just an average errand.

Since she was mulling all this over as she walked into the store, Pinkie Pie was only paying the bare minimum amount of attention required to keep from bumping into anypony or anything. Had she been a little more observant of her surroundings, she would have noticed that there was absolutely no pony inside of the store to bump into in the first place. The entire electronics store, which was normally decently busy this time of day, was completely empty. There wasn’t even a cashier behind the desk that was the destination of Pinkie’s autopiolted walk. 

Still deep in thought, Pinkie mindlessly waited in front of the empty counter for a second before she finally noticed something. Not that the store was devoid of any employees or patrons, but that the huge wall of TV’s on display were completely dark. Instead of every single television on that wall all playing the same movie at once so that customers could compare them, all one of them but one was turned off. The fact that this one stood out from the rest of the dormant displays drew Pinkie Pie to go and examine it more closely. 

“Huh?” Pinkie blinked as she moved closer towards the screen, squinting to see more details on the grainy image.

The movie showing on this lone screen appeared to be some sort of Western. Though, Pinkie couldn’t tell which one. The cowboy was too generic, and there wasn’t anything in the background giving her context for the setting. The shot the movie was currently on didn’t leave much to be distinct. It was a bird’s eye view of a rocky desert, with a cowboy walking through it. He appeared to be wearing a sombrero and poncho. 

“What movie is this?” Pinkie muttered, thinking more out loud than talking to anypony in particular. Pinkie didn’t know this movie. This frustrated her to no end, because westerns were Marble’s favorites! Pinkie had seen dozens and dozens of Westerns with Marble, to the point that if someone mentioned Clint Ponewood or Gary Cloper, she’d know the scenes inside and out. Seeing a Western she didn’t know was like being given a cupcake recipe she hadn’t tried yet! And Pinkie had tried a lot of recipes! 

She leaned forward and got closer to the TV, trying to see if she could recognize the actor. The cowboy’s face was turned downwards and away from the shot, preventing it from being seen. A cactus passed in front of the cowboy, and next thing Pinkie knew, the shot had changed to an upward angle towards the front of the actor, with the cowboy’s face shrouded in shadow. The picture flicked for a moment with a bit of grain before the shot slowly began to zoom in towards his face, drawing Pinkie further in as the identity of the actor was almost revealed! 

Though she didn’t know why, it was at this moment Twilight’s warning about Stands flashed through Pinkie’s mind: A Stand could be absolutely anything. There is no telling where an attack might come from. So you need to always be on guard. This warning being in her mind, coupled with an unusual pinch in her lower thigh, caused Pinkie Pie to instantly twist her body away from the TV at the last second, right before the cowboy turned towards the screen and fired his revolver directly at Pinkie. The resulting bullet flew out of the TV and into reality. 

Had Pinkie dodged a moment later, it would have gone directly through her skull. But instead, it simply grazed her hair, leaving singed pink strands falling through the air. Pinkie silently thanked her Pinkie Sense for affirming Twilight’s words, and within seconds she had Ta-Dah materialized. 

Just as the pink and black ninja crouched down beside Pinkie, the center television went black before instantly turning back on again along with the rest of the wall. Every screen seemed to form one coherent picture of the cowboy who had just shot Pinkie. The sombrero and poncho floated away from him, carried by an unseen breeze (Come to think of it, what cowboy wore a sombrero?). Since he had discarded his stereotypical attire, the figure had revealed that he was only pony in stature alone. Taking a closer look, this thing actually wasn’t even that pony-like in stature either!

Though impossible to tell its height by appearance, the figure looked to be roughly five feet in height, if the cactus in the frame beside it said anything. Its limbs appeared to be nothing more than cylindrical metal pipes attached to hinges. Its torso was a construct of these pipes, surrounded with multi colored wires. In place of a head was a large video camera, which appeared to be focusing in and out directly at Pinkie. Most importantly to Pinkie, however, the figure still held the pistol that it’d used to attack her.

“Well...Well...Well!” A voice suddenly spoke, emanating from the speakers of all the TV’s in front of the pink mare, “Look who fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker! And to think, all it took was a simple break-in to get you scurrying into my trap like a rat to cheese!” 

Backing away from the TV’s, Pinkie and Ta-Dah slowly crouched down, the sound amplified by the multiple speakers emanating in front of them. For Pinkie, loud noises weren’t difficult for her, given that she loved to crank her sub woofers up as loud as possible for her parties. Yet there was no doubt about it; whatever was inside of these TV’s, was a Stand! 

“Huh?” Pinkie cocked her head, “Actually, rats don’t chase after cheese, silly! In fact, I bet it’s probably the last thing they’d choose! I mean, I know because I tested several mouse traps to try and find the best bait! Ugh, rats, they get all up inside of the ingredients and just eat them all up! Mister and Misses Cake hate having all their ingredients eaten! Oh, and I meant the sticky ones of course, Fluttershy would kill me if I hurt any…”

“I don’t care about rats!” The TV’s spoke up once more, the figure in the picture raising the weapon it had, “Shut up!” 

“But you’re the one who brought up the rats!” Pinkie quickly interjected, “I mean, I don’t wanna be rude, that’s the last thing I wanna be! I just wanna make sure you understand what metaphor you’re using! Twilight always gets on me for making all sorts of cake based metaphors! Like, the other day, Rainbow said she could fly up to her cloud home faster than I could sing the alphabet song, so I told her ‘Okay Rainbow, but just remember, if you bake too fast, you get baked bads!’ And Twilight said I wasn’t even making a metaphor!” 

“YOU AREN’T!” The figure snapped again, “Stop talking! For the love of Celestia, STOP TALKING!” 

“But it is a metaphor!” Pinkie gasped, “Or at least, I think it’s one! A metaphor is comparing something without using… uhm, what was it, ‘like’ or… something else? Oh woopsie doopsie, I’ll remember later! I was comparing Rainbow trying to get home too fast to baking a cake too hot! So it IS a metaphor! I mean, I still think it is...” 

While the figure in the TV’s began to quiver with seemingly potent rage, Pinkie kept doing what she did best: talking. She kept talking and rambling on. Despite how it appeared, this wasn’t her just being ignorant of her present situation. When somepony got angry or annoyed, they usually stopped what they were doing. If Rainbow was mad, she’d stop mid-flight to gripe about it, Twilight would stop studying, Rarity stop sewing, etc. With that in mind, Pinkie was stalling so that she could analyze her predicament.

The first and most important thing she had to keep in mind was lingering in her head: where was the source of his voice coming from? It was coming from the TV’s, and TV’s could be broadcasted from the other side of the planet. It was like buying cookies from a store; just because they said they were made in Equestria, that could mean they could be made all the way in Manehatten! But whatever this thing was, it appeared to be inside of the TV’s, not just being broadcast via camera. Besides, an enemy that could attack them Pinkie and her friends from anywhere on the planet sounded way too dangerous. Choosing to be optimistic about this situation, Pinkie decided to conclude that this Stand’s user had to be somewhere close by.

Next on the list of important things to know at the moment was what exactly could this Stand do. Twilight had warned that Stands could do almost anything, and after seeing her friend’s abilities, Pinkie knew that was true. Right now, this one appeared to be be able to exist inside of televisions and shoot guns at her from inside of them. Were those the extents of its power? Pinkie hoped so. This was one case where she didn’t want to be surprised!

Finally, one big concern rested in her mind: Pinkie couldn’t tell where this thing couldn’t see. Ever since Pinkie had acquired Ta-Dah, that knowledge had always come naturally to her. Even when she wasn’t specifically trying to look for that, Pinke could instantly tell where every living thing’s blind spot was. Similar to the way one would look at a normal pony and a truck and instantly know that the truck is bigger without even thinking. Whether it be pony or animal, Pinkie instantly knew its blindspot. The same applied to Stands, which tended to be the same at its user’s. The only exception Pinkie noticed was Rarity’s Diamond Dogs, which all had minds of their own, and thus fields of visions of their own. This Stand, as far as Pinkie could tell, didn’t have any! It apparently could see the entire store!

“...and then I told Dash ‘Dashie, you can’t mix rainbow in with cakes, it’ll hurt your tongue!’ And so then Dashie told me ‘Well then, awesome! Let’s put all the rainbow in!’ And at that point I couldn't even stop her and she baked all these pies with rainbow fillin-”

“ENOUGH!” The TV’s shouted. Pinkie had known her filibuster couldn’t go on forever, and now the user controlling the Stand (or possibly the Stand itself) decided to shut Pinkie up by firing its pistol again from the TV’s. This time, however, Pinkie was on alert and dodged the bullet, which was actually much bigger, due to the gun’s magnified size. Just as the bullet left the screen, Pinkie’s eye flicked over towards one of the aisles, Ta-Dah instantly taking her there behind various adapter cords and plugs.

“I never realized how annoying you were until now!” The TV’s continued. “No wonder they want you dead!”

“Want me dead? Who would want me dead? Then I couldn’t throw my parti-Hey, hey wait a minute!” Now that Pinkie had heard the voice enough, she could finally recognize it. Voices weren’t as easy for her remember as faces, but given enough time she could remember one she’s heard before, “Data Stream?! Oh no, don’t tell me they got to you too!” 

“The only thing they did to me,” Data shouted from the TV’s, “Was open my eyes to how much of a nuisance you and your friends are! And I’ll finally rid the world of you with the power of my Stand, Straight to Video!” 

As soon as Data finished his sentence, all of the TV’s suddenly turned to static. Then, in a fraction of a second almost too fast for even the near prophetic Pinkie to react to, they all came into picture showing a scene of Straight to Video on a pirate ship and wearing a fitting hat atop its head. Flanking it were two large iron cannons aimed directly at Pinkie. Their fuses had already been lit, and by the time the scene came on, they were just one second away from firing.

That single second saved Pinkie’s life. It was enough time for her to put in her mind that cannons equated to large metal balls flying at her. The instant they fired, Pinkie leapt into the air and had Ta-Dah teleport her to the other side of the store. This time, Pinkie was still in midair as she appeared, and she quickly landed on her feet. She panted heavily as the smoke from the impact cleared and showed a small crater that would have contained her had she acted slower. Not wanting to meet a similar or worse fate, Pinkie dashed to her right and towards the exit door.

Her attempt at absconding was thwarted, however, when a TV directly to the right of the entrance flicked to life. This time, Straight to Video was riding a large, ferocious dragon. Under any other circumstance, Pinkie would have felt offended by this misrepresentation of dragons. But at the moment, she was more concerned with the large stream of fire erupting from its mouth and outwards from the screen. 

Nearly leaving her motorized heart in the path of the fire, Pinkie vaulted over the shelf to her left and pressed her back up against a display of cellphones. She watched as as the red flames scorched everything in the isle she had just escaped from. After a few seconds of constant, baker incinerating heat, the flames died down and the TV with the dragon turned off. 

“Even Marble doesn’t like these types of movies!” Pinkie muttered under the breath she was trying so desperately to catch, “I doubt that those meanie cultists were what made his taste in movies this bad!” 

“I heard that!” Data Stream’s voice shouted, causing Pinkie to leap to her feet in surprise. However, this time the voice wasn’t from the row of TV’s in the back, or any television at all for that matter. Instead, it came from directly behind her. Seemingly, the source of his voice this time was a cell phone on display. Reflexively, Pinkie willed Ta-Dah to punch the cellphone, breaking it in half. 

“Hey!” Straight to Video appeared again on the back wall of televisions. “Do you have any idea how much that cost? I’m going to make you pay with your life!” A projector from the next aisle over flickered on, projecting Straight to Video’s image above Pinkie. She had time to make note that the Stand had disappeared from the TV’s before she teleported to the store’s western wall in order to dodge the large cutlass it threw downwards at her.

While one projector turned off, another turned on. Now, Straight to Video was holding a revolver again, pointing it directly at Pinkie. Pinkie barely had time to take in the image of the Stand before it fired the gun, almost the second after she’d seen it!

Pinkie had Ta-Dah teleport her on top of a shelf directly behind the projection of Straight to Video. With all of the desperation of a cornered animal, Pinkie had Ta-Dah punch the Stand’s camera head as hard as it could. Only half to her surprise, this had no effect. Ta-Dah’s fist went directly through it because it was simply a projection of light. This somehow didn’t stop the bullets it fired from being physical however, Pinkie noted as she looked at the holes they made in the supply closet door. 

Acting now almost on instinct, Pinkie gasped, throwing her weight forward to dodge. Ta-Dah responded instantly, and Pinkie quickly found she’d been teleported onto the floor itself rather than hitting it. The shelf above her rocked and fell over, scattering several charging cords and boxes about the floor. Just as she got the chance to breathe, a TV to her right turned on, now showing the Stand holding a massive cutlass. Pinkie heard the blade’s distinct shrill as it narrowly missed her nose. 

This was bad. Even as Pinkie moved her body about the store, the Stand always knew where she was! She wasn’t going to make it out of this if she didn’t figure out this Stand! Rainbow said she’d figured out how to beat that Leopard guy by dodging his attacks and fooling him with what attack she was going to throw. Rarity had beaten Lotus by… by sewing her eyes shut and attacking like that! What could she do to beat this Stand, if it could rain destruction down upon her without letting her know how she could attack! The Stand could still see from all angels somehow, because it pointed the gun behind itself directly at Ta-Dah’s heart without looking! 

Wait, the gun! The bullet holes from the gun had flown past Pinkie, impaling themselves into the door to the supply closet once more. With her body twisted downwards, Pinkie was staring right at the supply closet again. In that moment, Pinkie noticed that Straight to Video couldn’t see what was on the other side. She wasn’t given enough time to question this before she had to teleport away to dodge its next shot. Her destination this time was the door, which she opened and shut herself in as fast as she possibly could. 

In this closet, she couldn’t be seen. Pinkie knew that. The only place Data could see were through the holes made in the door. At least for now, Pinkie was safe inside this closet. The first thing she did with this respite was catch her breath. She in the corner of the closet, as far away from the door as possible and practically hyperventilating. This was probably the most adrenaline she had felt in such a short time; and she had gone skydiving before!

No, she had to get control! If she couldn't calm down, she couldn't think straight! And if she didn’t, she’d go off the rails! Pinkie quickly put her hands on her cheeks, forcing herself to breathe and feel her cheeks expand and collapse with each breath. She quickly blew the tuft of her hair dangling in front of her face away, getting herself to relax as she collected her thoughts. 

Her attacker was Data Stream, Pinkie had learned while running for her life. He was what some would unflatteringly describe as a computer geek. He was a bit of an elitist, but a decent guy if you took the time to get to know him. This knowledge was very valuable to Pinkie, as it almost confirmed that the Stand User was close by, since this was his shop. This would also mean he would know the entire layout of the store by memory, and thus had planned where his Straight to Video would appear. But where was he?

More importantly, how was Data Stream able to see Pinkie from every conceivable angle? Especially when Pinkie herself couldn’t see him. The fact that Data had projected his voice through the screens containing Straight to Video meant he was controlling it, like a remote control toy for a foal. She concluded that Straight to Video didn’t have a mind of its own like Rarity’s Diamond Dogs, so Data must be the one controlling it. Did this all have something to do with the Stand’s ability?

And that was another important question. What exactly was the ability of this Stand? From what Pinkie had gotten first hand experience with, it clearly had something to do with electronics. That much was obvious from the way it had been assaulting her from inside the televisions. At first Pinkie had thought that was the extent of its ability. But there was more to it clearly, since it was also able to attack from the projector, and talk to her through the cell phones.

Whatever Straight to Video’s power was, it wasn’t Pinkie’s primary concern at the moment. Instead, it survival. If she wanted to survive, Pinkie needed to get out of this store. Fighting an electric controlling Stand in an electronics store was just asking to lose! But Straight to Video was able stop her retreat with a very offensive offensive torrent of fire.

Pinkie began to summarize what she had gone over in her head. This Stand assaulted through electronics. As long as it was able to continue to attack her, Pinkie Pie would never be able flee with her life. So, the only logical course of action would be to disable Straight to Video’s means of attacking her. She felt bad, causing so much destruction and breaking so many expensive things. And, she knew that attacking a Stand would damage the user. Just like, Bangarang and Vinyl. But it was the price she had to pay for her survival it seemed.

Taking one final deep breath, Pinkie stood up and threw the closet door open. Immediately she felt Data Stream’s near omnipotent gaze fall upon her. His Stand hadn’t materialized yet. She had no idea where it would, but it was Pinkie’s goal to make it so he couldn’t do that.

The wall of TV’s was the first thing that needed to go. It offered the biggest area of attack, and was easy to take out in a short amount of time. Ta-Dah materialized and took the nearest edge of the top shelf in its hands. As the ninja started to pull the shelf off the wall, Pinkie could begin to feel the strain on her own arms. It was apparent her Stand didn’t have much more strength than an average pony. 

“Come oonnnnn!!” Pinkie huffed under her breath, grunting with exertion along with the Stand’s actions. For a moment she had to wonder if it was silly, her standing there groaning and shaking like she'd had too much punch at a party! The TV’s started to quake as a precious second passed.

At the very last second, Pinkie saw Straight to Video flick to life in the TV right in front of Ta-Dah’s face, gun aimed to kill. But it was too late. Ta-Dah had pried the shelf from the wall and disappeared. Pinkie flinched and covered her ears as all of the TV’s it held came crashing down onto the row below them. A flurry of broken glass, plastic, and sparks flew everywhere, causing Pinkie to recoil to the opposite end of the store. 

Unfortunately, the bottom row of televisions remained completely unharmed. Even worse, the TV opposite to Pinkie was completely unblocked by any sort of debris. Pinkie caught sight of a cannon nearly eclipsing the entire screen before she teleported right towards the front door. As soon as she appeared, however, the TV right next to her showed its dragon again. Pinkie was forced to dive forward, away from the door. She just barely managed to escape the flames, only the sole of her shoe being caught. 

As Pinkie rapidly stamped her foot on the ground to put the fire out, another projector hummed on again. This time, Straight to Video was riding the dragon, now rendered in full 3D misrepresentation. This came from the added effect of being able to spit its flames in all directions, making them much harder to dodge.

Teleporting with Ta-Dah required the stamina of a full speed sprint for about three seconds. Doing it repeatedly wore Pinkie out quicker than anything. Coupled with all the dodging and running she had been doing, Pinkie felt like she had just run a marathon. She wasn’t sure for how much longer she could keep this up. If this went on for too much longer, a fatal attack was sure to make its mark. 

Pinkie needed to stop that meanie dragon! But as she discovered earlier, attempting to attack the projection had no effect. Instead, she would need to stop it from being projected in the first place! But the projector was all the way halfway across the store, and the dragon was already breathing in to exhale its fiery hot breath. If she teleported to it, Pinkie was afraid she wouldn’t have the energy to pick it up and smash it it time. She needed to destroy it from where she was. She needed to something to throw!

Almost as if sensing her need, Ta-Dah quickly reached for its waist, and something appeared in its hand. Before Pinkie could see what it was, the object was launched with one snap of the Stand’s wrist. Half a second later, the dragon projection disappeared right before it breathed fire at Pinkie. 

After the initial shock wore off, Pinkie saw that something was lodged in the projector. A metal star of some sort had broken it. That must have been what Ta-Dah had thrown? Ninjas weren’t her forte, but throwing stars and teleporting? It made sense to Pinkie. More importantly, she discovered a new ability her Stand apparently had. 

“My Stand is feeling a lot better than his meanie pants Stand,” Pinkie muttered under her breath. She immediately covered her mouth with her hands, shooting a gaze across the room. No response came.

Now that the dragon was gone, Pinkie teleported straight for the closet door, which she had left open. She got as far in and away from the door as she could before collapsing on the ground, out of sight. Someone looking at her at the moment would be forgiven if they came under the impression that she had asthma from how much wheezing she was doing. 

There were just too many angles in which the enemy could attack her from to try and fight it. If she focused her attention on one electronic, another would be the source of her demise. Even if she did dodge that second attack, Pinkie wasn’t sure how long she would be able to keep that acrobatic game up before she ran out of breath. It became clear that if she was going to survive this fight, Pinkie needed to figure out the answers to the riddles she was presented with.

Every problem the baker faced all steamed from one burning question: what was Straight to Video’s power specifically? The way Twilight had described it, a Stand’s ability tied into a specific central theme. For example, Ta-Dah’s theme was around being a Ninja. It could move quickly and unseen, as well throw its newfound shurikens. Diamond Dogs were all about treating anything like fabric, that was easy. 

Throwing parties for just about everypony she knew had taught Pinkie that you could get away with lumping in a large variety of things together if you picked the right theme. Bangarang was logically able to both allow Vinyl to talk and make ear deafening sounds because both of those abilities fell into the theme amplifying vibrations. So, if Pinkie could figure out Straight to Video’s theme, she would be able to know why it’s able to fire guns at her, shoot fire at her, and see her from everywhere. 

Seeing her no matter where she was in the store, that was the biggest problem she specifically faced. It gave Data Stream way too many options for attacking her and severely limited her options for retaliation. Ta-Dah required the element of surprise in order to be effective. Pinkie did not possess that element as long as she was constantly spotted. She needed to know why he could see her everywhere!

“Okay, Okay Pinkie Pie! Calm down!” Pinkie placed her hands on her temples and focused. She paused as she attempted to clear her mind. “Remember what Granny Pinkie always told you about hard situations: if you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, try asking a different question!” 

“A different question…” Pinkie got on her hands and knees and crawled over to the door. She looked through the bullet holes out at the store. No sign of Straight to Video, yet. “Uhm, other questions! Uhm… uhm…” 

She had to ask a question that would help her! Something that she hadn’t thought of. Something she was just assuming, like knowing cupcakes always went in at a certain temperature! Something like… 

“Instead of asking why asking why can he see me anywhere out there, why can’t he see me...in here?”

Yes, that was the point that had completely escaped Pinkie’s mind. She was far too relieved that this was a safe haven from Data Stream’s visual observations that she had never questioned why it was so. There was something about this closet that made Data Stream unable to see her within it. But what? What was different about this closet than the store?

Could it be the lack of light? Can he see anywhere as long as there’s light? Cautiously, Pinkie reached up for the light switch to her right. Quickly she turned the lights on, causing the entirety of the confined space to become illuminated. To her relief, she could tell she was still unobserved. This meant that light wasn’t what allowed him to constantly see her. Besides, that wouldn’t have made much sense, given the other abilities Straight to Video had.

Focusing more on the store through the bullet hole, Pinkie looked around for any sort of clues. But with her limited range of vision, she found that she was sort on ideas, and completely void of plausible ones. It was at this time Pinkie Pie began cursing her luck. She wished that this wasn’t happening. She just wished she could have walked into the store as intended and purchase some…

Security cameras…

Pinkie’s eyes shot towards the only corner of the store she could see through the bullet hole. Right there, in the top corner, there it was. A security camera! She hadn’t been paying much attention when she was too busy trying to stay alive, but she swore that every corner of the store had one. Their combined coverage must have allowed for anypony observing them to see everywhere in the store.

That was it! Straight to Video wasn’t looking through its own camera head, it was looking through the cameras of the store! That’s why it could see her no matter where she was, except in the closet, which had no cameras in it at all! Cameras were its eyes.

And it interacted with her through televisions and projectors. Both pieces of technology that enabled observation of otherwise unobservable things. And, it spoke to her through the cell phones, which was the devices’ main purpose! No, it hadn’t just spoken to her through them, it had heard her through them as well. That was why he reacted to her first jeer in the cell phone aisle, but not the second when she was nowhere near them! It all made sense to her now! 

Straight to Video relied on electronics to interact with the world when its user wasn’t specifically close by at the very least. If there are no recording devices, the user can’t hear. If there were no display devices, the Stand couldn’t interact. And most importantly, if there were no observation devices, then the Stand couldn’t see. 

There was one more thing. Pinkie had seen that Straight to Video had only done things on specific TV’s. It would have made a lot of sense to show the dragon on the large wall of TV’s, making the torrent of fire much bigger and harder to avoid. This all tied into one more theory she had, about how it was able to execute its attacks. On the floor the shop, there were wires running across the floor. At first, Pinkie had merely thought that was just par for an electronics store. But, what if, they were leading to something? Something that enabled Straight to Video’s variety of attacks. 

Yes, that was it. Pinkie had learned all of the enemy Stand’s secrets. She stood up straight with confidence. Just moments before, it had seemed like an unbeatable foe, and that her death was certain. But now she was confident that she could not lose, for she knew exactly what she needed to do to defeat this foe. With a triumphant grin, Pinkie threw the door open and walked out into the store.

“All these problems make me wanna go,” Pinkie sang as she felt Data Stream’s gaze fall upon her. “Like a bad girl Straight to Video! Little darling welcome to the show. You’re a failure played in stereo!“

The projector on top of the shelves that Pinkie hadn’t destroyed powered on and projected Straight to Video holding a revolver. Just as Pinkie had predicted it would.

“What are you so smug about?” Data Steam’s voice came from the cellphones in the aisle near her. “Or is it that you’ve finally accepted your fate and decided to stop all this pointless running?”

“No silly,” Pinkie giggled. “I’m excited because I’ve found out the secret to your trick. Normally I don’t like doing that, because that makes them all extremely less fun. But in your case, I couldn’t be happier that I did!”

“What is Discord’s name are you talking about?” Data Stream growled. Pinke could see Straight to Video struggling to pull the trigger. This meant that Data was just curious enough to see where she was going with this. That is exactly what Pinkie wanted.

“Oh just sit tight back there in the office like I know you are,” Pinkie pointed out as she stretched her legs. “And you’ll see!” As soon as she finished her sentence, Ta-Dah appeared and Pinkie vanished. 

Pinkie appeared behind Straight to Video and had Ta-Dah throw a shuriken at the camera in the top right corner of the store. The rectangular box exploded in a shower of sparks as the pointed metal embedded itself in it. Its function ceased, and instantly Pinkie could detect blind spots appearing in the enemy Stand’s vision. They were few at the moment, because the other three cameras were picking up the slack; a fact that Pinkie was soon about to fix. But this meant that her conclusions were correct.

Her correctness was also confirmed by Straight to Video’s reaction to her surveillance equipment destruction: an extremely rash and aggressive fan of bullets aimed Pinkie’s way. With how haphazardly they were fired, it was easy for Pinkie to teleport behind Straight to Video and destroy another camera. Now the blind spots had increased to cover a good portion of the store. Before Pinkie went about completely disabling Data’s vision of her, she wanted to prove a point.

“Hey!” Data’s voice projected through his Stand again, “Don’t you dare break those! Do you know how much property damage you’re causing?!” But his voice wasn’t as confident or controlled as before. Just what Pinkie wanted! 

The wires on the floor were running alongside the shelves, placed as though their very presence was trying to be hidden. It didn’t stop Pinkie from noticing them and following them to where they lead: DVD players. On one end of the wires were DVD players, which lead into the TV’s and projectors. Specific DVD players to specific devices. This is why only certain attacks came out of certain devices. 

With her Stand’s speed, Pinkie hit eject on every single player, revealing three separate DVD’s. On the top shelf was Pirates of the Celestial Sea, special edition with half an hour of deleted scenes! Bottom corner DVD player contained a movie that Pinkie would be damned if she didn’t instantly recognize from the disk art alone: A Hoofful of Bits. Marble’s all time favorite. Finally, dead in the center of the aisle was, ugh, Dragon Slayer’s Ballad. Ta-Dah collected all of the disks into a neat pile and set them on the shelf behind Pinkie.

“Well that’s that!” Pinkie taunted while holding one eyelid open and sticking out her tongue to one of the two cameras she hadn’t destroyed yet. “No more guns or cannons or offending my friends for you!” Data Stream offered no response except for screaming in rage and sending Straight to Video after her with nothing but its fists. Pinkie instantly sidestepped the assault and had Ta-Dah simultaneously destroy the remaining two cameras with shurikens.

As soon as both cameras went offline, Straight to Video disappeared. Now Pinkie was free to leave the electronic store safely. But no, not yet. Everypony in Ponyville was her friend, and there was a friend in the backroom that she needed to save from the clutches of an evil cultist. This was only the second time in her life she had to do that.

Pinkie vaulted over the service deck and threw open the door to the back room. Just as she predicted, she saw Data Stream sitting at a computer. He had his cell phone in his hands, and looked at Pinkie Pie with a fearful look in his eyes. 

“Get away from me!” Data shouted. He held his flip phone towards her in some manner of self defense. A small image of Straight to Video was on the screen, but it’s methods of attacking were very limited at the moment. But likewise, Data quickly turned, brandishing a stapler in one hand, phone in the other.

“Hey, Hey! Calm your party down!” Pinkie waved her hands quickly, “Just calm down Data, I’m not gonna hurt you!” Pinkie urged the store owner. She took slow, cautious steps towards him with her hands out in front of her. “Come with me, I’m sure Twilight can find a harmless way to break the…”

“I said get away!” In a shaky fit, Data pulled his phone close to his face. Dropping the stapler, his thumbs desperately flew over the keys on his phone. Before Pinkie could tell him to calm down again or ask what he was doing, Data Stream was seemingly sucked into his cell phone. 

Gasping, Pinkie ran over and picked it up. It seemed he had sent a text message. A picture of Straight to Video, which most likely contained himself. He was escaping through text messaging! But to whom? Who would he be sending himself to? If he had wanted to escape, who would be there to receive him? 


Pinkie looked at the recipient to see who it was sent to. Not a contact, but a number she recognized. Blooming Marigold, a flower mare who worked at a stall three blocks down. She was likely to be there right now.

With a newfound burst of adrenaline, Pinkie called upon Ta-Dah to take her out of the store and to Marigold’s stall as fast as possible. Sure enough, the mare was there. She had her own phone pulled up, looking at it curiously.

“What’s this?” Pinkie heard the flower vender say to herself as she rushed up to her. “Somepony just sent me a blank picture. Huh, must’ve been a-wait, it just forwarded itself?!”

Without even asking permission, Pinkie snatched the phone from Merigold’s hands and looked at it. Data had forwarded himself to Pottery Spinner, a ceramics expert who frequently helped Marigold with public garden projects. Luckily, Pinkie Pie knew it was his lunchtime, and exactly where he would be eating his food right now. 

“Sorry Marigold!” Pinkie shouted as she zipped away. “Thank you for letting me use your phone!” Pinkie phased in and out of reality as fast as she could. By the time she had charged through the door of Hay Burger, she felt like her lungs were on fire. 

Sitting in the seat he always was, Pottery was also curiously looking at his phone while in the middle of a messy lunch. Pinkie looked over his shoulder and saw the message. This time, it had forwarded itself to someone who wasn’t in Pottery’s contacts. And worse yet, it was a number that Pinkie didn’t recognize!

How could that happen? Pinkie knew everypony in town’s number by heart! Had it been sent out of town? Out of country? Out of dimension?! In one last fit of desperation, Pinkie Pie zipped through Ponyville as fast as she could. To hell with the amount of oxygen in her body! She couldn’t let her friend get away without getting help! 

It was sent to a number she didn’t recognize, so that meant she had to look for a face that she didn’t recognize who was looking at their phone right now. But she only had a brief window of time. She had to cover as much ground as possible and pray to the patron deities that she got lucky.

Pinkie’s eyes scanned everypony she saw, hoping to find somepony she didn’t recognize. Autumn Harvest, Cranky Doodle Dandy, Cherry Blossom, Dew Drop, Berry Punch. She knew all of them! She hopped through streat corners, looked in window, got on top of roof tops, but all around her were familiar faces! Everypony, she knew everypony she saw!

Until, there! Yes him! That was somepony whom she had no idea who he was!  Yes! That had to be it! She had to take his phone and cut it off from messaging before Data could send himself again!

It took Pinkie another second to focus on him, but he was there, just as she knew he would be! Sitting off to the side of Ponyville’s main street was a single stallion, humming to himself alone. He was a deep maroon, almost to the point of being vermillion, with a blonde main with a black stripe down the center that looked to be fake compared to the blonde around it. He didn’t look out of place, but Pinkie didn’t know his face! 

As Pinkie dashed towards him, her thoughts were affirmed as the stallion paused, feeling a vibration on his phone by his hand. The stallion slowly cocked his head, taking his phone in both hands casually as he lifted it up to read what it said.

“Hey!” Pinkie shouted, pointing a finger at him, “Sorry but Party Pony business, I need to see your phone!” 

Even with Pinkie’s loud and cutting voice, Ponvyille was a busy town. Over the crowd of ponies in the area, Pinkie’s voice was subsequently lost. However, the stallion’s face still suddenly lit up in an expression of horror. His eyes were trained on the screen, his thumbs shaking as he seemed genuinely concerned about something on the phone. 

Pinkie had little options at the moment. She was out in the middle of town, and using Ta-Dah to teleport, as quick as it would be, could hurt somepony. Plus, Twilight had told Dash -and Dash told Pinkie in turn- that Stands weren’t something everypony had, so seeing Pinkie suddenly teleport would probably freak ponies out! So instead the mare resigned herself to quickly pushing her way through the crowd, gasping out apologies as she shoved her way down the street. 

The stallion, however, wasn’t paying attention. Instead, his lips quivered into a hard frown, before his hands trembled even harder. Quickly standing up, the stallion looked around, twisting his gaze around the streets. 

“HEY!” Pinkie shouted, “Stop right there, red stallion with the phone!” 

As the stallion heard Pinkie’s shout, Pinkie could see him visibly tense. The stallion looked down at the phone in hand before pressing a button on it. The stallion then dropped the phone onto the ground, bringing his weight down on it to break it into pieces. He took a second to grind it into the cobblestones before suddenly turning about, making his way hastily into the throng of the Ponyville main square. Just as he did so, Pinkie saw the tiniest bit of red flash on his arms.

“No! Stop!” Pinkie shouted again, gasping as her eyes failed to track him. The mare pushed her way past a brown stallion - Time Turner if she recalled - before arriving at the bench where she’d seen him sitting. The mare stumbled forward and quickly thrust her head back and forth, trying to see where he’d gone. Yet the shove had disoriented her momentarily, and by that point he was lost to the crowd.

Without giving herself the luxury of feeling bad just yet, Pinkie quickly looked down at the phone on the ground. Said phone was unsalvageable at this point, the little boards destroyed and the keypad was kaput! But the screen had an image frozen on it, the pixels flashing one message to her before their light died out: 

MESSAGE DELETED 

“What?” Getting down to her knees, Pinkie looked about, “No, no no no! I was, I was so close! Where’s Data Stream?! Where’s Straight to Video?!” 

Darting her head up, Pinkie quickly scanned the crowd again, letting the phone fragments drop as she darted towards the center of town. As she cast her appraising gaze around, nopony matched the red coloration of the stallion’s coat, nor could she see where he was going. Just as she did so, a sudden gust of air knocked her back onto her butt.

“Hey! Pinkie!” As Pinkie looked about, a gruff and familiar sounding voice sounded above her. Just as Pinkie looked up, a pair of cyan legs appeared in front of her, followed by a quick ‘thud’ against the ground, “What’s going on, Marigold said you stole her phone, gave it back and just, took off!” 

“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie gasped, standing up, “Dashie I saw him, a guy! He was deep red, like super red, with really bright blonde hair and a black stripe and he was holding a phone with Data Stream on it and he attacked me at the electronics store an-”

“Pinkie!” Dash quickly raised her arms up, “Woah, Woah slow down! Who’d you see, and who’s Data Stream?”

“The pony that runs the electronics store!” Pinkie gasped, “But never mind that, oh cupcakes I let him get away! A stallion was here, and I think he might be connected to Stand Users!”
> Crimson at the Gates, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

To most, this afternoon in Ponyville was just the same as any other. The sun shown pleasantly through the sparsely clouded sky. There was a slight breeze, signally the decline of summer into autumn. Nearly everypony in town was enjoying being outside on this day, not having much care in the world besides where to eat lunch. Ponies happily ate outside of small restaurants, discussing the latest events, hitting up the local shops, all activities that full of fun and peace. 

However, for Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, this was a far different story. As the three slowly closed the massive doors to Twilight’s palace, the look on their faces was anything but happy. The three of them had just concluded another meeting with Twilight, one proving just as fruitless as other one had. Golden Harvest had nothing useful to offer on the subject of who was hypnotizing all of their friends and giving them Stands. She, like Vinyl, Aloe, and the foal, remembered nothing about the stallion. The only thing learned seemed to be Golden had a cut on her hand similar to that of the others. 

At first, Pinkie Pie having seen a stallion that might have been the main culprit behind these attacks seemed promising. Yet even with Pinkie perfectly describing him to Twilight and the others, nothing had been retrieved from their friend’s memories. It was as though he’d somehow erased himself from everything, like he’s only existed for a brief moment in their lives before he was scrubbed clean from them. 

In truth, only one thing of any importance came from the meeting. That was the fact that neither Applejack nor Spike attended it. This peaked Twilight’s concern, and she ordered Rarity and Pinkie Pie to go check on the both of them. With enemy Stand Users having been everyone from the local DJ to a flower cart owner, it was imperative that tabs were kept on all their friends, and frequently. While Rarity had agreed, she’d insisted that Rainbow come along with them as well.

Now the trio found themselves trying to make their way across Ponyville as inconspicuously as possible. Anypony in the whole town could be an enemy at this point. In an attempt to mitigate this, they were forced to take odd routes through town and avoided crowded places where anypony might be waiting in ambush. Rarity in particular was extra cautious, constantly checking for anypony casting glances at them, watching them or showing any signs of interest in them.

“Why’d you have to invite me along? I was gonna get in a nap before Vinyl’s show! She just got the place fixed up after Pinkie wrecked it!” Dash stretched her back out as she groaned in protest, her muscles popping from the exertion. This earned her a stern look from Rarity.

“Wha? I didn’t wreck it!” Pinkie shot Dash an annoyed look, “Vinyl did that herself! She was the one who went all… all Bangarang on in there!” 

“Hush you two!” Rarity’s lips pursed into a frown, “The reason I brought you along, Rainbow Dash, was that I wanted to talk to the two of you about Twilight.” 

“Twilight? What about her?” Dash unfurled her wings through the holes in her shirt and hovered above the two mares. As other pegasi flew by, she watched them carefully for any signs of a potential enemy Stand User.

“Wait, you mean I’m not the only one who noticed how down in the dumps Twilight seemed?” Pinkie perked her head up.

“Exactly!” Rarity snapped her fingers, “Our dear Twilight is putting herself under so much stress with this whole...debacle. But I’m afraid something else is eating her. Something we’re not seeing.”

The group passed their way through a small neighborhood, setting their motion in direction towards Sugarcube Corner. The crowds were a bit thicker towards the marketplace, and in turn they were forced to skirt a massive part of their route. While Pinkie didn’t feel the need to speak up, Rainbow and Rarity were intentionally avoiding going through the center of town.

“Something else? Uhh, I’m pretty sure this whole Stand thing is probably what’s causing all this, Rarity!” Rainbow cocked her head sideways, “She got attacked outside of Ponyville!”

“I’m most certain that’s not it! Twilight isn’t her usual panicking self. When she’s nervous, she’s far more... frazzled . She should be nose deep in her books, finding everything out she can. Instead she just stared at that box Discord gave her! It’s like she’s a filly who just failed a test ...” Rarity pursed her lips together, her brow furrowing. 

“Well maybe she’s treating this whole thing like a test!” Pinkie posed, “She’s trying super duper hard to solve all this and prove that she can do it. But she can’t so she’s hit a burnout... Like a microwave you stuff too many marshmallows in!”

“I don’t know about that, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity looked to the side, “This cult business is getting serious. With this number of attempts so far, Twilight behavior is...worrying...me…”

Rarity trailed off, staying silent as they passed through a small crowd of ponies. It was Lyra and Bon Bon with two other friends, all chatting over Lyra’s next performance. As the three walked by, Rainbow and Rarity passed glances towards them. Slowly, Rarity turned her body to skirt the group with a wide berth, with Pinkie and Rainbow following suit. The group walked by without even acknowledging the three ponies, much to their relief. 

Rainbow directed her eyebrows forward towards a rather large crowd of ponies taking up the road. In response, the three cut down a side alley, directly onto the street parallel to that of Sugarcube Corner. The three skirted around Town Hall and made their way now towards the infirmary. Once through, she groaned out loud. 

“I’m telling you two that there is more to it than simply stress. This started right after she and Rainbow here caught that Verde cultist,” Rarity spoke up once they were out of earshot, “But I don’t know how exactly to figure out the answer.” 

Despite Rarity’s concerns, Rainbow Dash simply landed on the ground and threw an arm around her, “I’m sure she’ll be fine! Once we whoop these cult guy’s butts, she’ll be right back to her nerdy self! You’re worrying too much, Rarity.” Rainbow Dash flashed her trademark grin of confidence. When Rarity offered no response to this, Rainbow stretched out her back again.

“Good talk. I’m sure you two can handle Applejack on your own. So if you’ll excuse me!” Rainbow flapped her wings hard as she took off into the sky. Rarity barely had time to sputter as she looked up, watching Dash recede into the distance in a rainbow streaking blur.

“Wait! RAINBOW DASH!” Pinkie Pie reached futilely into the sky as she shouted after the skyrocketing Pegasus.

Once Rarity had coughed away the dust her friend racked up, she shook her head, “Oh, ack, leave her be, Pinkie Pie... I wasn’t exactly expecting her to be sticking around with us anyway. It looks like we’ll be heading onto Applejack’s on our own now.” While she was telling the truth in the fact that this was something she expected, Rarity’s eyebrow twitched as she watched Rainbow dart off into the clouds. 

“You sure? ‘Cause I can get to her house pretty fast with my Stand here! I could be there before even she does!” To emphasis her point, Pinkie materialized Ta-Dah mid-sentence. 

“No, I said it’s quite alright. We’ll make do without her. Why don’t you give me a refresher on this stallion you saw the other day?” Even though she was nearly certain that there wasn’t anything wrong with Applejack, Rarity didn’t want to go to the orchard alone. She was also nearly certain that if Pinkie Pie went after Rainbow Dash, then she wouldn’t be coming back. They were nearing their destination, so one distraction should be enough to keep her here.

“Ohoohohoh!” Pinkie raised a finger up, “Well his coat was really red! Like, super red, dark red! Crimson, that’s the color, I know it from the weird frosting names they had up in Manehatten when we went for that fashion contest of yours and I snuck out!” Pinkie beamed, only for her smile to turn into a shocked frown, “Uhh, anyways! He has short black hair with this really big blonde stripe right through the middle. Kinda looked like dye? When I saw him, he was wearing a suit, I think it was probably a cheap one ‘cause it was a bit faded in color. His right sleeve was rolled up, even the undershirt. The biggest most important thing though was his eyes! He had these really piercing yellow eyes! Like, really yellow! Not like the sun yellow but more like really bright but really dark yellow!”

Having spent years in the fashion business, Rarity could easily construct a profile of the stallion in her head. Twilight had done so earlier, but the quick refresher would keep it fresh in her mind. Despite this, a dark red coat was rather common in stallions, and sans the apparently very yellow eyes, nothing about him stood out. No deformities, no strange markings, no odd style choices. Nothing, at least according to Pinkie Pie.

“Well then, he certainly sounds like an very plain fellow, aside from those eyes of his. I dare say it would be hard to pick him out of the crowd unless you had a photograph of him, or a photographic memory.” No part of Rarity expected this description she asked Pinkie for to be extremely helpful. It did, however, succeed in keeping her by Rarity’s side until they over the hill and upon Sweet Apple Acres. 

For the rest of the walk, Pinkie Pie and Rarity walked in silence. The two walked beneath the inviting white gate and up the well trodden path up to the home. Nothing seemed unusual just yet, Rarity noted. Not that she thought anything would be. Applejack had probably just gotten too wrapped up in something to come to the meeting. With Spike assigned to watch over her, she’d probably just worked him hard in the fields until he’d need a long nap, missing the time in which he was supposed to bring her. 

While she mused at her thoughs, the pair had reached the front door to the home. Nothing seemed out of place in the slightest. Rarity reached out and knocked on the door, though Pinkie beat her to the greeting.  

“Applejack?” Pinkie called out loudly as she knocked on the door immediately after Rarity did, “Are you home?! You missed the meeting and Twilight’s reallyyyyy worried about you!” 

For a rather long pause, there were no noises from the door. Rarity’s brow raised as she waited, not hearing anything from inside the home. Was Applejack not inside? The two waited for almost a full minute, with no noises from the door. She was about to turn to tell Pinkie they’d try the barn next. Then, the door finally opened. 

The mare who opened it was no Applejack. It was not Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, or even Spike. It was a mare who wasn’t normally inside the farmhouse, and certainly not one who Rarity or Pinkie Pie were expecting to see.

“Clear Skies?” Even after a solid second of thinking, Rarity couldn’t place a name on the mare.  Thankfully, Pinkie Pie was there with her encyclopedic knowledge of everypony in Ponyville came to the rescue. 

With a name to the face, Rarity was able to recall a bit about her. She was one of Rainbow Dash’s former coworkers on the Ponyville Weather Team. She’d been Rainbow’s wingponies on the team if she recalled correctly, responsible for doing cleanup for Rainbow. That being all Rarity knew about her, it was enough to know that she didn’t belong here.

“Miss Rarity,” Clear smiled and slightly bowed her head, “What brings you to this residence?”

“Well… ahem,” Rarity tapped her collarbone. “I was here to see Applejack. Do you know where she is, Miss Skies?” 

“Miss Applejack?” Skies paused for a moment before turning to looking into the house. She stared off into the home for a few seconds before turning back and nodding. “Yes, follow me!”

With that, the mare turned, making her way back inside. Pinkie followed her inside, seemingly not questioning the oddity of this situation at all. Rarity, however, was already beginning to wonder just what exactly was happening right now.

“Hey, Rarity!” Pinkie leaned her head in agaisnt Rarity’s shoulder with a hiss, “What’s Clear Skies doing in Applejack’s house?” 

“Hush now, Pinkie,” Rarity frowned, “I think something’s up. Stay quiet and let me do the talking.” 

Pinkie nodded her head, dramatically dragging a finger across her lips. With that taken care of, Rarity felt her lip curling up. Why would Clear Skies, a member of the weather team, be at Applejack’s house? For any and all weather related favors, Applejack made it a point of only dealing with Rainbow Dash simply for the reason that she was too stubborn to trust anypony else. And even if for some uncharacteristic reason Applejack was asking a new Pegasus to deal with her orchard, why was she the one to answer the door, and not a member of the family proper? 

Family proper… in fact, as Rarity followed Pinkie and Clear Skies down the hall, she couldn’t help but notice that there were no traces of any of the Apple family at all. Normally she’d be able to hear at least one of them, usually Granny Smith’s incessant snoring or chattering. But no, as the two passed the main living room, Rarity couldn’t see nor hear a rocking chair. 

Pieces were falling together in Rarity’s head by the time the trio finished their walk into the kitchen. Rarity was beginning to suspect that Clear Skies was under the influence of whatever had hypnotized the rest of her friends. But she had no solid proof of that yet. She’d need to wait and see what happens before she made her move, or the repercussions of assaulting somepony would face Rarity. 

“Miss Applejack is currently in a closed meeting,” Clear Skies pulled up a chair and sat down at the table, “If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll see if I can interrupt them.”

“A meeting?” That was wrong. Applejack had told everypony prior that she didn’t have any plans today. In addition to keeping a watchful eye on her, Spike was assigned to accompany Applejack specifically so she doesn’t get caught up in her work and fail to check in.

“Yes, I’ll go see if she’s available.” Promptly, Clear Skies turned on her heel, clicking her way out of the room. As she left, Rarity turned to voice her concerns to Pinkie Pie. But Pinkie voiced concerns of her own before Rarity had the chance.

“I drank way too much soda before I came here. Bathroom!” Rarity couldn’t even get in a word before Pinkie Pie zipped off upstairs to the bathroom so she could relieve herself.

Now Rarity was left alone. The sudden departure wasn’t uncharacteristic of her friend, but most unwelcome. She had been in the house for a full three minutes, and she had not see hide nor hair of Applejack or Spike. Additionally, there was nopony who she had expected to see in the house anywhere to be found. Even if Big Mac was out in the fields, Granny Smith should have been in the living room. Sweetie Belle hadn’t mentioned any plans with her friends either; Apple Bloom would usually come down to greet any house guests.

There was no room for doubt or debate in Rarity’s mind now. Even if she was wrong, she knew that it was better to be safe than sorry. There was almost certainly an enemy here in the form of Clear Skies. Applejack was almost certainly in danger. And for that matter, Rarity was too. Pinkie Pie had abandoned her to empty her bladder, so she was on her own. Rarity knew that she had to take the initiative. She’d use Diamond Dogs to restrain Clear Skies before she could even draw out her Stand. This fight would be over before it even started. 

Rarity took a seat at the kitchen table, pulling the chair to face the entrance to the kitchen. Light from the exterior window above the sink cast a large yellow triangle on the floor, showing the dust in the air. Clear would walk through in through the entrance, trapping herself in the frame. A few quick threads from her dogs and she’d be completely immobilized. Rarity put a business-like smile on her face as she waited for Clear to arrive. 

“Greetings, Miss Rarity,” Instead of the feminine tone she was expecting, a friendly stallion’s voice came instead, “So sorry about my assistant answering the door, that was my fault. She insisted she do so for me.” 

The stallion that stepped through the frame was a deep red with a completely black mane. He wore a nice but casual navy blue sports jacket and slacks, along with a bright red tie tucked overtop a white undershirt. His hair was slicked back to his head, likely with some sort of cheap gel if the streaks in it told Rarity anything. Yet as he looked down towards Rarity, the sunlight reflected off his eyes.

His piercing, yellow eyes.

“Greetings!” The confusion caused Rarity to stand up, straightening out her dress. She made her way forward to shake the stallion’s hand, “It’s no problem, Mister..?” 

“Spirit,” Crimson chuckled, “Crimson Spirit. I’m a regional distributor and handler of Equestrian Wine and Spirits. A rather fitting name for such a profession, wouldn't you say?” 

Rarity slowly curled her lips up into an amused grin, “Oh most certainly. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance… though I must admit, I’m a tad bit surprised that we have not done so before now.” 

With a mirrored grin, Crimson made his way forward. Clear Skies scurried in behind him, holding a rather large clipboard and binder. As he approached, Rarity kept her posture straight and proper, concealing the fact that she was dropping Lennon onto the floor behind her. The mutt scampered off out of sight, already knowing it needed to go warn Pinkie Pie.

“Is that so? Any particular reason?” Crimson had a firm but gentle handshake. He cocked his head slightly sideways, maintaining his kind smile.

“Why, because you’re working with Applejack of course! I’m surprised I haven’t even seen you in passing before now!” The tone Rarity used was that of someone who was talking to a potential friend. Internally, she was forcing herself not to show fear and anxiety at all. One hint of that, and it would be potentially deadly for both her and Applejack. Rarity just needed to keep up this act and stall for time until Pinkie Pie got help.

“Well, Applejack and I have only met each other recently.” Crimson replied with a chuckle. “I would be far more surprised if you had seen me, to be honest.” Crimson walked around Rarity, making his way to the table. He turned Rarity’s chair to face the table and pulled it out for her. 

Rarity took her seat, scooting up towards the table. Crimson took his seat likewise across from her, folding his hands up onto the table. He smiled warmly. To anypony else, he’d seem inviting, calm and collected. He spoke calmly and warmly to Rarity, like that of a dear friend explaining their actions.

“I really do apologize about having to send Clear Skies to open the door. She’s my assistant, and the meeting a tad… closed doors, if you know what I mean,” He gave a small frown, “It’s rather rude to answer if the place is not your own.” 

“Certainly,” Rarity nodded, “Though assistants can be prone to that.” 

“Very true, but Clear here is a wonderful assistant. I wouldn't be able to do half of what I do with out,” He leaned back in his chair and gave a side glance to her, “It was an honest mistake.”

“Oh darling, I perfectly understand! Sweetie Belle has answered the door for me on many, many embarrassing occasions!” Rarity blushed to sell her joke, “But I must say, it is a tad odd none of Applejack’s family is here. I don’t recall there being any events in town today.” In addition to stalling for time, Rarity needed to make sure that Applejack’s family, and by extension, Applejack herself, were unharmed.

“I’m not sure, they might be busy with their work. I did see Big Macintosh on the way in, perhaps they are all in the orchard at the moment?” Crimson leaned back. Either he had they explanations rehearsed out in advance, or he made them up on the spot. He told his fibs with such confidence and sincerity though that there was no doubt in Rarity’s mind that he was a skillful liar. She wished that she had that same skill right now. She also desperately wished that Pinkie Pie would hasten herself.

“Perhaps it is. Though at the moment, I must admit that I am much less curious about their presence here, and much more about your own. You told me that you were in a meeting with Applejack, what exactly for?” Rarity had to keep this conversation going in a natural, casual way. She couldn’t let Crimson get suspicious. At the same time, however, she knew that she was constantly at risk of falling under the spell that her friends were put under.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Rarity, but surely you must understand, being a mare of business yourself, that this meeting is a very private affair.” Crimson squeezed his hands together, leaned forward towards Rarity, and raised and eyebrow. There was an almost accusing aura to his glare, that made Rarity feel like he was figuring things out much like herself.

“But darling, I must hear what you and Applejack are planning! In addition to being an investor in Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack has also entrusted the financial affairs of her family orchard to me. Mind you, this took a lot of convincing. Since you are engaging in business with her, I am sure you are aware that Applejack can be quite stubborn when it comes to this place.” Rarity forced herself to give the most convincing laugh she could make. She had to physically grip onto the chair to keep from leaning back. Underneath her fake a smile her teeth were pressing together so hard that they threatened to break each other. Where was Pinkie Pie?

“Yes quite.” Crismon shared in Rarity’s fau laugh with one of his own. “I’m a bit surprised Applejack hadn’t mentioned this before… it must have been a mistake on her part. I suppose in that case I could give you a look at what we are discussing. Clear!”

“Yes Mr. Spirit, I have all the paperwork here.” Clear Skies, who until that point had been standing completely still and silently, laid some paperwork out on the table in front of Rarity. After a quick scan of the page, Rarity was instantly able to recognize the format as a proper business proposal. 

“A new line of spirits? I thought the Apples didn’t want to sell their cider outside of Ponyville.” Rarity raised an eyebrow. She didn’t want to ask suspicious questions like this, but she was also running out of ways to keep this conversation going.

“Oh they don’t,” Crimson confirmed with a grin. “But Applejack herself approached me about developing a brand of pure spirits for her farm. And, well, being the regional distributor for EWS, I was more than happy to begin discussion. I’m afraid she seemed to have wanted to keep this a secret until after the new unveiling. I suppose we need to rethink our business strategy, now that the cat is out of the bag.” 

“Oh nonsense! I’m no blabbermouth when it comes t-” Rarity was cut off from her sentence by getting exactly what she was wishing for, in probably the worst possible way.

“Rarity?! Applejack?!” Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed loudly from outside the farm house, clear as day to everypony inside, “What’s going on?!” Crimson and Clear definitely recognized it, as the widening of their eyes contained all the surprise of someone who’s lie had just been found out. 

Rarity stood up, her lips shut as she extended her arms. Cartney, Harrison, and Starr leapt over her shoulders from behind her back, needles in paw. The three pointed their needles towards Crimson’s arms, ready to sew them to the table. Yet with near perfectly timed reaction, Crimson gripped the table and flipped it in their direction. 

The wooden table forced Rarity to leap backwards, specifically towards the sink. Both the Diamond Dogs that she had summoned were already heading directly towards the table, making a collision with it unavoidable. Thankfully, they were resilient little mutts, and they recovered from being crushed under it with no visible damage at all.  

The sunlight from the exterior window shone on Rarity’s back as she raised her arm up, about to give orders to her Diamond Dogs. Yet from the corner of her eye, Rarity turned to see Clear Skies was now in the entrance to the kitchen, directly in front of her with an… umbrella? That was the only detail about it Rarity had time take in.

Crimson turned towards Clear, giving her a nod. The mare nodded back, pointing her umbrella directly towards Rarity. She opened it up fully and it began to rotate of its own violation. After two seconds off spinning, the umbrella was spinning at full speed and a gale of sheer force wind blew from its canopy. Rarity had the misfortune of being caught outside in severe wind storms before, yet these winds were nothing like that. Within seconds feeling the wind against her body, Rarity found herself tumbling through the air, her back slamming into the glass behind her. A large chunk of the wooden walls of Applejack’s house followed along with glass shards as Rarity suddenly found herself outside the house. 

Before she had time to tell Diamond Dogs to do something, Rarity’s back made collision with the ground. The force caused her to let out a shriek of agony, feeling both shards of glass in her back and the blunt force of hitting the ground. The wind blast had given her enough forward momentum to continued falling, painfully rolling down the hill Applejack’s house sat upon. She came to a hard stop at the bottom.

Nearly at the same time, but just seconds too late to stop Rarity from being literally blown away, Rainbow Dash slammed into the broken wall on 2 Minutes to Midnight. Lennon was gripped in her Stand’s fist, looking ready to throw up the nonexistent contents of his nonexistent stomach. 2M2M raised its fists up in front of it, ready to lash out at the nearest enemy.

“Miss Rarity!” Lennon shouted, reaching for the direction in which Rarity was sent in. Dash tightened her Stand’s grip on him, causing him to just helplessly squirm.

“The other three are with her, she’ll be fine,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her brow and scowled at the two unfamiliar ponies. Unlike Rarity or Pinkie Pie, Dash would not be even giving these two a chance to defend themselves. “Which one is it?”

“That one!” Lennon pointed his claw directly at Crimson. Then he did so again twice more for added emphasis. “The one with the menacing yellow eyes!”

“So you’re the one who’s been taking control of all my friends like some sort of coward!” Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her Stand’s handlebars. “Well no more of that! Now you’re going to fight me like a real stallion!”

“A coward is one who runs away from conflict,” Crimson snarled, “I, on the other hand, say Clear! Take care of Miss Rainbow Dash!”

“Of course, Mr. Crimson,” Clear Skies pointed her umbrella at Rainbow Dash and company, the top starting to spin again. In a matter of seconds, its gale force of wind were generated. Yet as the blast shot out towards her, 2 Minutes To Midnight made a small vacuum in the palm of its free hand, sucking the wind inside of them. It aimed its palm behind it and released the wind, sending cutlery and china cascading from cabinets to the floor. 

“I said you’re going to fight ME!” Unable to still herself for any longer, Rainbow Dash kicked back on and flew 2 Minutes to Midnight in a charge towards Crimson Spirit. The first containing Lennon was raised, ready to punch as the cloth dog inside of it screamed in terror. 

Clear Skies, however, would see to it that Rainbow Dash would not lay a finger on her master. She pointed her umbrella to the ground and once again spun it. A powerful updraft was created, sending both the holder of the umbrella and 2 Minutes to Midnight hurtling into the ceiling. As the floor to Apple Bloom’s bedroom was shattered, another blast sent her through the wall and out into the open skies far above the house and away from Crimson Spirit.

“Should I pursue her, Master?” Clear turned with an almost robotic gaze towards Crimson. 

“What do you think?” Crimson groaned, “Keep her busy until I’m out of this place, then meet me at the edge of Everfree!”

Nodding, Clear threw off her blazer, letting her wings unfold behind her. With a few powerful flaps, she took off into the hole in the ceiling, following after the receding Dash. 

While she flew away, Crimson observed the massive amounts of wreckage around him. Clear Skies would be currently keeping Rainbow dash from beating him to a pulp. The fact that she wanted to do that was a huge problem for him. Rarity was at the bottom of the hill, injured most likely. It would be unlikely that she would pose a threat at the second. 

But where was Pinkie Pie? Clear Skies said that she had arrived with Rarity. Crimson could only guess that she was the one who went and got Rainbow Dash. But Dash was already here, where was Pinkie Pie? 

“Rarity?! Applejack?” Two new sets of footsteps rushed in from the front door. The weight and frequency of them sounded like they were in a hurry. Crimson could easily guess Pinkie had gone and gotten her Alicorn friend to help out, a fact which caused him to quickly dart his way into the meeting room. 

“It’s him!” Pinkie Pie shouted with a gasp, “That’s him Twilight!” 

Much like Rainbow Dash, both Pinkie and Twilight wasted no time in manifesting their Stands. Almost as soon as Night Wish appeared, Twilight conducted its ink in a circle around Crimson, hardening into bindings around him. With a gasp, the stallion was yanked in front of the two of them, immobilized. At the same time Pinkie stood with Ta-Dah at the ready, in case he tried anything funny.

“How do you like those cupcakes Mr. Cult Member?!” Pinkie growled. Her eyes glared at him with a harshness most of her friends had seldom seen, “You’ll pay for what you did to Data!” 

“My name is Crimson Spirit,” Crimson calmly correct her, not struggling at all in his bindings, “And really, I’ll pay for what I did? It was you who were too late to save him.” 

Pinkie’s eyes widened, her arms shaking as her fear was confirmed. Twilight scowled and reached out, putting a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder as she cleared her throat.

“Crimson Spirit,” Twilight shouted authoritatively. She had not yet mastered the art of the Royal Equestrian Voice, despite mentorage by both Luna and Cadence, “For your irreprensible crimes, including removal of free will via magical means, participation in a terrorist group, countless counts of attempted murder, and at least one count of murder, by the authority of the Equestrian Royalty, I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, place you under arrest!”

“Is that so?” Crimson raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps I can offer a counter solution to our conflict here?” He motioned his head down to his wrist, “In particular, evening out the numbers here.” 

On his wrist, a bracelet with several charms on it had formed. Most of them had been broken, having turned silver from their regularly red state. Only two remained still glowing red. One had an image of two feathers joined at the tip. The other was glowing, with an image of three apples on it.

At first, there was a deathly silence. Twilight looked about, trying to see what he was talking about. Then the entire house started to shake. In an instant, the ceiling above broke, sending dust and splinters into the air. Through the massive billowing cloud came a multitude of thick vines raining down from the ceiling and hurtling towards Twilight and Pinkie Pie. Both of whom were forced to leap back to evade the attack.

From the freshly made hole in the ceiling the vines’ source descended: “Applejack!” Pinkie Pie called out, “There you are! We were super duper worried about...you…” Pinkie trailed off as she looked at her friend a bit more closely. The vines that had attacked them began at the top of Applejack’s shoulders and seeming obscured the entirety of her arms. She used them to gently lower herself down, shrinking the vines as she descended. When she touched the ground, it became clear the vines weren’t obscuring her arms; they were her arms. They formed and melded together in order to reform her arms and made it seem like they were normal. 

“You call, Mr. Crimson?” Applejack asked in an obedient tone of voice, one slightly uncharacteristic for her. Her normally green irises had turned a glowing red.

“Yes,” Crimson calmly said. As he talked, Applejack turned one of her arms back into vines and wriggled them between the chains Night Wish had made, pulling them apart and shattering them back into ink easily. With his hands now freed, Crimson Spirit casually pointed at Twilight and Pinkie. “These ponies here are threatening my life. Kill them for me.”

“Certainly...” Just when Twilight and Pinkie fully took in what was going on, Applejack turned her arms back into vines, growing them at a rapid rate and launching them towards the two stunned mares through the shattered remains of her home.

~~~

The sudden updraft had caused Rainbow Dash to massively lose her orientation and start somersaulting in all directions as she was forced to ascend into the skies high above the house. She managed to right herself high in the sky above the main orchard, thankful for the fact that it was impossible for her to fall off her Stand. 

Since Lennon did not have that luxury, he was forced to sew himself to Rainbow Dash’s clothes at the last minute to keep from being hurtled to Celestia knows where. The time between when he realized he needed to do so and when he actually did was shown by the foot of string he was dangling from. One end was attached to the back of Rainbow Dash’s shirt, while the other was attached to his own paw. Lennon howled loudly as this setup made him fling around like some sort of child’s toy in the high winds this high up.

“What just happened?!” Rainbow felt the string tugging on her clothes and took hold of it. With one swift yank she pulled Lennon back up to her. Immediately the Diamond Dog used his ripper to undo the bond between Rainbow’s shirt and his paw, and then used his needle to sew his back two paws to her shoulder.

“We got blown upwards by the Pegasus’s Stand!” Lennon shouted, feeling slightly better now that he was secured onto something. For now.

“Right… dammit! That bastard has gotten more of my friends than I thought...” Rainbow scowled. With her flight stabilized, her perception filter was back in effect. She could Crimson clearly through the whole Clear Skies had made in the roof, along with Pinkie Pie and Twilight. She narrowed her gaze and prepared to rocket 2M2M at him as fast as it could to help out her friends. Before she could even move, however, a cyclone of winds caught her and spun her like a top.

This time, Rainbow Dash used 2 Minutes to Midnight’s jets as soon as possible to correct her orientation. The direction she ended up facing was in the direction of the twister’s source: Clear Skies and her Umbrella Stand. The mare held her umbrella out to the side like a sword, the top still spinning from her previous attack.

Clear skies was hovering in the air wordlessly, umbrella constantly rotating in her hands. From where she hovered, she was directly between Rainbow Dash and Crimson Spirit. Which really made Rainbow Dash angry because all she wanted to do right now was to get her and 2 Minutes to Midnight’s fists as close to Crimson’s face as she possibly could. 

“What the heck did he do to you Clear?” Rainbow Dash shouted to her friend and coworker. “I know you! You are the one of the absolute last mares who would work for a creep like him!”

“Mister Crimson is my friend,” Clear stated with conviction. “He understands me like no pony else does. He’s given me what nopony else could! Not just my Midsummer’s Station. He’s given me a purpose in my life when I had none before!”

“That so isn’t how you talk, and aren’t you a weather pony? We flew on the same team!” Rainbow could feel her grip tightening even harder on the handles. “This isn’t you!” For the first time, Rainbow was seeing just what Crimson could do to a pony. This was the first time that she had seen a pony whom she was personally close to under his effects. She didn’t think it possible, but Rainbow’s hatred for him grew even more now.

“If you keep trying to get to Mister Crimson!” Clear shouted, “I will have to kill you!” 

“Well then,” Dash snarled, “I’m just gonna have to go through you!”

The metaphorical fires of Rainbow Dash’s rage were mimicked by the real ones of 2 Minute to Midnight’s jets igniting and moving like a bullet directly towards Clear Skies. If she wouldn’t let Rainbow get to Crimson, then Rainbow would have to deal with her first. She knew she could incapacitate Clear Skies with one decisive punch, and 2M2M drew its fist back accordingly.

Clear Skies seemed to be anticipating this, as she blew more air downwards to propel herself above Rainbow Dash’s charge. The sheer speed of her Stand’s winds was apparently enough to match that of 2M2M’s jets! 

With the enhanced reaction time that Two Minutes to Midnight gave her, Rainbow Dash was able to counter this evasion. Right as she passed underneath of Clear Skies, Rainbow Dash’s Stand rotated its body to face her. It clapped its hands and a new vacuum was created, with the Stand being its center point. 

Clear Skies was pulled towards the center, her face on a direct collision course with 2 Minutes to Midngiht’s fist. At the very last second she managed to avoid getting punched by her enemy by by putting Midsummer Station between her the approaching fist. Instead of wind coming out of it this time, a large amount of snow formed from the canopy. The fist had prepared to slam through a vertical column of force, rather than a massive dampening effect. Said effect was enough to cushion 2 Minutes to Midnight’s rocket powered punch and send Clear Skies recoiling out of range.

While still moving, Clear Skies spun Midsummer Station up for another attack. She straightened her body like an arrow with the umbrella as its head in Rainbow Dash’s direction. The air around the canopy cooled incredibly the water in the air cooled into large chunks of golf ball sized ice.

Rainbow had just enough time to cross 2 Minute to Midnight’s arms and in front of its face to shield it from the projectile hail. Each buffer had half the speed of a bullet, and smashed roughly against the Stand’s arms. Rainbow in turn felt each buffer of hail on her own body. Her arms felt like they were bruising, and every blow to the chest knocked more wind out of her. 

“Weather!” Lennon cried. “Her Stand makes weather effects from that umbrella that she can control!”

“Yeah Leord, I can see that!” Dash winced and tried to keep the pain from getting to her. Normally she would have been able to see that pelting coming and dodge it within two seconds. But she felt her perception drop significantly as soon as she made the vacuum to draw Clear Skies in. Thus, she hadn’t been able to detect the sudden shift from wind to snow, then from snow to ice fast enough. 

This example fed into a theory Dash had about her own powers. When flying on her Stand, it often felt as though she wasn’t perceiving things the way she normally did. Her perception, however, was tied her vacuums abilities. This, in turn, prompted her to draw the conclusion that, while on 2M2M, she was always in a vacuum, where she perceived on a separate level from the rest of the world around her. Apparently two vacuums couldn’t exist in the same place, and so she had to drop that first one in order to make the new one. 

“You are to leave Mr. Spirit alone,” Clear Skies declared, umbrella spinning perpetually. “This is your last chance!” 

“No way I’m doing that!” The pain in Rainbow was burning away now that she was focused through her frustration. “He needs to be captured and to pay for everything he’s done to me and my friends. Including you, Clear!” 

“Then I am afraid you must perish.” With a wide swing, Midsummer Station sprayed droplets of water at the rate of a fire hose at Rainbow Dash. 

With her perception vacuum restored, Rainbow Dash processed the water coming towards her at much faster than the rate at which time flowed outside the vacuum. She took of and zipped right above the spray. When Clear reacted and moved her umbrella in the direction she went, Rainbow Dash had already noticed the second she started to move her arms and changed her course accordingly. She circled around Clear with the water chasing her the whole way. But it never even touched Rainbow by the time her Stand finished its course with a fist to Clear Skies’ back. A punch that was calculated to not cause any serious harm such as broken bones, but still be painful enough to make any normal pony want to force themselves to stop fighting. 

Despite wincing from the blow, Clear Skies quickly recovered and turned around. She gripped Midsummer Station tightly began to fly upwards. As she did so, the air around Rainbow Dash grew noticeably cooler. It dawned on Dash that Midsummer Station didn’t just spray water, it created new moisture in the air. Moisture that was now cooling into a thick, opaque fog.

Dash growled as she turned her head within the fog. That blow should have knocked Clear out of the fight! It looked like Crimson’s Stand had made Clear far from a normal normal pony, or at least willing to push past her normal limits. This wasn’t good: Clear could keep fighting even after she should have been beaten down! 

“It’s so thick I can barely see in front of my face,” Lennon gripped the fabric of Dash’s shirt tighter, tensing up and shaking ever so slightly. 

“Be quiet, Leo! I’m trying to listen,” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and and began to pick up on the sounds around her. Clear Skies had robbed her of her vision as a means of perceiving her. Being able to react to attacks must faster than a normal pony proved largely less useful when Dash couldn’t see where the attacks were coming from in the first place.

Instead, Rainbow Dash was trying to listen for the sounds of Clear flapping her wings in the air. But she couldn’t. While her vacuum only allowed her to react to things she perceived much quicker than the outside world progressed, she couldn’t perceive those things any better. So her listening turned out to be useless.

This also had the added side effect of Rainbow Dash floating completely still in the center of the fog. It wasn’t until she felt the cascading water on 2 Minutes to Midnight that she realized that she had left herself a sitting duck. Even though she reacted the instant she felt it touch her, it was already too late. 

Dash felt the air grow even colder. The fog condensed even further into sharpy, tiny fragments of that buffered and scraped against Rainbow Dash’s skin as they fell from the air towards the ground. The large amount of moisture that had built up around 2 Minutes to Midnight’s arm flash froze, encasing it in a thin layer of ice. 

Her teeth chattering from the cold, Rainbow Dash attempted to have 2 Minutes to Midnight bend its arm and break the ice. But the sudden decrease in temperature had gotten to Dash’s arm, making it nearly impossible to move. Already she was feeling the painful frostbite. The only upside to her situation right now was that the fog had turned into hail and Dash could see Clear Skies again, coming right towards her. 

While she could  process the projectile hail coming for her, Rainbow Dash couldn’t do anything about it. She tried to will 2 Minutes to Midnight to fly away, but her frozen arm burned too much. The cold had likely chilled her Stand’s engines. Everything she tried to do only resulted in her wincing in pain. This wasn’t helped when each hail ball collided with her like a baseball, feeling like individual punches bruising her body. She bit down so hard from the paint that she swore she felt a tooth crack.

Due to the high amounts of pain she was feeling, Rainbow didn’t notice that Lennon had detached himself from her shoulder and ran down to 2 Minutes to Midnight’s arm. Frantically he pulled the ripper from his back and jammed it between the ice layer and Rainbow Dash’s arm. Tempting fate and risking falling off, Lennon circled the ripper around its arm until it made a full circle. Then he plunged the ripper back into his back and started to push with all his rag might.

Freshly separated, the ice layer slid off like it was two sizes too big for 2 Minutes to Midnight’s arm. Dash noticed the change in temperature on her own arm immediately. There was no longer a painful freezing sensation that made even the slightest movement painful. With her newly returned mobility, Rainbow Dash turned the space above her into a vacuum, drawing all the hail towards its center and shattering into smaller ice sharts. With her body temperature up, her Stand’s engines responded too. By the time they had broken, Dash was in motion again. 

Rainbow made a wide loop around to Clear Skies’ side and attempted to charge in from there, but was met with a current of wind forcing her back in the opposite direction. The winds got increasingly stronger, forcing Rainbow Dash further away from her target despite the top speeds 2 Minutes to Midnight was putting out.

“Gaaaahhhhh!!!” Rainbow growled as her stand pushed as hard as she could against the winds. Even though Rainbow had the power of a jet in her stand, Clear could make winds as strong as a hurricane from hers. She had every intention of blowing Rainbow as far away from here as possible in order to protect the creep who was brainwashing her. 

These winds were the problem. They were preventing Rainbow from reaching her goal. As she struggled, she started to wish desperately that she could just ignore them. But she knew all too well about how air current worked. You had to go with it. Going against it would be a losing battle. But it was her only option. If only she didn’t have deal with it at all!

As if she was separate from the air current…

2 Minutes to Midnight always existed in its own vacuum. That vacuum could only be one type of vacuum. Currently she perceived things at separate speeds from the outside world. Earlier she had repurposed it to draw the outside world in. What if she repurposed it again, but this time, to ignore the air current of the outside?

Not entirely sure how to do this, Rainbow closed her eyes and thought real hard about it. She tried to remember what little she had gotten from Twilight and Rarity about how magic works before she fell asleep on them. Magic worked by altering the environment’s natural processes. Clear was making a natural process. She had to make her Stand alter the natural process. She focused hard. Harder. Harder. Then, Dash noticed a change.

A change in the form that she felt the winds blowing against her face. Before she hadn’t perceived the winds because they came from the outside. Anything that would mess up her sight or hearing was rejected. But now that wasn’t her vacuum’s purpose. Now, the vacuum around her rejected the outside air current, as well as any force that would impede 2 Minutes to Midnight’s movement. It moved as if it were unimpeded at all. 

Clear Skies barely had time to register the fact that 2 Minutes to Midnight was now cutting right through Midsummer Station’s winds. In a matter of seconds Rainbow Dash and her stand were right in front of Clear Skies and immediately gave a punch right to her gut. The blow was of similar strength to the previous one she’d delivered to her back. Only this time the blow was intended to knock all of the breath out of her and force Clear Skies to fall to the ground, where Rainbow Dash would catch her. 

For a brief moment, it seemed to work. Clear Skies’ mouth hung open like she was gasping for air, and her wings stopped flapping. She began to descend from the sky, her grip on the umbrella loosening. But as she fell, with what looked to be a painful shriek, she forced herself to start breathing and begin flying once more through the burning in her lungs. Crimson’s Stand would force her to go inhumane lengths for him. She really would have to do more than she wanted to in order to incapacite Skies.

“Damnit,” Dash banged the back of her Stand in frustration. “No matter what I do I just can’t get her to quit. If she didn’t have that umbrella, I might be able to do something.” Dash looked over to Lennon, who had reattached himself to her shoulder. “You got rid of the ice on my Stand’s arm a few minutes ago, how did you do that?”

“It’s part of me and my brother’s abilities,” Lennon explained, putting a paw on the handle of the seam ripping in his back. “We can separate any two things that aren’t the same thing. Remove ice from somepony’s arm, yes. Cut their skin, no.” 

“Even if they aren’t really, attached?” Rainbow pointed towards Clear Skies, who was struggling to catch her breath and fly back up at the same time. “Like, the umbrella from her hands?”

“Yes!” Lennon nodded frantically. “If I could get my tool in there it would just slide right out of her hands until she grabbed it again.”

Already Dash was forming a plan. Clear heaved in breath into her body, her face red from the effort it took. Her lips had formed into an angered snarl between gasps, and her eyes were narrowed. Her fingers around her umbrella had turned bright red from just how tightly she was holding it now, ready to strike again.

“Alright,” Dash grinned with determination. “Then I want you to do just that. I’ll throw you towards her, and you get the umbrella out of her hands. Got it, Leon?” 

“A-Alright,” Lennon gulped, already taking the needle out of his back and sewing one end to two Minutes to Midnight’s finger. “If it’ll get us down to Miss Rarity faster, then I’ll do it!” He paused and bit his lip, “And… it’s, Lennon.”

“That’s what I like to hear little guy!” She had her Stand tighten its grip on the Diamond Dog. By now, Clear Skies was up to the same height as the two of them.

“This. Ends. Now!” Clear Skies took a deep breath between every word. Her wings were flapping slower than they had been at the start of the fight. Still she clutched Midsummer Station as hard as she could. Her wings were struggling to flap due to her lack of air, but her eyes were bloodshot with determination. Her unbreakable will would not yield. “I will not allow you to continue this an-”

“THINK FAST!” Rainbow didn’t let Clear finish her sentence before she wound up 2M2M’s arm and threw Lennon like it was pitching a baseball. The dog’s howl pierced the air loudly as he went on a direct path for Clear Skies. 

“Stupid!” High pressure rain shot from Midsummer Station’s canopy. Clear had the intention of freezing Lennon in place, and so Rainbow yanked him back by the string he attached like a yo-yo. The dog jerked backwards and let out a bark as he snapped backwards.

As soon as he returned to her Stand’s hand, Rainbow Dash pitched Lennon at Clear Skies once more. This time, as soon as the mutt started its course, Rainbow flew underneath of Clear Skies and charged upwards towards her. Clear was forced to aim Midsummer Station down at Rainbow and 2M2M, While she blasted a gust of wind at her, knocking Rainbow back, Lennon was able to find his mark and clung onto Clear Skies.

“What the?!” Clear Skies started to grab for Lennon, but the Diamond Dog had already began scampering down her arm and towards the hand gripping Midsummer Station. “Get off of me you disgusting rodent!” 

Lennon ignored Clear and pulled his ripper out and jammed it right between Clear’s hand the umbrella handle. In a matter of seconds her made a full circle, just barely evading Clear’s other hand trying to grab at him. As soon as Dash saw the umbrella slip out of Clear’s hand, she took that as a cue to yank Lennon back towards her. 

Not wasting any time, Rainbow jetted towards Clear Skies, catching Lennon halfway between. Now defenseless, Clear had no way of stopping Rainbow Dash from using 2M2M put her into a full nelson hold, effectively restaining her. If she could get Clear to the ground, she could be properly incapacitated before the spell on her was broken. 

“You think these cheap tactics cheap tactics will work on me?” Despite the position she was in, Clear looked up and scoffed at Rainbow Dash. “You understand nothing!” 

Even though it wasn’t in Clear’s hands anymore, Rainbow saw Midsummer Station blowing a breeze strong enough to propel it up into the air. It then shot more rain in their direction, forcing 2M2M to recoil and release her grip on Clear. She instantly flew over and caught her Stand, aiming it back at Rainbow Dash. But Rainbow Dash looked undeterred.

“You’re wrong Clear,” Dash declared. “I don’t know what exactly that Crimson jerk’s Stand has done to you, but I do know something for certain: You obviously don’t remember a single thing I taught you about controlling weather. So I’ll give you a little pop quiz to refresh your memory.”

“I remember enough to know how to use Midsummer Station!” Clear snarled, “And you quit the weather team to go join the Wonderbolts! I probably remember more than you!”

“Question one:” Rainbow kept on talking, not dignifying Clear’s retort. “What have you been creating from your umbrella this whole time? Moisture.

“Question two: How did you keep freezing that moisture? By dropping the heat in the air, right? We did that maneuver all the time.” Dash smirked harder. 

“Question three: What is the temperature like this time of year? Warm, meaning the air is warm too.

“Question four: What happens when large amounts of moisture in the air is kept together in a single place, by say, a vacuum formed around the area we’ve been fighting in? They’ll condense into clouds. Just like when we used our wings to whip the air up.

“And finally,” Dash’s grin grew almost too much for her face, “Question five: What happens when the water forming clouds is at a drastically different temperature than the surrounding air?”

As if the very forces of nature themselves were collaborating with Dash for dramatic effect, her question was answered for her. Clear Skies got the answer in the form of a loud clap of thunder coming from above her. When she looked up, Clear saw that the skies were anything by her name. Thick, dark clouds were forming.

“It’s been forever since I’ve made storm clouds from scratch,” Dash mused with a triumphant grin, “Usually we just get them Cloudsdale. So these might not be as safe as they should be. It’s time for one final bonus question, Clear. When working with thunderstorms, why should a Pegasus never be holding a metal object?”

The answer was obvious to Clear. Jerking her head to her hand, the mare frantically tried to discard Midsummer Station. But she had found that she couldn’t. Lennon sat on top of her shoulder, grinning as he held his needle in hand. He had sewn Midsummer’s Station to Clear’s hands and chest, forcing it to point straight up. His grin was persistent as he was yanked backwards by a string he sewn to his own back.

“Lightning!” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms, already knowing the battle to have been won, “Don’t worry, your Pegasus feathers will prevent any real damage, but it’ll still be quite the nasty shock. Maybe enough to shock some sense into you!” Dash cocked her hips forward and sat up with her elbows against 2M2M’s back, her hair blowing behind her right as the cloud erupted with a bright bolt of lightning, striking Midsummer’s Station, and Clear herself. 

Clear let out a gasp as she felt her body convulsing with the charged bolts. Her eyes rolled up into her head as her wings finally gave out, her muscles refusing to function as she began to spiral down towards the orchard.
Casually, Dash reached out and caught Clear in 2M2M’s left arm. Holding her up, the Pegasus grinned, “Good drill, Clear. Now,” She turned her sights down towards the house, “Let’s go talk to our instructor.” With that, 2M2M shot out towards the house.
> 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.”
> Crimson at the Gates, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over two millennia ago, long before the Discordian Era, long before even the founding of Equestria itself, ponykind was divided by race. Each race was further divided by regional tribes, constantly at conflict with one another. The Earthen ponies inhabited the plains and drylands, farming and cultivating the land. In the secluded depths of the forests and hills lay the Unicorns, practicing their magic and forging new spells. And in the highlands and mountains inhabited by the various Pegasus tribes, a meteor was witnessed falling from the sky and colliding into the top of the tallest mountain.

For generations the Pegasus would tell stories of the event, passing along each their own interpretations of what they had all witnessed and what it meant. An unexplained phenomenon became legend over the course of a century, yet none had the courage to venture to the mountain’s peak and see it for themselves. For some, it was the fear that the myths of their ancestors that kept them away. For others, it was the prospect of how dangerous flying that high could be. For most however, it was simply because there was potentially nothing to be gained from the venture.

It wasn’t until the turn of the century after the meteor had first landed that it was first bared whiteness by ponykind. A group of six Pegasus from a single tribe formed a party that braved the treacherous flight up to the mountain’s peak, seeking to gain whatever lay in wait for them. Upon reaching the top, the group discovered a creator created by the meteor’s impact. A lush, green valley had thrived inside the impact sight, with the meteorite at its center. 

At the first sight of the extraterrestrial rock, each of the six felt an almost supernatural force compelling them to touch it. The jagged edges of the sediment pierced their skin as soon as their palms made contact. A material foreign to the very planet traveled their bloodstreams and bonded with the souls of the six Pegasus who had found it. Moments later, they all passed out. Only one woke up.

When the lone Pegasus awoke, they made the discovery that there was an apparition, completely at their command. Through sheer luck they had been the only one to survive and gain this familiar. The Pegasus viewed this as fate willing them towards a higher purpose. With this power at their disposal, the Pegasus would force the tribes of their kind to unite and together they would stand against all others. They had become the very first Stand user.

Upon uniting the tribes, the now ruler of the Pegasus had the space ore smelted down into a set of arrowheads. They would use these arrows to create new Stand users as they saw fit, picked from those most loyal to them. For a brief moment of time, the Pegasus were an unstoppable force containing power that not even the Unicorns could understand.

That was, until the arrows began to fall into the hands of the opposing tribes, and along with them, the power of the Stand. Rumors had spread about the power the Pegasi had, and with it the legend of the arrows. Now the constant fighting between races escalated into bloody and destructively skirmishes. The way was paved for nothing to the icy winds of hatred and disharmony to take hold of the land.

The Pegasus leader, now in their elder years, foresaw this path ultimately leading not to the extinction of just the Pegasus, but all of ponykind. Realizing that there was only one hope for their race, the Pegasus summoned their Stand for a final time. In a feat that stretched across the entire continent, the Pegasus leader erased all Stands, as well as any memories of the subject, from existence before their body crumbled to dust.

However, the power of the Stand had already taken route in the bloodlines of those pierced by the arrow. Once in ten generations would a foal be born with a Stand of their own. Many more with the potential for developing such. In addition, even though in their will the Pegasus leader ordered all of the arrows retrieved and destroyed, six were kept by his family as heirlooms.

As ages passed, the six arrows were passed among the descendants of the Pegasus family, five of which becoming lost, fates unknown to the family. The final arrow was kept safe by the direct descendants of the leader, never leaving their estate, moving wherever they did. With each passing generation, Stands became less and less common in the family.

The last descendant of the first Stand user to have the arrow in their possession, as fate would have it, was also the one to witness the rise of the Discordian Era. Knowing what needed to be done, they offered the arrow to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in hopes of giving them the power they needed to end this chaos once and for all.

Having willing given up the last arrow, every descendant of the first Pegasus Lord afterwards would fail to develop a Stand. It was thought that Stands were no longer a part of the bloodline. More time passed, and the memory faded away.

However, the bearer of the arrow was not the last descendant to develop a Stand. It wasn’t until a full millennium later until another foal, as direct a descendant of the first Pegasus as possible, was born. In the city of Cloudsdale, a young, pink haired, yellow maned Pegasus had a Stand from the moment she was born. But her will and mind were too frail to realize its presence.

The apparition laid dormant in the filly all her life. Having not the strength of soul to control it, the Stand developed a mind of its own. It waited inside of her, for a moment to fulfill its basic instincts and protect her from danger. For years this moment never seemed to have come. Another had taken up the role in the Stand’s stead.

Another young filly, nearly five years the yellow filly’s junior, grew a close friendship with her. This younger filly had a much stronger will, a much harder drive, and a much shorter temper than the younger. For years, should anypony looking to put the yellow filly down for her timid nature, they would immediately have to answer to the younger one.

There was one exception to this. On a day in which the younger filly was recovering from her first broken wing of many. The many times thwarted bullies knew that they could take advantage of her absence. It was on that day that the yellow filly was left defenseless, and thus the bullies struck. They formed a group and encircled the filly far from escape. With her completely at their mercy, the group of bullies unleashed a vicious torrent of the cruelest of insults they could conceive.

The yellow filly curled into a ball and covered her eyes as she felt the sense of despair and worthlessness that the bullies were trying to instill on her overtake her. She began to believe everything they were saying. She began to wish she didn’t exist. Her entire body felt heavy with the weight of her sorrows.

Then, the burden was lifted as suddenly as it  overtook her. The yellow filly no longer felt any negative emotions. Not only that, but she also noticed that she no longer heard the insults of the ring of bullies. Cautiously, she uncovered her eyes. Every pony who had surrounded her dispersed. As she stood up, however, the filly was horrified to see where they had gone.

Each and every one of them was attempting to commit suicide. All in various different ways. It was not just the bullies either. Everypony in the whole vicinity, from the youngest of the students, to the adults themselves, were all attempting to commit mass suicide. It was only the faculty from inside the school rushing out and restraining everypony they came to their senses.

When interviewed later, everypony involved in the incident would all explain that they felt a massive wave of depression and hopelessness wash over them. They all had instantaneously felt like miserable stains who held no worth in the world. It was classified as a rogue magic in the area below whose spell had gone wrong. Though no traces of magic were ever discovered in the area.

As the pink haired filly stood in horror, witness her peers all attempt to take their take their own life, she saw something for a brief second. A pair of hands rested themselves on her shoulders, as if attempting to comfort her. As soon as she turned around however, they hands were gone.


~~~

All eyes turned to Fluttershy. Crimson reached up to press his fingers against his wrist, his eyes staring at her with a curious but cold glare. Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie each were filled with mixtures of confusion, fear and disbelief. Rainbow, however, was unable to shake the anger that had been building inside her towards the one stallion present in the area.

“Your Stand?!” Rainbow shook her head, “When did that happen, Fluttershy?!” 

“I’ve always had it,” Fluttershy sighed gently before taking in a deep breath through her nose, “Rainbow Dash, do… do you remember… that day? The really horrible one when you were absent with your first broken wing?”

“That… day?” Rainbow turned her head down for a moment before a glint filled her eyes, “Wait, are you talking about flight school?”

“Yes… that day exactly. I figured it out. It was me,” Fluttershy exhaled with her head held low, “Everypony at school, they all nearly died because of me.” 

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, everypony almost died because of you?! That was some crazy Unicorn! Not you!” 

“No,” Fluttershy declared. “It… it was me. I was the source of all of that horror!” She put her hands to her chest and looked down on the ground with a head as heavy as her heart, “I’m not just realizing this, either. I’ve always known it was me. After it happened, I saw it. I don’t know how I knew it at the time, but I knew it was a part of me.”

“What dear Fluttershy is trying to say,” Discord chimed in. “Is that she has had her Stand ever since she was born. And ever since that unfortunate day in elementary school that required so many extra guidance counselors afterwards, she has been aware of it.” The draconequus snapped his fingers to form a stool for him to sit on, “Isn’t this right, Fluttershy?” 

“But I didn’t want to be,” Fluttershy continued ignoring Discord’s question. The Pegasus gently took a tentative step forward. Then another. She kept walking forward, away from Discord, and to the site where the skirmish was brought to a halt, “Because, if I was, then I’d be admitting that I was a monster. A monster who was worse than anything anypony had ever said to me.”

“Stay back!” Crimson took a step back himself, “Your precious Princess has already given up. Do you want to responsible for your friend’s death?!” 

Fluttershy turned her gaze to Crimson, meeting his angry ones. But Fluttershy did not tremble, nor did she shake or frown. Instead, she seemed completely relaxed. And as she turned away from him, that only sparked Crimson’s ire. With Fluttershy now only a few yards away from him, his mind was set. His fingers moved to press down on Applejack’s charm. He’d teach this mare to be overconfident in her abilities.

Nothing happened. Crimson did not know why he was standing still. He tried to open his mouth to say something. In his mind, he knew that he should be ordering Applejack to go through with it, then for Clear to help him escape. But he didn’t want to. He did not want to make any acts of aggression. Crimson felt unnaturally calm.

Everypony felt unnaturally calm. Rarity forgot the pain of her broken leg. Twilight lost all sense of stress she was feeling in this situation. Applejack lowered the vine she was threatening suicide with. Even Rainbow Dash couldn’t even think about punching anypony by the name of Crimson in the face at the moment.

“Now, though,” Fluttershy walked on, as if she was aware of this fact, “I have no choice. Everypony is in danger, and only this monstrous side of me... my Stand,” She turned to look at Discord, “Comfortably Numb, can resolve this.” Discord beamed as his hands detached to clap in the air.

Fluttershy stood completely still. She took in a deep breath and closed her eye. Behind her, a new Stand manifested. A Stand of golden yellows and soft pinks. The Stand bore the appearance of a golden angel with heavy chains wrapped around its wings, preventing them from opening. Over its mouth was a pink veil, and across its eyes lay a blindfold. Its arms were extended wide, palms up towards the sky. A gentle yellow light seemed to be radiating from behind it, along with a breeze that made Fluttershy’s hair sway.

Not missing a beat, Fluttershy proceeded to calmly walk straight up to Applejack. She got on her knees and looked her friend right in the eye. Using her own hands, Fluttershy took Applejack by the face and made her look at her. Comfortably Numb bent over Fluttershy and draped its hands over Applejack’s shoulders.

“You’re confused,” Fluttershy whispered in a hushed hum, “You’ve been taken and used. Everything inside your head has been made wrong. I can feel it. The real you isn’t there. But, it’s not lost. It's just covered up in a maze of lies. I’m going to help you get through the maze, and you’re going to remember everything.” 

Comfortably Numb’s hands radiated a brilliant light. Applejack’s eyes went wide. Her mind became flooded with emotions. Memories of her friends flashed vividly in her mind. She remembered every time she spent with all of her friends who she had been trying to kill. Every time they laughed together. Every time they fought. Every time they helped her. Every time she helped them.

Applejack remembered the emotions she felt during those memories so strongly that they were almost tangible to her. They were real. In comparison, every memory at the top of her head about Crimson Spirit, everything she knew about him, felt nonexistent by comparison. True to her element, she was able to tell the lies apart from the truth. 

A charm bracelet formed on Applejack’s wrist. In her own mind, Applejack saw the memories and feelings she had of Crimson for the falsities they were. She declared with resolve that the memories she was feeling of her friends were real, that this is who she was meant to be. Crimson Spirit was not her only friend in the world. She had numerous friends, and Crimson was not one of them. 

The bracelet shattered into shards of dust in the wind. Tears started to flow from Applejack’s eyes. Her best friends in the whole world were all around her right now, and she tried to kill them. Her real friends were right there, and she betrayed them for a stallion who only wanted to use her. Tremendous shame and sorrow fell over her. 

“Shush,” Fluttershy whispered, turning her face hold into a tender embrace. “It’s ok, it’s all over now. Everything’s going to be ok.” Applejack was still bound by Diamond Dogs’ string, but even without a hug back, Fluttershy knew that Applejack was returning the sentiment. 

At first, Clear Skies was unsure of what to make of the scene she was witnessing. But then she realized that she wasn’t feeling calm anymore. The aura of calmness had left. Clear immediately reacted by aiming Midsummer Station at Fluttershy and Applejack. Buit just as soon as she prepared her attack, Clear Skies froze in place. 

Comfortably Numb was looking directly at her. She had on hand on Applejack’s shoulder, and the other pointing at Clear Skies. Slowly, Applejack’s tears of shame started to subside. At the same rate that Applejack was calming down, Clear Skies began tearing up. The same shame Applejack was feeling overtook Clear.

Clear’s arms began to shake. She remembered what she’d felt when she’d fought. The feeling of determination as she’d attacked Rainbow Dash. The pride she felt in defending Crimson from Rarity’s first attempt to catch him. The anger she felt when Pinkie Pie had taken him. All of them bubbled to the surface. And in turn a remorse, a guilt, a pure regret filled her entire body. Her body slowly lowered to the ground.

The Pegasus dropped her shovel and fell to her knees on the ground. Rarity ordered her Diamond Dogs to run over to Midsummer’s Station with their rippers. As fast as they could, the cloth mutts tore the stand from the tool. But its user paid them no mind. She was feeling shame. The shame of all the ponies she had hurt, every despicable thing she had done, all for that vile stallion. Just as it did on Applejack’s wrist, a bracelet formed and shattered on Skies’. 

“Empathy,” Twilight gasped in realization. “Fluttershy’s Stand, Comfortably Numb, it’s empathy!”

“Empathy?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion. “You mean, like understanding how ponies feel?”

“No, not em-puh-thee.” Twilight corrected. “Em-pa-thee. The magic of manipulating somepony’s emotions.”

“It can control how ponies feel,” Fluttershy confirmed. “But that’s only part of it. It can take emotions ponies feel naturally and give them to other ponies.”

“Or disperse them to everypony around,” Discord added.

“Yes,” Fluttershy looked back down. “Because, its my Stand, it takes any strong negative emotions I feel from me and spreads them out, everypony feeling them just as strongly as I did. That’s why everypony at Cloudsdale Elementary tried to kill themselves that day. Comfortably Numb made them all feel just as hopeless as I did. I made them feel just as hopeless as I did.”

“Fluttershy…” Twilight was speechless. Empathy was one of the highest forms of magic. Even with grand wizards, they couldn’t hope to pull off the level of manipulation Fluttershy could with Comfortably Numb, “I understand that it did that, but there’s more to it than that! Look! It broke Crimson Spirit’s Stand when none of us could! It’s like you managed to completely overwrite, whatever his Stand did with your own!”

“No,” Fluttershy looked up, “That’s not what I did,” She smiled over towards Appleajck and Clear Skies, both unable to look her in the eye, “After I saw how Golden Harvest and Aloe acted, I knew that the stallion was somehow manipulating their memories. But, there’s more to a memory than, just the event. Comfortably Numb made them realize their feelings in those memories and what they were doing weren’t real.” 

Twilight nodded her head in awe, still staring at the beautiful form of Comfortably Numb. Rarity nodded beside her before suddenly stumbling forward, grunting hard as blood gushed down her leg. Twilight quickly gasped and caught her friend, holding her upright with her right arm. Pinkie Pie likewise smiled before falling down onto one knee. 

“That’s… wonderful darling…” Rarity grimaced, “I don’t suppose you could do what you did earlier again, could you? It took the mind off the pain rather well…” 

“Yeah… me too!” Pinkie chimed in, “But I think it’s super cool-awesome you got a Stand! Now we all got one! Isn’t that amazing, girls?!” 

“Hey!,” Rainbow Dash broke the mood as she whipped around along with 2M2M, “Where did he go?”

In a moment of realization, all the ponies realized that Crimson was no longer with them. Rarity raised her arm as Lennon ran over to quickly undo Applejack’s bonds. Clear stood up quickly, Midsummer Station crawling up her arm and affixing itself to her shoulder. Rainbow growled and quickly hopped up onto 2M2M’s back. 

“I won’t let him get away!” Rainbow hissed out, “He’s gonna pay for hurting my friends!”

“N-No!” Pinkie Pie mustered up the strength to manifest Ta-Dah. “I won’t let him get away from me again! I’ll look all around the farm, I’ll find him in a…” 

“Shut up you loud obnoxious rude party pony! That is enough!” Crimson shouted from the top of his lungs. Everypony turned in the direction of his voice. 

Crimson, his suit torn and his hair unkempt, now stood on the second floor of the Apple house, looking down at them from one of the many newly created holes in the building. His gaze of hatred was turned down towards the group, focused equally on all seven present. Yet rather than being alone, he had a hostage clutched to his body. A hostage whose disappearance had sparked this skirmish in the first place.

“TWILIGHT!” Spike shouted. Crimson’s forearm was wrapped around his neck, holding him a foot above the ground. His legs were shaking, and his claws wrapped around Crimson’s arm. He looked up at Crimson, then back down to his friends on the ground.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted back. Crimson had her little brother, right there! “Crimson, let him go right now!” 

“Really, Sparkle?!” Crimson yelled out, “I’m done playing games! All each of you had to do was simply die! There’s nothing hard about that! Each of you with your inferior weapons, waving them about like some flashy toy!” Spike coughed out hard as Crimosn tightened his grasp, “I’ve spent years honing my power, while each of YOU have barely had a month to even learn what a Stand even is!”

A bit of wind blew Crimson’s tattered sleeve open. A bit of light glinted against something, something metallic he had gripped in his hand. Something he was holding to Spike’s neck. While it was hard to see fully, Twilight gasped out the answer. 

“T-That’s a Pegasi Arrow!” Twilight shouted, “Where did you get an arrow, Crimson?!”

“Not the issues here, Sparkle!” Crimson shouted, “If anypony,” Crimson spat, shaking on his own two feet. “Anypony or their Stand gets any closer to me, I’ll cut this dragon’s throat!” 

“Twilight, what’s going on?!” Rainbow turned to face Twilight, “What’s so important about that arrow?!” 

“Then you’ll just give him a Stand” Twilight shouted up at him, ignoring Rainbow Dash, “He’ll attack you with it! It’s over Crimson! Let him go!”

“Will I?” Crimson’s lips were twisted into a fierce grin, but even the harsh edge in his voice was wavering, “Will he get a Stand? Is this dragon’s soul strong enough to have one? I think you and I both know the answer to that already, Princess!”

The sound of 2M2M’s engines quietly firing up filled Twilight’s ears. Right as Rainbow was about to kick back on her Stand to get it flying, ink encased her foot. 

“Stop!” Twilight’s eyes were wide. Her entire body was trembling, “He’ll kill Spike before you even get close, Rainbow!” 

“No he won’t!” Rainbow struggled against Twilight’s ink, “I can get there before he can even raise his arm!” 

“Rainbow NO!” Twilight darted forward, grabbing Rainbow’s forearm hard. As Rainbow turned, the sheer look of terror on Twiilight’s face made her freeze. Twilight stammered out, “H-He’ll kill Spike, he already killed somepony already! W-We can’t risk Spike’s life on your Stand!”

“Just calm down my little pony,” Discord said, raising his hand. “I’ll just have him over here in a literal snap of my…”

“No!” Twilight shouted even louder. “The second he sees Spike teleport he’ll cut him!” She was hyperventilating. She shouldn’t think reasonably, and was distracting Discord.

Fluttershy looked to Twilight. The confidence she shouted up to Crimson just a moment ago was gone. She was just as scared as the captor was. This was a checkmate situation that nopony was sure how to get out of. Everypony was scared.

Everypony but Fluttershy. She knew that she should have been feeling fear, but she wasn’t. She was level headed. Due to the fact that she was thinking clearly, Fluttershy was able to realize the reason why she was doing so. She was also able to see the ramifications of this. She tried to stop Comfortably Numb as fast as she could, but it was too late.

Fluttershy’s own Stand had taken away her fear and dispersed it. Everypony was feeling an increased amount of fear in addition to the fear they were naturally feeling in this situation. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, but most importantly, Crimson Spirit. He was already a cornered animal, meaning he was unpredictable. But the extra surge of fear sent him over the edge and caused him to immediately pierce the arrow through Spike’s throat and drop him.

Time moved slowly. Twilight shouted and reached out towards Spike as he fell to the ground. In an instant, a multitude of Stands reacted at once. Clear Skies attached Midsummer’s Station to a discarded tree limb and used it to freeze Crimson in place as he tried to run into the home. Diamond Dogs String pulled back on the tree limb, causing Crimson to fly out of the home and come crashing to the ground. Two shurikens pinned him to the ground by his shirt, followed by Applejack’s vines erupting from the ground to wrap around Crimson. Crimson’s mouth hung open from the shock of hitting the ground.

Everypony crowded around Spike’s body as he laid there motionless. The arrow stuck out of a newly formed hole, gushing blood out in a crimson puddle around him. His lips gasped out for air, only for his mouth to fill with more of it. Twilight, shaking, reached up to pull the arrow out of his neck, but hesitated after a moment. Instead, she fell to her knees, reaching out to lift Spike’s head up even as her arm turned red. 

“Spike…” Twilight whispered, gently shaking his body. “Spike, come on, wake up.” Her lower lip quivered and tears started to form. “It’s…it’s over now Spike. We’ve won, we all won. And, and you’re going to get a Stand! The arrow is going to give you a Stand. You’re going to wake up, you’re going to have a Stand of your very own…and, and, and I’m going to teach you how to use it. I’ll start teaching you how to use it…as soon as you…wake…up…” 

Twilight wanted to stay in denial. She wanted to hold onto the fantasy that everything she was saying was true. She wanted to hold onto the delusion that Spike was going to wake up. But in her heart, she knew it wasn’t. Twilight knew Spike wasn’t going to wake up. She said nothing more, only hovered over Spike’s body as heavy, silent, tears cascaded from her eyes.

“T w i l~i g h t…” Spike coughed out, reaching up with his hand towards her to try and take her hand. Yet just as he did so, blood fountained from his lips as his head rolled back against Twilight’s arm, limp.

“S...S...Spike…” Twilight’s body went cold as she held onto him. She turned her head to the side, shaking hard as she tried to hold back her tears any further. But the warmth on her arms wouldn’t let her, “I-I’m sorry… I-I wasn’t strong enough… I couldn’t… I couldn’t save you… I… I… Spike no… no… please… please, don’t leave me, don’t leave me…” 

With a wail, Twilight buried her face in Spike’s chest, letting out an anguished cry. Applejack stared at the scene, her expression firm but filled with regret. Pinkie and Rarity entwined their hands, Rarity starting to shake and Pinkie following suit. Clear turned her head away and instead reared her foot back, delivering a harsh kick directly into Crimson’s face. And standing directly next to Twilight, her expression dark, stood Rainbow. 

“No…” Rainbow whispered.

“No…” Rainbow Dash whispered again, “No. Crimson… he doesn’t get to decide this for us…” 

“No. No. No No No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!” Rainbow reared back and stomped the ground as hard as she could, “THIS CAN’T HAPPEN! I DON’T WANT IT TO HAPPEN!” 

2 Minutes to Midnight, having stood stoically behind her this entire time, reacted to Rainbow Dash’s outcry. It stood up. Its engines started to roar to life, shattering the remaining ice cover Midsummer’s Station had clogged them with. From under its goggles sparked two glowing red eyes, burning brightly underneath the normally opaque cover.

“I REJECT THIS!” Rainbow Dash shouted in blind rage. 2 Minutes to Midnight acted on its own. With its fist powered by a burst of flame, the Stand drove a punch right into Spike’s gut. But there was no impact. Even after 2M2M pulled its arm away, Spike laid completely still.

Then, suddenly, Spike’s body started twitching and convulsing. Every part of him started to shake rapidly. Twilight pulled her tear stained face away as Spike’s body suddenly lifted itself up from her arms, hovering in the air. From where 2M2M’s fist had landed, a small, tiny vacuum formed. It hovered over Spike’s body silently.

Spike erupted an inferno of green fire from his mouth. The inferno shot into the air, bathing the entire farm in a brilliant green blaze. As it burned, the fire began to flicker and shake, attempting to rise into the air. The brilliant light continued to rise, rising into the air at a slower and slower rate. Until it was pulled towards the vacuum. The air shook as the fire was sucked into the blackness, filling it until it burned with the same color. With a final burst of heat, the vacuum was filled, leaving a glowing green orb to descend into his body. 

Twilight, during the ordeal was staring vacantly towards Spike’s still lifeless head. Yet as his lips had loosed his flames, she’d shrieked and dropped his body to the ground. The sheer heat was enough to push her backwards, and as she put her hands in front of her face to shield herself, she blinked away her tears to try and see what was happening. 

The now green vacuum disappeared once it entered Spike’s chest once more. For a long few seconds, his body did not change. The dragon still laid there, lifeless. Twilight started to shake again as she reached forward to take Spike’s head, looking up almost angrily towards Rainbow Dash. 

Then, a cough. To the shock of all present, Spike suddenly took in a massive gasp as he coughed out the blood in his mouth. The hole in his neck was smaller, and though it was still bleeding, it no longer was a full puncture. Spike’s glassy eyes slowly regained color as he looked towards Twilight with a confused expression. 

“SPIKE!” Twilight shouted, grabbing him and hugging him hard against his chest. Spike attempted to speak, but the rasp his voice had made him instead just weakly wrap his hands around her instead. 

Yet while Rarity and Applejack both started to shed tears of joy, Crimson’s body struggled in his multitude of bonds. His gaze snapped towards Rainbow Dash, letting out a snarl, “What… What did you do?! He shouldn’t have developed a Stand! He should be DEAD!” 

With a growl, Clear raised her hand to send her Stand out to attack Crimson’s face. Twilight turned to face him, a look of anger spreading over her features. Yet before any of them could do anything, Rainbow’s arm suddenly shot out to hold Clear back from doing anything.

Turning, Rainbow took breath. Raising her finger up in front of her face, suddenly she pointed to 2M2M’s hand, “You’re right, Crimson. Spike should have died. If whatever you’re saying about the arrow is true, then yeah, he shouldn’t have survived that. But I didn’t want that to happen. So I didn’t let it happen!” 

2M2M suddenly shot a pinpoint vacuum above it, causing the air around it to get sucked in towards it. Rainbow’s hair shot out behind her her as she planted her right foot in front of her, “I don’t much about these vacuums, but I know this: I refuse to let Spike’s Soul vanish due to you! I defied your choice, Crimson, and instead used my own! I put Spike’s Soul inside my vacuum so he cannot die from it!” 

As the vacuum above Dash grew, Dash reached up to point her finger towards the sky, “I defied you, Crimson! You may have turned my friends, my coworkers and my town against me, but I refuse to let you take them away! And I stopped them at 2 Minutes To Midnight!” 

The vacuum above Dash faded, leaving Dash to bring her fists up in front of her to strike an elegant pose. She pointed her wrights downward and made a piece sign in both of them. With her fingers pointing downwards, they appeared to be two M's. 2M2M. Her stand slid to her right, striking a mirror image of that same pose as its engines roared to life. 

“Uhm… it’s six forty five, Dashie!” Pinkie suddenly spoke up, “Yare, yare daze, you’re five hours and thirteen minutes off!” 

“...I knew that, Pinkie…” Dash sighed, dropping her pose and brushing her hair back, “I was just being awesome.” 

Crimson rolled his eyes, leaning his head down and pressing his forehead into the dirt. He rubbed it gently against it, sighing hard. Twilight slowly stood up on her feet, cradling Spike in her arms and giving a tearful smile towards Dash. Even if she did roll her eyes gently in the same vein as Crimson at her little speech. 

A loud clapping sound filled the air. Before any of them could question where it was coming from, the ground beneath them turned yellow with a red eye in the center. The strange surface suddenly sucked itself up like a balloon, inflating to create a shape in the air as it hovered above the ground. The balloon then shifted to form Discord’s face on it, sending a wave down itself to turn it back into Discord’s true form. 

“Oh bravo, bravo my friends!” Discord continued to clap, “Though I think an especially warm huzzah should go to Fluttershy!” His arm outstretched to yank Fluttershy towards him, who let out a tiny squeak as she was hugged into his side. 

“Bravo?” Rarity spoke up, her eyebrow peaking, “This was not some show, Discord! We were fighting for our friend’s life here!” 

“Oh yes, yes and you did a fantastic job with that! Solid use of abilities and character dynamics! Though you did allow your party to take massive damage during Phase 1, so I’m afraid you only scored a solid 7 out of 10 here…” Discord snapped his fingers, bringing an MMO style screen in front of him to write something down. 

“Hey wait a minute!” Pinkie Pie turned towards Discord, “If you were watching us this wwwhhhhooollleee time, why didn’t you come down and help us?!” 

“Oh I could have, but that would be a high level player helping out a low level guild!” Discord beamed, only to be brought down by a solid frown from Fluttershy, “Oh fine, perhaps I’ve played a few too many games here with Spike. Ahem!” Discord landed on the ground and made his way over to Pinkie, “The answer is simple, my dears. I wanted Fluttershy here to finally realize what she’d been hiding away inside her. I could have stepped in and solved this little problem, but alas, you wouldn’t learn nearly as much from the experience!” 

“God you’re even more annoying in person…” Crimson huffed on the ground, “I don't know which of you is worse…” 

“Hurmph…. Speaking of you, my little stallion,” Discord snapped his fingers, detaching his head form his body to lower itself down to Crimson, “Why didn’t you prostrate yourself before me the second you saw me? I thought you were a member of those little prancing cultists I hear are all the rage these last few centuries!” 

Crimson didn’t even looked phased, instead scoffing, “I’m not a fanboy like some of the others. We all know what she did to you!” His eyes shot towards Fluttershy, “If anything, I worship the Discord that defeated Celestia and Luna single handedly and shrouded the world in chaos. Not a silly trickster who acts as Celestia’s dog!” 

“And here I was hoping for a full on declaration of loyalty to my… oh well,” Discord’s head reattached itself to his body and turned to Twilight, “You can take him away, I’m already bored with him.” 

“Like you did with him?!” Crimson snapped back, “Do you just cast aside anypony that doesn’t entertain you enough?!” 

“I’d go ahead and lock him up, Princess,” Discord’s eyes suddenly turned fully red, “He tried to hurt Fluttershy, and I’m not sure what I’ll do to him if he says another word.” 

As the two locked eyes, for a long moment Crimson’s hate filled gaze didn’t waver. But as though Discord was pushing him down physically, the stallion slowly shrunk backwards until he was looking fully at the ground. He gave a small scoff before muttering, “Not worth it…” 

“Y-Yes!” Twilight quickly made her way over to Crimson, his horn lighting up and forming shackles around his hands still bound under the dirt, vines and ice, “Crimson Spirit, in the name of the Princess of Friendship, I hereby arrest you for one count of murder, several counts of attempted murder, assault, coercion and conspiracy to commit crimes against Equestria!” 

Twilight turned to her friends, whom each responded in releasing their Stand’s hold on Crimson. With a growl, Crimson felt himself being lifted from the earth, lavender chains forming around him to fully seal himself in Twilight’s mercy. The anger in his eyes slowly turned to that of annoyance, simply staring at the mare as she began to lead him away. 

“Savor your victory all you want, Sparkle….” Crimson muttered so low only he himself could hear, “When he comes for you, you won’t know what to do…” 

~~~

Within a large dark chamber, a small gasp filled the air. Torchlights slowly flickered on, sending dark red light across the room. In the center of it, sitting on a rocky throne, a figure stirred and took in a deep breath. 

“Sir?” Another figure, one standing beside him, reached out to take the figure’s hand, “Are you alright?” 

“He… he has… failed…” The figure’s face twitched as he pulled himself upright, “The usurpers… they’ve… g-gained the power… o-of the draconequus…” 

The second figure blinked hard, “Are, you sure about that, sir?” He turned his gaze towards the ceiling, “Only Sparkle reflected any traits of that from our scouts.” 

“I feel… I f-feel it….” The figure’s voice suddenly shifted to a low whisper, “He failed… he failed… he failed…” 

“Then… should we postpone the plan..?” The assistant moved in front of the figure to take his hand and gently stroke it. 

“NO!” The figure suddenly shouted, loud enough that his assistant flinched, “We cannot wait! We cannot wait! W-We must… we must… we cannot wait…” 

Pausing, the assistant let go of his hand and moved to stand beside him again, “Then… should we continue?” 

“Yes… yes…” The figure lifted his head up, his piercing red orbs filling the room, “Go ahead… w-we depart tonight…”
> Temposhark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Party Insurance was a term created specifically for instances where Pinkie Pie and Vinyl Scratch would get together and host an event. A night of beats, partying and lots and lots of dancing was one to remember, but unfortunately it was not always in a positive manner. Said events almost always turn out in disaster, so much so that an entire new form of insurance had to be created, one with an incredibly niche, but at the same time practical, use. 

Pinkie Pie and Vinyl Scratch’s battle to the death days ago met all the criteria to file a claim for such insurance. Property destruction occurring during a party? Check. Pinkie Pie and/or Vinyl Scratch involved? Double check. Cause of property damage so indeterminate one could say a hurricane did it and nopony would bat an eye? Given the fact the club had been destroyed by weaponized sound waves, that was one large check. So in terms of having her club being destroyed by the power of her own Stand, Vinyl had nothing to worry about as it would be mostly covered by her extensive party insurance.

That didn’t stop Vinyl from still being bummed that she didn’t have a club to go to during the day and night anymore. Being out of the job wasn’t the problem; she had plenty of money stocked up for the occasions where her club was literally brought down and out of business for a few days. Yeah, Vinyl essentially had her second home there, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t live without for a few weeks. The problem lay in the cause of the entire situation to begin with: that she had finally been given what she had been longing for all her life, but wasn’t allowed to use it like she wanted.  

Princess Twilight Sparkle wanting to take away Bangarang was indeed a false memory planted into Vinyl’s head just to get her to turn hostile towards said princess and her friends. Princess Twilight had confirmed that when Vinyl asked her; Aloe had related to her that the stallion, Crimson Spirit, had been captured. But the Princess warned against using Bangarang in public for a while. It would shock too many ponies, draw questions that she couldn’t answer, and just generally make ponies feel uncomfortable. 

Even though Vinyl understood why, it didn’t make it any easier on her. To be able to speak after a lifetime of not being able to was an incredible gift. It was probably the only good thing that came out of Crimson’s stay Ponyville in her eyes. Yet as much as she hated having to remain silent, ultimately Vinyl had to agree with the Princess. The awkward and slightly creeped out looks she was getting from her roommate were bad enough. Right now, she couldn’t take any more of that. Princess Twilight said she’d get into contact with a few upscale doctors in Canterlot and help fabricate a story that Vinyl had managed to get experimental magical surgery to fix her voice, but until that happened, the silent Vinyl would still remain. 

Agreeing was only one part, however, especially as she longed to at least be able to talk to the regular Ponyville doctor who was doing her evaluation to see whether or not she could take her cast off. Instead, Vinyl was forced to use her magic to write everything she felt on the notepad laid in front of her. It dawned on her rather quickly how patient ponies had been with her signing or writing things, since right now she felt the full annoyance of it reflected back on her.

Pinkie Pie had still done a number on her body when she attacked her with Ta-Dah. It wasn’t something that she held against the mare; neither of them knew anything about Stands at that point, and they were both in a fight to the death. Pinkie had been rather generous too with the apology cakes and pastries, even offering Vinyl something involving free cakes for life. Still, it sucked having to use only one hand on top of being mute. She was more than happy to have this all off soon enough, if the doctor would hurry it up.

For the most part, the examination went smoothly and was more tedious than anything else. A lot of answering questions by writing things down, shaking her head, and trying not to roll her eyes and how long it seemed to be taking. The only real thing of note was that there was a doctor Vinyl had never seen before doing checkup, though that doctor explained that that he was from out of town and just starting out. Cousin of Redheart or something. She was starting to nod off anyways. 

‘Uh, doc?’ Vinyl had her pencil write down the two words quickly, feeling that she’d done her deep breaths and yet he hadn’t pulled away the stethoscope from her chest yet. She took another deep breath to see if that was what he wanted, only to realize that the doctor wasn’t even looking at the paper and pad anymore. So instead, she used the pencil to tap him on the head in order to try and get his attention. 

“Ah, sorry, I was having trouble there for a second. Alright,” The doctor announced once he finally finished finished listening to her heartbeat. He quickly picked up a clipboard. “Well, it’s been awhile, and you said you didn’t have any pain or discomfort in it anymore. I’d say your cast is ready to be removed. Your bones should have healed up perfectly. I don’t know what you were doing to cause such injury to yourself, as well as your establishment, but as a doctor I recommend you don’t go doing that again in the future.”

Vinyl merely responded with a grin, a shrug, and a thumbs up with her good arm. There wasn’t really much of a reaction from the doctor. She had hoped he would have at least roll his eyes or looked at her with disappointed, give her some sense of satisfaction. But no, he simply looked at her stoically before beginning to unwrap her arm.

The splint was soon out, and once her arm was finally free of its sling, Vinyl gave it a couple flexs as if testing to make sure it still worked. Once that was done, she made her way out to the outpatient desk. After signing a few papers, she was cleared to go. She simply waved goodbye to him in order to keep up the status quo of her not being able to talk.

Once Vinyl was outside, the first thing she did was reach down to grab her trademarked dark blue headphones. Trying to put these on with one hand had been annoying, but now with two they slid on without her having to awkwardly crane her head to slide them into place. The sunlight shone down on the screen of her MP3 player for a brief moment, but even better was now the fact she could use her hand to shade it. Already she was happy to be out of that cast.

For a short period after leaving the doctor’s office, Vinyl pondered on what she should do with the rest of her day without her club to party at. She could probably see what Neon was up to, or maybe she’d swing down to Pinkie Pie and see if she was planning anything. Though these thoughts weren’t for very long, since she soon heard her roommate’s voice in her head. The refined and shrill voice reminded her specifically of what she should do after she got done with her doctor’s appointment: go into the Market Square. 

Tonight was spaghetti night. It wasn’t Vinyl’s favorite thing in the world to eat, but it served well enough as a good meal. Though while getting groceries the previous week, Vinyl had forgotten about the meal. If it were up to her, she would have just shrugged it off and ordered take out. But the thing about Octavia was that she was very particular about her regular events. Schedules and routines were a big deal to her, and she could not be dissuaded to break them easily. So she was making Vinyl rectify her mistake by picking up the ingredients she forgot in the market. 

It wasn’t too long of a walk, and having her music in made it feel like even less so. Her bobbing head and timed steps were nothing out of the ordinary for Vinyl, and in fact many ponies would think would be odd to see Vinyl moving like that. If there was one place one could find Vinyl outside of her club, after all, it would be hiding in her headphones. 

Once she arrived, Vinyl got to work. The Market was busy as it always was, filled with ponies looking around for things. A few ponies waved hi to her, an action which she reciprocated with a grin and wave on her own. She grabbed a bag from the entrance, compiling her list she needed to get done in her head. 

First on her list was the pasta itself. This was the most important part. To Vinyl it was the only part, much to Tavi’s annoyance. In a move that would no doubt be doubly to her annoyance, Vinyl also went out of her way to find the pasta that was in the shape bow-ties. Vinyl didn’t care what Tavi said, they tasted better!

With the superior pasta crossed off her list, Vinyl made her way to her next, and only other destination. Spaghetti was an incredibly simple dish to make. You just needed the pasta, and the sauce. Well, so one would think normally. She’d tried to do that before, and while she thought it’d tasted fine, Tavi hadn’t been as forgiving with her meal. It was an incredibly simple dish, but it required her getting a few more veggies before she could call it complete. She’d actually remembered the celery from the last time she went to market, but she needed the onions and basil to help complete the dish. Or was it also cheese? Well she’d just also buy more cheese. You could never have enough cheese. Meaning that she actually had another stall to visit after the one she was currently making her way towards. A stall belong to one Golden Harvest.

Harvest’s stall was currently occupied by a single mare browsing the flowers. While she didn’t have as wide a selection as stalls that specialized in flowers specifically, there was still a certain charm her’s had. Perhaps it was the fact that they were grown with the same love and care as the vegetables that she specialized in. Or perhaps it was the familiarity Vinyl had with the little cart. Either way, it was one she found herself drawn to no matter where she was in the market.

Whatever her reason was for making Golden Harvest’s stall her choice shop for filling her floral needs, the mare served as an obstruction of sorts to Vinyl. She couldn’t use her voice to talk to ponies because they didn’t know about Bangarang, and would come to Twilight asking for her miracle magic that doesn’t exist. However, Golden Harvest herself was Stand User, and knew exactly where her voice came from. 

This is why Vinyl lingered a few feet away from the stall, idly browsing while she waited for the stall to be free of customers. As soon as it was, Vinyl plugged Bangarang into herself, and approached the stall, eager to use her gift of speech on somepony she could.

“Hey! Goldie!” Vinyl leaned forward, dropping her forearms onto the stall and grinning at her, “What’s up?” 

“Vinyl!” Harvest beamed back at her, stand up straight from being hunched over with a large basket in hand, “Good to see you! How are you doing?” 

“Eh, you know, getting groceries and stuff. Kinda boring but Tavi wants them,” She yawned, “What about you, how’s everything going since you got the extra help?” 

“Extra help…? Oh!” Harvest chuckled and quickly turned her head, “You mean Mr. Sandman! Everything’s been going alright honestly. I’ve actually been doing half the work now that I have him. I got him doing the gardening for me while I’m here selling! I’ve been selling more than ever since I don’t have to take days off now to go and harvest the plants.”

“That’s great,” Vinyl’s grin turned into a smile, “At least you’re getting some use out of yours right now. It sounds pretty sweet, getting it to do all the stuff you don’t wanna.” 

“Oh yes,” Golden raised a finger and made her way around the stall, replacing one of the large woven baskets in a little metal stand with the one she was holding, “I got it gardening, cleaning, I even got him to wrap flowers! Pretty much anything I write down he’ll do, as long as I’m really clear about it. It’s like my own personal assistant.” 

“Awesome,” Vinyl reached down and took one of the flowers from the basket Harvest had just replaced, “These look pretty good. Mind if I buy some? I need some veggies too.” 

“Not at all!” Harvest moved back behind her stall quickly, “Mind if I ask who their for?” 

“The house,” Vinyl picked out a small bouquet and set it down on the stall, “The ones I have in the kitchen are starting to die, figured if I replaced them now then I won’t have to later on. As for the veggies, forgot ‘em last week.” She tossed up a few celery stalks, tomatoes and a few other things to punctuate her sentence. 

“Well that’s very thoughtful of you. I’m sure Octavia will appreciate it,” Golden reached down and counted the number of flowers, then smiled, “That’ll be thirty bits.” 

“Thirty?!” Vinyl gasped, “That’s… what?!” She put a hand on her chest, then broke down into snickers, “I’m just joking with you, here,” She tossed thirty bits down onto the stall, “Thanks, Goldie.” 

Harvest’s previously widened eyes slowly rolled, “No problem, Vinyl. Just let me know if you need anything else!” 

“Can do!” Vinyl made an L with her fingers and pointed it towards Harvest, her other hand moving to her neck and disconnecting Bangarang’s jack from her vocal chords. She waved the small stall off as she turned her back to it. 

After Vinyl let, Golden swore she saw something. Something small just on the edge of the other side of the market. It was a blurry gray mass, one that had just moved in her field of view. She raised an eyebrow and reached up to rub her eyes. Once she blinked away the fuzziness in her vision, she looked again. Nothing was there.


Vinyl looked through the basket strapped around her arm and went down her mental shopping list. The tomatoes were there. She could never remember how many Octavia needed to make the dish, so she got a few more than she thought the list stated, just to be on the safe side. Two onions should have been more than enough. A small bag of basil sat on top, as not to get crushed by the slightly more heavier vegetables. That should have been everything. 

But then the question of cheese came back up again. One thing that both Vinyl and her roommate could agree upon was that cheese made spaghetti all the better. But if they had enough at home was the question that was on her mind. She didn’t want to go home only to realize they didn’t. But she also didn’t want to waste bits buying cheese she didn’t need. 

While she groaned and was unsure of what to do in this situation, Vinyl caught sight of some strange movement in the distance. It was the gray blur once again. It couldn’t have been just part of the crowds of ponies hustling and bustling through the market, because it was so low to the ground. This odd motion distracted Vinyl from her cheese pondering as she tried to figure out what she was looking at. 

It was hard to tell, at first, since it was so far away. Though that was changing at a steady pace. Whatever it was, it was approaching Vinyl. When she squinted her eyes, she realized that it looked almost to be lodged in the ground. Vinyl’s first guess was that it was some sort of small creature, such as a rabbit or mouse. Hopefully it wasn’t a mouse, since there were certain ponies that would be terrified of something like that. 

But as it got even closer, it appeared that wasn’t the case. The main road the market was set up on was perhaps fifteen feet in width, and extended right by the center of town. It was on the other side of the road as Vinyl, and far up the road as well. So it wasn’t until it was perhaps only ten feet away from her that she managed to finally get the object to come into focus.

This thing had a humanoid form. At least, it had the one from the waist up. When the distance between it and Vinyl closed even more, she could see that this was because its other half was below the ground. But it wasn’t leaving a trail of parting ground behind it. The only disturbances in the ground were small ripples in the otherwise solid surface around it. After a few seconds, those ripples would vanish and the ground would return to normal.

This small humanoid creature appeared to be swimming through the ground as if it were liquid. On top of that, it was swimming incredibly poorly. Not with the skills of somepony who didn’t know how to swim at all and resorted to doggy paddling. The manner in which this strange thing was swimming through the ground was as if somepony had seen a professional swimmer once, a very long time ago, and was trying to mimic their movements from memory. A such, its arm movements were heavily exaggerated, almost to the point of being comical. 

The only reason that Vinyl wasn’t laughing at the moment was because she was more confused that amused by this thing. Even more confusing was the fact that she seemed to be the only pony able to see it. Nopony else in the whole market place was paying this small oddity that should have been the center of everypony’s attention any mind. It was swimming right by their legs, and yet nopony was noticing a creature so clearly visible. It was almost like they couldn’t even perceive it in the first place. 


Vinyl realized what this meant far too late.

When it was close enough to her, the Stand sprang up from the ground on a trajectory course straight for Vinyl. When it made contact with her body, just like with the ground, it began to swim through her as if she was just a liquid to it. Vinyl watched as her clothes and skin were rippled about, yet she felt only a strange phantom sensation from it. The Stand swam up Vinyl’s body as she stood there, still in shock from trying to process what was happening. By the time she regained her senses, the Stand had made it up to her chest. It reared its head back and then dove beneath her skin. Instantly, Vinyl felt it take a hold of her heart in squeeze. 

The response to this was near instantaneous, and lasted only a second. The second its user felt the attacking Stand take hold of her heart, she forced Bangarang to appear and snatch the MP3 player from her pocket. Bangarang shot it’s chord directly into it, and at the very same second hit the first track it could put its fingers on. The song was selected at max volume. Wasting not another fraction of a second, Bangarang put its hands on Vinyl’s body and shot as much throbbing music through her as it could.

Thankfully, Bangarang had been able to achieve the result that its user was hoping to with this. In addition to being loud enough to cause everypony in the marketplace to turn to her way, the music shook Vinyl’s body to its core. The sudden introduction of intense vibrations caused her would be assassin to lose grip of her heart and be violently ejected from her body.

An unfortunate side effect was that Vinyl herself was knocked off balance by the music. In the moment of shock this brough, she lost the concentration it took to keep Bangarang manifested. This was extremely unfortunate because Vinyl’s MP3 player was still in its hands. With nothing to hold anymore, the device was caught by the still vibrating sound waves and shot through the air. It hit the ground, shattering into multiple fragments of metal, plastic, glass, and electronic parts. 

Vinyl stumbled backwards until she hit a large stall behind her. The pony running it was ducked beneath it and covering his ears. Vinyl screwed her eyes shut and concentrated hard on the ringing in her head. Deep breaths brought it slowly down from a deafening roar to a manageable loud buzz. Her fingers gripped the stall as she pulled her eyelids open. They landed on the shattered MP3 player all the way across the road. 

It was not the fact that she had just lost an MP3 player that worried Vinyl; she had plenty more of those laying around in her room. Losing those things was surprisingly common when one worked in a club. It was the fact that the MP3 player had served as her only weapon that made this situation so much worse now. Even with her body still recovering, she knew she was bucked. Without it, she had no source of vibrations for Bangarang to amplify immediately on hand to defend herself with now! 

Vinyl saw the motion out of the corner of her eye once more. Whatever the thing was, it had landed right in the middle of a fruit basket upside-down. It rolled itself over like a bug, its legs sliding back into the solid matter under it. Now Vinyl could see it starting to swim once more. Yet as she stared at it, she swore it wasn’t swimming at its original speed. 

By now, everypony who Vinyl had originally captured the attention of with her stunt of self-defense had turned their heads back towards whatever their original orientation was. They had all just dismissed whatever had happened as something that was normal for Vinyl. Loud bursts of music followed by somepony being knocked off of their feet was practically expected from her by this point. While they couldn’t have possibly offered her any help in this situation anyway, that didn’t stop Vinyl from feeling somewhat betrayed while she scrambled to her feet and started running away from her swimming assassin.

As Vinyl ran away through the crowd, she tried her best to mentally assess the situation she was in. It wasn’t possible for something to swim up her body like that, and nopony else was reacting to it. This could mean only one thing: a Stand was currently trying to kill her. It could swim through anything like liquid, be it solid stone, dirt, basket or even ponies. It seemed to be trying to dive into her body and squeeze her heart. That was what was going to happen if she let it reach her. So right now she had one goal: prevent the Stand from reaching her and giving her a figurative heart attack. 

Vinyl shot her head behind her. Running headlong through a semi-crowded lot of ponies wasn’t the most effective place to run through, but given how slow it had been swimming earlier, she should’ve outran it by now. The more distance she put between it and her heart, the more her chances of survival increased. So when she instead saw it somehow matching pace with her, Vinyl’s body felt like locking up. 

Thus, Vinyl continued to run. The next problem Vinyl found herself facing was how exactly was she going to accomplish getting away form this Stand. Without any vibrations to amplify, Bangarang was only just as strong as she was, maybe a little more. Just testing out its strength at the local gym had taught her that. Against a Stand like this, however, she might as well have been fighting with an unloaded gun. The brashest solution of just punching it as hard as she could crossed her mind. But that was quickly pushed out when she realized it would probably just swim through Bangarang’s fist. Vinyl needed to fight this Stand without touching it. She’d have to use Bangarang’s vibration-enhancement, but she didn’t have any vibrations to use!

Vinyl shot out of the Market Square with a heave. Her chest felt like it was on fire, and her now cast-less arm felt sore from being pumped so hard. She skidded to a halt, trying to catch her breath in massive gulps. After a few seconds, she turned her head around to see the progress of the Stand. 

Somehow, the Stand had made massive gains on her, for she saw it emerge from the crowd the second she turned her head. It swam fast, the ripples it was producing increasing as it had now gone from a clumsy breaststroke to a powerful front crawl. When it got close enough, it leapt through the air once again towards Vinyl. 

In a panic, Vinyl reach into her basket and threw the first thing she felt at it: an onion. When it collided with the vegetables, the Stand ended up diving into all of its layers. As a consequence, it was dragged along with the onion as it arched past a group of confused ponies.

The adrenaline Vinyl was feeling skyrocketed as the Stand suffered a momentary setback. A setback that Vinyl would most certainly capitalize on. She immediately took a sharp turn around a corner. Then she ran down a narrow alleyway between two buildings. When she was coming up on a fence at the end of the alleyway, Vinyl did not halt. Instead she manifested Bangarang right in front of her with its hands on the ground. As soon as she stepped on them, her Stand vaulted Vinyl over the fence. She kept running past two more buildings before finally running behind a dumpster in another alleyway, crouching behind it and catching her breath again.

Vinyl put her hand over her heart and felt it race. She could practically feel it thumping against her chest at this point. This was the first time that her life had ever been directly threatened. She had to say that she wasn’t a big fan of it. She didn’t know how Twilight and her friends kept dealing with this on a near daily basis. But for now at least, she appeared to be… 

“What the?! No! Why?!” It was the slick, gooey noise above her that alerted Vinyl. She looked above her head and saw that the Stand had already found her. It was currently forcing its way through the wall. Vinyl barely had time to get up and move out of the way before it dove down at her. The Stand wasted no time at all the moment it hit the ground, swimming at her at an even faster pace than before. 

This thing was swimming way faster than it was the last time Vinyl saw it. It would be a mere two seconds before it caught her. In those two seconds, a question formed in Vinyl’s mind: Why did it swim this fast before? After those two seconds, the Stand leapt once again at Vinyl in the exact same way it did the previous two times. Without even looking back, Vinyl manifested Bangarang in its path, causing it to dive into her own Stands’ body. She immediately withdrew it at soon as she felt the Stand enter it. The enemy Stand’s momentum was cancelled as it fell to the ground, buying her an additional second. Though with how fast it currently was, that second would be made up for as soon as it started swimming again.

Something had to have changed to prompt this Stand’s sudden boost in speed. Something that was that had changed in the span of less than two minutes. If that thing could have swum that fast from the start, it would have. She needed time to process what was going on to make her suddenly start losing to this thing! 

The time it took Vinyl to think of that burned through the time she’d saved by her quick thinking. Now it was swimming right towards her foot and ready to swim up through her body again. Despite knowing it wouldn’t work, Bangarang slammed its fist down into the ground right in front of it. The Stand swam through the fist and up into Vinyl’s foot. 

Vinyl immediately had Bangarang grab her shoe, pulling it off her foot and flinging it away. The Stand remained inside it, and was flung into a nearby grouping of trashcans. It immediately began to swim out of and through the cans, still targeting her. 

She had to go somewhere where the Stand couldn’t get to her. It clearly had a destination in her, so there was no use in trying to lose it. But if she could find a way to make it have to go more of a distance to get to her than she had to get away from it, then she’d give herself the time she needed to think. 

An idea flared into her head. Immediately, Vinyl turned towards the dumpster she’d pressed against. Then she climbed on top of it. The building she was up against was the outside of a small shop that had two rows of windows, and that meant it had multiple floors. Without looking to check the Stand, Vinyl huffed willed Bangarang to jump up and pull the window open. She heard something snap, and then it slid open. 

Vinyl had Bangarang lift her up on its shoulders so she could grab the open window. It boosted her up as far as it could go, and Vinyl pulled with all her might. She flopped hard into the window, landing in the middle of a dining room. Thankfully, nopony was home for her to have to explain her presence just yet. She scrambled back up to her feet, then jumped back onto the windowsill and used it to boost herself up even further. The roof was now just within her reach. Bangarang helped give her that perfect amount of boost she needed to finally pull herself up onto it fully. 

Now came the hard part. Vinyl looked to the next building and gauged the distance. It was slightly lower than this building, perhaps maybe five feet away if she was calculating the right way. Vinyl backed herself up and immediately ran hard towards the edge of the roof she was on, and jumped. She crossed her arms as she leapt through the air, leaping between the buildings. A second later, her feet hit the inside of the edge of the next building, and she stumbled forward hard until she hit her knees. 

She shot her eyes behind her, even as she groaned and pulled herself up to her feet. A surge of victory filled her. The Stand had swum all the way to the roof of the next building, and now had to turn and swim down that building to get to the roof of the next building! Vinyl smirked in victory, but knew it would be short lived if she didn’t capitalize on this. 

From the brief look, she knew the Stand was swimming incredibly fast now. She quickly began to walk towards the other end of the roof, her hand on her chest. Her chest and legs were burning, but she couldn’t stop now. She had to figure out what was making the Stand follow her. Or more importantly, how it was getting faster every time she seemed to turn around and look at it!

Something had to be changing between every time she looked at the Stand. If the Stand was speeding up, perhaps it was tracking something? Perhaps it was like listening for music; the louder it got, the easier it was to find where the source was. If it was tracking something that way, then something had to be getting louder… or faster. 

The only thing that Vinyl could think of off the top of her head that was different between each time she saw the Stand and now was her heart beating faster. 

Was that it? The faster Vinyl’s heart beat, the faster the Stand would be? That was the only explanation that Vinyl could think of. And if it was linked to how faster her heart was beating, then it wouldn’t be too much of a leap in logic to assume that it was tracking her by her heartbeat as well. That would certainly explain how it was able to find her so easily. If that was true, then Vinyl would not be able to ditch the Stand. She would need to defeat it. 

The problem was that she couldn’t touch the Stand at all. It treated any solid object like a liquid. If Vinyl had just one source of heavy vibrations, then she could counterattack. She would have to improvise. She needed to think and find a source. But it was hard to think when the thing that was already right up in her face again. 

Even her massive improvisation had only brought her so much time, and now she’d burned through it. Vinyl snapped her head to the next building, and gulped. It was far taller than the one she was on now. Could she jump down? A quick glance told her no. But she had to do something, for the Stand was now swimming right through the roof and ready to leap towards her. 

Vinyl ran to the adjacent side of the room that faced the main street. Was there anything she could use? When she looked down, she held back a grin. There was a large overhang for the front door, and one that looked maybe just sturdy enough to take her weight. There wasn’t any time to test it, for the second she slid down the side of the roof, the Stand had leapt towards her once more. 

Thankfully, Vinyl hit the overhang first with her knees slightly bent, absorbing some of the impact. The Stand soared over her heard, its leap carrying it into the sidewalk under her. Despite the burning pain in her legs from taking that jump, Vinyl forced herself to awkwardly slide down to the overhang and slide off again. She landed once more with her knees bent, causing her to tremble from the pain. Yet the startled gasps of ponies of Vinyl seemingly descending from the sky was nothing compared to her own fear at seeing the Stand swimming through the sidewalk at her again.

It was too close this time for Vinyl to use her produce to defend herself, her basket being long gone with her climbing. She needed something bigger. Seeing the street up ahead with a car coming, Vinyl took a deep gulp and knew her only chance of surviving was a risky move. She darted out right in front of the car. Right before it hit her, she jumped above its hood and slid across it to the other side, right before the Stand leapt from the ground. This achieved the exact result Vinyl had hoped for. While the driver was blaring their horn and shouting profanities, the Stand had dove into the bottom of the car. Even more to her luck, the driver drove away, taking the Stand with it. 

With a few more seconds to think, Vinyl started running forward along the sidewalk again. She put her hands to her temples and tried to think of anywhere that would make loud noises nearby. Her own club was completely leveled, and that was the loudest place in town. As her ideas came up blank, she cursed Ponyville for being a relatively small and quiet town. Why couldn’t she have been in a bigger city with a lot more noise? 

Then it dawned on Vinyl. Small town becoming bigger! Right over the tops of the buildings nearby, she could see the peak of a massive crane. There was a building under construction just a few blocks from where she was! With all of the heavy machinery there, she could easily find ammo for Bangarang. This realization couldn’t have come at a better time either. By now, the Stand had gotten out of the car, and was back in her sight.

Vinyl took off running down the sidewalk. Thankfully, the car was going the complete opposite direction as the site, and she could make it there before it did… hopefully. Despite the pain in her legs from climbing and running, she made her way to the side as quickly as she could. Many ponies looked towards her with confused or annoyed expressions, but she could deal with an explanation for her actions today later. Right now, she had to survive. 

By the time that Vinyl reached the construction site, her assassin had made up for all of the lost gains on her. It was coming right back down the sidewalk, her running having let it maintain its top speed. She crossed over the yellow tape and flew across the mounds of dirt, not even looking back at the Stand. A wheelbarrel and several boxes were knocked over from her running into them. She passed by several machines and equipment, but that wasn’t what she was there for. 

She spotted the crane in operation and ran directly towards it. Ignoring all of the cries from construction workers about her lack of a hard hat, she wrenched the small metal gate and threw herself into the crane’s base. Vinyl had Bangarang shove its cord into the crane as hard as it could. She then skidded to a halt and pivoted around. The Stand was mere inches away from her body, and Vinyl brought her hands over her ears a second before she willed her Stand to activate.

What followed was a shrill, mechanical sound that erupted directly from the speaker in Bangarang’s hand. All of the construction workers held their hands over their ears at the sudden loud noise, but were otherwise unharmed. The force of the vibrations were concentrated entirely in the Stand’s direction. The results were immediate. Along with all the dirt and objects in its direction, the Stand was sent flying backwards through the air.

Vinyl didn’t let up, however. She kept forcing the sound of the crane’s engine out Bangarang’s hand for as long as she could, trying to do as much to the Stand as possible with it. She couldn’t even see it at this point, but she still kept projecting. A massive v-shaped crater was left in the dirt, digging its way all the way down until rocks could be seen under it. A massive dust cloud was created and fell over the site. 

Eventually, however, the sound stopped and nothing but silence came out of Bangarang’s hand. The operator of the crane had stopped the machine and had gotten out to see what was wrong with every pony. Vinyl pulled her hands away from her ears and rubbed her temples, waving the dust away from her face. It slowly began to clear as she coughed it away from her face.

Squinting her eyes, Vinyl tried to spot the Stand to see what damage she had done to it. She had hoped that she had defeated it, but would settle for at least injuring it. Across the construction site, she could see a massive pile of dirt from where her Stand had blasted it backwards. The Stand’s body could be seen poking right up out of it. As soon as the soundwaves stopped, The Stand resumed its pursuit. It appeared to be completely unharmed or unhindered. 

Vinyl cried out and ran towards the building frame. This Stand seemed to be invincible. Or at the very least, nothing she could do to it would be able to harm it. That amount of vibrations might have been able to shatter bones if somepony tried to stand directly in front of it! Somehow, this thing wasn’t even phased by it! 

That left her with only one other option: to find the user. Much like her own scuffle with Pinkie Pie, incapacitating the Stand User would completely shut down the Stand itself. The Princess had affirmed this in her discussion on Stands as well. Beat the user, the Stand would give up.

This is why Vinyl was currently climbing the building frame. She used Bangarang to lift her up level to level, until she was finally what would be the top of the second story. From up here, she had a pretty good view of everything. She looked around for somepony, anypony who seemed remotely suspicious. But she couldn’t see anypony. Nopony was around except for the construction workers below, who were all in a panic at her being up so high. The only other thing she saw was the Stand, which was swimming up the side of the frame. 

Getting down the way she came was not an option. It would be too slow and cause Vinyl to cross paths with the assassin. She needed to take a more direct route. Her earlier method came to mind, and she grimaced. After taking in a deep breath, Vinyl leapt from where she was. She tried to ignore the screams of the construction workers she was probably traumatizing right now and concentrate. She had no idea if this would even work or not. 

While she was falling, Vinyl called out Bangarang. Her Stand pulled the cord from its body and threw it at the crane. She then had Bangarang grab her and use the cord as a tether to swing itself itself forward. When it was approaching the height of its arc, Bangarang recalled its cord. The momentum it built up caused it to continue flying forward, over the fence of the construction sight, and forcing itself to stop just a few inches below the ground due to its levitating properties.

If Vinyl had been trying to lower her heart rate this whole time, she had just done a poor job of it. She had never felt such a rush in her life. Thankfully, she had managed to put some distance between her and the Stand. The fence would slow it down every so slightly, as it seemed to only be single-mindedly swimming directly towards her.

That was about the only good think of Vinyl could think of in this situation. There was a Stand trying to kill her right now. Not only could she not harm it, but she also couldn’t find the user. Nothing about this was looking good for Vinyl. It appeared as though the only fate for her was going to be death. She was certain she didn’t want to die!

So she kept on running, trying to find some way, any way, out of this. She was in pure desperation mode at this point. All of her plans had ended in failure. She tried to think of a new one frantically as she focused on her survival. Her sprint led her into a crowd of ponies, and eventually a dead end. 

Now forced to stop, Vinyl turned around and looked all around her. She couldn’t see the Stand at all. For a moment, that breaking of line of sight made her heart rate drop a tiny bit. Yet after a moment, she recalled something: the Stand could swim through ponies! All of these ponies around her, the Stand could have been inside of any one of them! Fear sank into Vinyl to the point where her teeth were chattering now. She slowly and cautiously walked through the crowd.

Everypony around her now was a potential threat. Vinyl was constantly looking over her shoulder. She looked to the sides and examined everypony carefully. She didn’t catch sight of the Stand yet, and that scared her even more. Paranoia sank in at the thought that she might have missed it. The walk seemed to last a million years. But at the end of that time, she made it through the entire crowd without seeing the Stand. Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh my Celestia, it’s Vinyl Scratch!” Vinyl nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the voice behind her. Turning around, she saw it was just a young colt who seemed ecstatic to see her. “I can’t believe it’s really you! I love your music so much! Can I get your autograph? I think I have some paper in my pocket for you to sign.

As the colt dug through his pants pockets, Vinyl saw his shirt begin to ripple like liquid. To her shock, the Stand was swimming out of her fan! Vinyl cried out and shoved the colt to his butt before darting off in the opposite direction. 

“W-wait, come back!” The colt cried out, holding a pen and paper in the air. “Please! I’ll only be in Ponyville another day! Please let me get your autograph!” When Vinyl looked back at him, she could see that the Stand was still coming out of the fan’s stomach. It was hitching a ride on him for now. Vinyl hated to refuse this kid her autograph, but he was unknowingly carrying her death on him!

Everything was overwhelming Vinyl now. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t formulate a plan based on any sort of logic. She didn’t even think about where she was going to at this point. She was acting on pure instinct now. Her body was on autopilot. She had nowhere to go. Nowhere was safe. She…. she had to get someplace safe! 

And this is how she found herself running straight through the town, pushing past any and all ponies that stood in her way. There was only one place that she ever had thought of as completely safe. Despite running almost halfway across the entire town, she soon found herself running upstairs to her apartment and slamming the door shut behind her. 

“Vinyl?” Octavia, Vinyl’s roommate, called from down the hall. “Is that you? For buck’s sake, how many times must I tell you not to slam the door like that?” 

Vinyl clutched her chest. She felt like she was going to collapse. Running so hard, so long, by now she felt like she would throw up. She gasped desperately, her entire body quivering.

The grey mare walked down from the hall, carrying a basket of freshly washed laundry. “Didn’t I tell you to pick up the ingredients for dinner tonight on your way home from the doctor? Don’t tell me you forgot them.”

Right now, Vinyl was huffing and puffing too hard with her back pressed to the front door to even register her roommate's nagging. In fact, it took her a minute to even realize that Octavia was there at all. 

Vinyl wheezed as she tried to get her breath. When she did turn to look at Octavia, Vinyl’s eyes instantly fixed on the laundry basket. Bangarang appeared behind her, but it was too late. The basket rippled for a half second right before the Stand shot out from the basket and leapt right towards Vinyl’s heart.

~~~

Vinyl Scratch’s heart stopped. A moment later, Façade felt Temposhark disappear from existence. The feeling made him let out a small sigh. Reaching down, he slowly crossed an image of Vinyl’s cutie mark from a list. 

Another assassination carried on behalf of his cult. Though he wasn’t apart of the Inner Circle, Façade had his place within the organization. Just like Crimson, he had a very specific and unique task on his hands: Façade was tasked with cleaning up every loose end that Crimson Spirit left behind with his -or any other member’s- failure. This involved assassinating every Stand user the failure had created, including killing Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the five miscellaneous users pierced by the arrow, and then finally dealing with Crimson himself. 

Though it was very tricky to activate, requiring him to memorize the rhythm of his victim’s heartbeat, there was a reason his speciality was assassinations. Crimson’s Stand let him create allies within any setting; his Stand was very efficient at killing once it got started. Thankfully for Façade, he was great at impersonating doctors. Once Temposhark locked onto a target, it would not disappear until he either made it, or its target’s heart stopped. In the past year, he’d taken care of fourteen ponies. This was his largest order yet, but he had no doubts the task was outside his abilities.

He chose his first target to be Vinyl Scratch because he learned she had a doctor’s appointment coming up soon. Posing as a substitute doctor was easy enough. This allowed him to get Vinyl’s heartbeat down very directly. For the rest of his targets, it would not be as simple. He would need to sit in the crowd and use magic to listen to their heartbeats from afar. It was a hard task, with so many possibilities for screw ups. But it would prove to be most efficient when Temposhark locked on.

Right now, Façade just had to dispose of Vinyl’s corpse. This would involve a lot of messy and time consuming processes. It was almost a shame he didn’t have Crimson here to help him; that stallion was always so talented at quick and easy disposal. Thankfully, he had been able to sense that his Stand ceased inside of an apartment building. He was afforded the luxury of privacy. Everything just seemed to be falling falling into his favor today.

That is what Façade was thinking to himself when he opened the front door to the apartment, and saw Vinyl leaning up against the opposite wall. At first, he assumed she’d simply died slumped against it. But a closer look of his revealed her arms were crossed, her face was scowling angrily, and she was very much still alive. 

“H...How?!” Was all Façade had time to stutter before he was grabbed by Bangarang.


~~~


There were a lot of dumb moves made by Vinyl today. Jumping off buildings, running headlong through crowds, and swinging from cranes were all dumb ideas. This was perhaps the dumbest one she made yet. She made up this plan in mere seconds, but it was her only fringe chance of living. 

The second she saw Temposhark, Vinyl kicked the laundry basket out of Octavia’s hands. What happened next transpired too fast for either of them to fully see. Vinyl caught Temposhark on her leg, forcing it to swim up her body. She kicked her leg up so high that she started to fall over backwards.

As she fell, Vinyl moved Bangarang in a very unusual place. It was half inside her body. Using the hand that was inside of her, Bangarang grabbed its user’s heart and held it still. Instantly, the worst pain she’d ever felt in her entire life had consumed her. Her chest felt ready to truly explode, her limbs went still, and her eyes were frozen open. Her body screamed at her to let it go, but she kept a grip on the organ through sheer willpower. If this Stand was tracking her through her heartbeat, then if she had none, then would it go away? 

As stupid and dangerous as her plan was, it worked. The second her heart stopped, Temposhark disappeared. This normally would have been a hollow victory, since Vinyl’s heart still stopped either way. This was Temposhark’s goal in the first place. But Vinyl had already started a way to restart her heart. 

At the same time Bangarang was grabbing its user’s heart with the hand inside of her, it launched its cord with the one that was outside. The cord’s destination was directly for Octavia’s throat. And as Octavia yelled at Vinyl, asking her what the buck had she just done to herself, she swore she heard her own voice echo from inside her roommate’s chest. 

The vibrations of Octavia’s voice were enough to restart the beating of Vinyl’s heart. She jolted awake, taking in a deep breath as she just improvised a defibrillation on herself. Even as she was still yelled at by Tavi, Vinyl grinned from ear to ear, knowing she had just won.

“Vinyl Scratch!!” Tavi shouted, “I just folded all that! Explain yourself!” 

Vinyl slowly coughed, slowly turning her head up towards Tavi. Despite the pain she felt, her lips were curled into a massive grin as she plugged Bangarang back into her throat, “Heh...heh...heh…” She rubbed her chest, “Look, I’ll explain later. Right now, do you think you can get some water?” She sighed, “My heart is beating so fast right now…”

~~~

“Alright, so you know I’ve got a lot of questions for you,” Vinyl’s voice echoed through Bangarang. “And trust me, I intend to beat them all out of you in a bit. But for now, you’ve really ticked me off with all the running you and your dumb Stand forced me to go through today. So would you mind if I blew off a little steam first?”

Of course, Vinyl didn’t wait for a response from Façade. She simply walked towards the kitchen, having Bangarang drag him while he struggled and kicked in the Stand’s grasp. Vinyl leaned up against her dishwasher. Bangarang tossed its cord to her. Vinyl plugged the cord into the dishwasher. Bangarang put both of the speaker’s on its palms up against Façade’s ears. Vinyl turned a knob on the dishwasher up to eleven.

“Time for the wub cycle, baby!”
> Crimson Wounds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Aloe had at least one regret in her life, right now it would be attacking Rarity and Fluttershy on their Spa visit.
 
This was not just because she regretted hurting customers, that much was a given. No, the real reason she regretted it was losing almost two weeks’ worth of supplies in a mad dash to take Rarity down as quickly as possible. So as she hoisted a large crate up onto her lower arms, the mare had to hold back a roll of her eyes while forcing herself to take a shaky step forward. Even if she’d told herself the crate was heavy, she still wasn’t prepared for just how heavy it was. She stumbled backwards the second her foot left the ground, the weight shoving into her chest.
 
“Here!” A gruff voice suddenly rang out, and two small but beefy arms took hold of the crate. Almost as though it weighed nothing, the crate was hoisted up onto the stallion’s shoulder.
 
“T-Thank you, Bulk…” Aloe shook her arms out, her forearms burning and throbbing “These crates must be extra full today!”
 
“Heh, they probably are! I can’t tell!” Bulk Biceps easily held the crate up on one arm, taking one in his left arm as well, “I’ll get these, why don’t you head back inside for now?”
 
“Are you sure, Bulk? I’m sure I can manage out here with you just fine…” Aloe winced as she tried to pick up another crate.
 
“I’m sure!” Bulk leaned forward, putting his hand on Aloe’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze, “This is a pretty big shipment, especially after all those crates downstairs melted when the boiler went off! I’ll unload these while you handle the customers up front!”
 
Giving a nod of thanks, Aloe gave a weak smile and fixed her hair back. As she made her way out from the back of the spa, seeing Bulk unloading crates effortlessly made her gaze waver. She’d have to give him more thanks later for this.
 
Aloe put that thought out of her mind as she made her way briskly back into the spa, cutting down the main hall to head back up front. Along the way, she stepped into the small break room, grabbing her white apron from the rack beside the door. As she slid it over her head, she looked up to the bulletin board for her shifts. Bulk was working late tonight, and was filling in for her massage shifts it seemed. That stallion had a real drive to work, Aloe had to admit.
 
She herself had to start servicing customers here soon, this was a business after all! A few more steps and an opened door and Aloe was behind the counter in her lobby with what looked to be 8 ponies waiting. Rarity was here for her tri-weekly visit, along with a few other regulars. Nopony that Aloe didn’t recognize.
 
“Sorry to keep you wait, everypony!” Aloe called out as she flipped a page on her desk clipboard, “I’ll be taking care of your treatments today.”
 
“Miss Amethyst, Miss Cherry Blossom, Miss Rarity, please, come with me,” Aloe straightened her back, “We’ll get you each started on your circuits. I’ll be taking care of your massages while Lotus w-”
 
Aloe froze for a brief moment before shaking herself, “Ahem, I’ll be taking care of all of you. Please, follow me.”
 
As the three mares stood up to follow Aloe into the spa, she intentionally kept her back to them. Her fingers drummed on the back of the clipboard. Had they heard her mention Lotus? It was no secret by now that she was missing; between her and Bulk, they were still perpetually backed up. Why she’d made that slip-up today she didn’t know.
 
“Miss Rarity, the steam room should be ready for you momentarily. I will prep the mineral baths for you two,” Aloe bowed gently, “We’re deeply sorry for any wait we may have caused you.”
 
“Oh it’s no worries, dear,” Rarity shook her head, “I know you’re a very efficient spa. Though I missed my last appointment and I think my pores have just completely closed off! A steam should do just the trick.”
 
“Would you come check up on me after you’re finished prepping for them, Aloe?” Aloe was taken aback hearing Rarity continuing to speak. Amethyst and Cherry both rolled their eyes, albeit in a playful manner. 
 
Both mares gave Rarity a strange look, who only smiled at them. Aloe’s fingers started to silently drum against the clipboard she had. Tentatively, she nodded her head.

“Yes, of course, Miss Rarity…” Aloe felt a shiver go up her spine as she turned her back on Rarity, the white mare descending down a small incline to reach the steam room.
 
Years of experience meant getting the two baths prepped took only a few minutes, and most of that was letting the baths refill. After taking care of said baths and promising the two mares she’d be right back, Aloe made her way over into the main hallway. It wasn’t that long of a trip to the steam room, but even as irrational as she knew this worry was, it still felt like she was walking to her mother to receive a punishment.
 
Her hand almost felt as though it was trembling when she reached forward to knock on the door, calling out, “Miss Rarity? You requested me?”
 
“Come in, darling!” Rarity’s voice called back, “Take a seat!”
 
While Aloe wasn’t sure what Rarity wanted, she slowly nodded her head and stepped inside. She shut the door to the room quickly so the building steam wouldn’t escape. Once inside, she nervously slid onto the bench, turning her head up towards Rarity and opening her mouth to speak, only to be cut off.
 
“There’s no need to be so tense around, me, Aloe dear,” Rarity gave a coy smirk and leaned her head back, “What happened between us has passed already.”
 
“Of course, Miss Rarity…” As though she’d just been hit in the gut, Aloe gave a hard exhale and slowly looked down towards the ground. Shaking her head to clear it, Aloe slowly bit her lip, “Is there anything you needed?”
 
“Why it’s not what I need, but you,” Rarity’s lips curled into a tiny frown, “Not to be rude, but I couldn’t help but hear that slip-up. Is everything alright, Aloe?”
 
“I…” Aloe’s lip quivered. It was supposed to be okay now. She wasn’t under that stallion’s control anymore. She had her spa back. And… and Rarity wasn’t upset with her. This was supposed to mean everything was okay now. “I’m… still searching for Lotus.”
 
“So they still haven’t found her yet,” Rarity’s little frown fell ever further.
 
“N-No…” Aloe’s hands quivered, “Nopony has. Nopony has even seen her since… since the last time I spoke to her. I know that she has to be somewhere but… but I can’t find her. I don’t even know where to start looking…”  
 
“I’m certain you’ll find her,” Rarity spoke a bit slower, as though deliberating the proper words, “A sister’s bond is a strong one. Do you feel that she’s still here?”
 
“Yes, I do. But,” Aloe muttered, “She’s been gone for almost three weeks now… and that’s if my memories aren’t, corrupted anymore by that stallion. There’s so much I just don’t remember!”
 
“Just keep looking, dear!” Rarity’s lip twitched, “You’ll find her. Don’t give up hope! I’ll ask Twilight today if she can help. She might have some resources we don’t.”
 
“I’m not so sure that it would, Miss Rarity…” Aloe shook her head, “I don’t even know what memories are my own anymore. Everytime I think about, the last time I saw Lotus, the stallion is there. He’s in my head now. It’s… it’s like the memories flooded back, but the fake memories didn’t leave. Whenever, I think about Lotus, I see him. And if, she was with him then… then…”
 
“If, you would excuse me, Miss Rarity,” Aloe suddenly slid up onto her feet, “But I must attend to our other clients. I… don’t have as many hands here as I’m used to.”
 
Rarity’s frown twitched, but she said nothing. She instead nodded her head, slowly turning to look towards the door as Aloe exited through it. It was her exiting the door so fast that made her forget to mind the little gap created by the steam room floor and the outer floor, and sent her towards the floor quickly.
 
“Aloe!” Bulk shouted from down the hallway, “I got the boxes downstairs! Let’s sort them all out tonight!”
 
“Sure thing, Bulk! Do you think you could help me with our regular circuits?” Aloe called back.
 
“Got it! Who do we got?” Bulk’s massive form appeared from around the corner. 
 
“Amethyst and Cherry, they’re in the baths at the moment!” Aloe gestured, “I’m going to get the massage room ready so we can transition them there. Do you mind checking up on the ba-”

“ALOE! Yo, Aloe!”
 
“Vinyl?!” Aloe turned on her heel, whipping about to see Vinyl standing in the middle of the hallway, panting hard. Her hair was even more unkempt than usual, and were those bruises? Despite this and her glasses being cracked, her eyes were wild with excitement. Aloe noted Bangarang’s chord plugged into the DJ’s throat.
 
“Yeah, that’s me!” Vinyl grinned, “Oh gosh you’re not gonna believe what just happened! There was this Stand, he chased me all around town! I swung around on a crane and stopped my own heart! Oh and I lost my groceries, but that’s not the point!” Vinyl ignored the fact she hadn’t even been making a point in the first place, “We gotta tell Twilight about this right now!”
 
“Right now?” Aloe blinked, “I agree we should talk to her but, is there a reason..?”
 
“Vinyl can talk?!” Bulk’s head shot between the two of them, “I’m into the new voice but when did Vinyl learn to talk!?”
 
“Long story, not enough time! And trust me, oh it’s a big one!” Vinyl smirked, “Come on, I’ll tell you on the way! Let’s just say that Crimson guy is screwed!”
 
~~~
 
Twilight’s horn lit up above her, causing a nearby tape recorder to press record. She telekinetically lifted the object up above her head, holding it there and taking a seat on a small silver chair in front of the doors to the cell bars. At the same time, a notepad hovered in front of her, along with a pencil. All three hovered just out of her view so she could view her target.
 
Across from her, Crimson lay atop his cot. The stallion’s eyes were unfocused, staring up at the ceiling as though counting the number of lines in it. Whilst he now longer had his blazer on, the clothing he’d worn during the fight at Sweet Apple Acres he still wore, despite the tears and gashes in them from the final attack on him. As Twilight spoke, his eyes didn’t even turn to look at her.
 
“Your name is Crimson Spirit,” Twilight’s voice echoed through the room, “You have murdered one stallion, Data Stream, and took at least 6 ponies under your Stand’s control, including one foal. You threatened to use your control to assist in suicide, and attempted homicide on five others, myself included. You also manipulated a mare into giving you sanctuary for several months. Do you or do you not agree to these allegations levied against you?”
 
We’ve... been over this, Sparkle,” Crimson, his breath coming in small rasps whilst he attempted to lift himself up from his cot, took in a deep enough breath to scoff, “It should be obvious what the answer to that is.”
 
“Answer my question, Crimson! Do you or do you not agree to these allegations levied against you?!” Twilight’s horn lit up, taking hold of Crimson’s neck and pulling him upright fully in the cot. 

“I would either ask me a question you actually want the answer to, or leave me be to rot in this rock-candy colored dungeon.” His almost condescendingly slow and drawn out response sent Twilight’s lip twitching, “I’m not answering worthless questions.”
 
Twilight’s fingers curled into her palm, but otherwise her body showed no signs of moving. She stared at him for a long moment, trying to meet his gaze. His yellow orbs never betrayed anything about him, not his thoughts, nor his feelings. All he did was stare back at her, with that same unflinching, unwavering gaze of anger, annoyance and determination.
 
“If you cooperate with me, Crimson, then I can ensure that whatever punishment you received will be far less severe,” When she spoke again, her tone was less firm, “Right now you’re looking at banishment at best. I can make certain that you can might actually have a shot at instead being allowed to stay in Equestria.”
 
“Stay in Equestria? Really?” Crimson put a hand on his chest, “That’s the nicest thing you could ever offer me! I’m surprised you didn’t lead off with that!”
 
“I’m serious, Crimson,” Twilight frowned, “The severity of your crimes is enough to warrant banishment. You’ll be banished to lands so distant, so far from Equestria you’ll never find your way back. Is that what you want? To never set foot in this land again?”
 
Crimson, silent for a moment, slowly turned his head towards her. There was still nothing that was telling about him. Interrogation was about finding those little things to exploit. He gave her nothing, not a single twitch. 

“The land as it is now is rotten. You’re all rotten. You parade friendship about like you know what it actually means, when you cling to the words uttered by foals just leaving primary school. You corrupt everything with it, even Discord. Yet when my Stand does the same, you call me evil…”
 
“Because your friendship isn’t genuine!” Twilight countered back at him, “You started friendships solely to exploit them. Friendship is a two way street; you just take from them and leave them. To know more about them. I’m willing to make friends with anypony. Anypony at all. And I’m willing to help you, if you’re willing to help me.”
 
“I don’t want your help!” Crimson scoffed, “I have all the help I need already.” He turned, “The rest will be coming for me soon enough.”
 
Twilight held back an exasperated sigh. She was back against this excuse again! She’d tried everything she knew on him, and even tried bringing in Verde to show she had the skills to make him talk. All she’d gotten was that Verde recognized him and that was it.
 
“Nopony is coming to rescue you,” Twilight stood up, “Not your allies, not your cult and certainly not any of the ponies you manipulated with your Stand. I’ll be downstairs later to talk to you. You should consider your options.”
 
The alicorn turned and cast a spell on the bars to the cell. The cell itself was made to only open to her magical frequency, something that had taken a good bit of doing but meant escape was impossible unless someone was able to steal her magic. Crimson, however, had shown no signs of even attempting escape.
 
Turning her way down a darkened hallway, Twilight made her way to a spiral staircase at the end of it. This entire section hadn’t been created with the rest of her castle when the Tree of Harmony had gifted it to her, and thus while the walls were painted magically to mimic the colors of the rest of the structure. This meant after a few steps, concrete turned to crystal, and Twilight’s wings ruffled as the far colder underground transitioned to the much warmer ground level.
 
After ascending back up to ground level, Twilight turned a few halls back into the main throne room. Inside, splayed out perpendicular to her throne’s back was Rainbow Dash, her knees dangling over the armrest and her head in her hands. Almost directly across from her in her own throne was Applejack, resting with her hat pulled down over her eyes and her chest rising and falling softly.
 
“Hey, Twilight!” Once back inside the throne room, Rainbow’s voice called out from her throne, “Did you get anything out of him?”
 
Applejack perked up under her hat, giving a little snort as she did so. She pulled it back up onto her head, straightening her back and stretching it up.
 
Casting an eye at how Rainbow was seated in her throne, Twilight plopped down in her own and tossed her notepad up onto the table. She magically pulled the pencil out from the notepad and then flung that on top of the notepad. 

“No. He won’t tell me anything! I tried a mind probing spell on him but he noticed it instantly. His mind is like an iron wall in there!” Twilight huffed, “It’s like he’s had this done before! He’s not even a unicorn, he couldn’t have spells on his mind to resist me! He’s just… a wall!”
 
“Aren’t there spells to force him to?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Why don’t you just make him talk?”
 
“I don’t think that would work. Those only work if the pony either doesn’t know or has too weak a will to resist. Crimson is adamant on not talking. I don’t think any amount of magical persuasion would do the trick,” Twilight rubbed her temples.
 
“Did he say anything about me?” Applejack leaned forward, “I still can’t remember much about him… I don’t even remember this whole spirits deal he was going on about.”
 
“Golden Harvest and Vinyl said their memories came back, but the fake ones didn’t disappear,” Twilight grimaced, “I think it might take a little while for you and Clear to actually get your memories back, since you two were under his control the longest.”
 
“I still don’t like thinking about what I almost did to y’all… to all y’all…” Applejack frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. 
 
We talked about this, Applejack.” Twilight stood up and made her way over to Applejack, putting a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezing it, “What you did that day wasn’t you. None of us knew anything about him, it isn’t your fault.”
 
“Well, let me at him!” Appearing above Rainbow, 2M2M moved around to place its hands on her shoulders, helping lift her up from her throne to look over at Twilight, “I’m sure I can get him talking once I’m done with him!” Both Rainbow and her Stand brought their knuckles together.
 
“No,” Twilight calmly retorted, “It’s important that only one interrogator be interrogating him. Otherwise it’ll give the impression that I can’t do this by myself.”
 
“Where’d you hear that?” Rainbow frowned, 2M2M mirroring her by lowering its shoulders.
 
“Princess Luna,” Twilight responded, “She said if you ever need to interrogate somepony, you can’t show any weakness. Any weakness and they’ll push right through you.”
 
“Well then maybe we should go down there together,” Applejack propped her arm up on the table, her hand curling into a fist, “There’s more than one way to make a pig squeal after all.”
 
Twilight turned her gaze away from the two of them. She’d needed to focus here, and think this through logically. Crimson was a tough nut to crack. She slowly put her fingers together in front of her, sifting through the jumbled mess of thoughts. Her breath began to pick up as she thought harder and deeper.
 
She needed more information about the cult. Discord’s box had just been one big history lesson. Nothing in it seemed to pertain to today! She sucked in another breath. Why would a cult be sending in somepony to go and make Stand Users everywhere? Why now? What did all this have to do with Discord?
 
“Uh, Twilight?” Applejack raised an eyebrow, “You’re doing something funny with your breathing there.”
 
“Huh?” Yanked out of her thoughts, Twilight put a finger to her lip before she shook her head, “Oh, sorry. It’s something Princess Celestia taught me.”
 
“Breathing funny?” Rainbow snickered, “Didn’t you learn that on your own?”
 
“No, Rainbow,” Twilight frowned, “She taught me proper breathing techniques. Just like how I’m sure you had to learn proper gliding techniques.”
 
Before Rainbow could respond to her, a loud banging filled the room. Twilight turned towards the main entrance to the throne room, her magically enhanced hearing picking up the sound coming from the front door. Unfurling her wings, Twilight took off into the hallway, landing at the front door and opening it up slowly.
 
The door swung open, nearly striking Twilight as Vinyl and Aloe burst inside. Aloe was panting, her hairband taken off and her hair splayed out behind her. Sweat coated her forehead and her legs were a bit wobbly. Vinyl, despite having come with her, didn’t seem to have broken much more of a sweat in doing so.
 
“Hey! Princess!” Vinyl’s reverb-enhanced voice yelled out loud enough to make Twilight flinch, “I got some big news for you!”
 
Twilight frowned, rubbing her ears at the loud voice. She took hold of the doors magically and caught them from swinging out into the walls. Slowly, she reset them and stood up front her throne. 

“Vinyl,” Twilight huffed, “Can you keep your voice down? I understand this is still new to you, but I’m sure the Yaks can hear you when you yell like that!”
 
“Oh, heh, sorry. Still figuring out how loud is too loud to talk and all that,” Vinyl shrugged her shoulders, “But you’re never going to believe what just happened to me!”
 
“Vinyl got attacked by an enemy Stand User!” Aloe coughed and hit her chest, “It attacked her just an hour ago!”
 
Vinyl slowly turned her head towards Aloe, giving her a strange stare before turning her head back forward. She adjusted her glasses and pursed her lips together. Twilight cut them both off before they could say anything else.
 
“Wait, what?!” Twilight gasped out, her wings spreading wide and darting forward, looking Vinyl up and down and using her magic to turn Vinyl around to look at her, “Are you okay?! Did it hurt you?! Where’s the User?!”
 
“Woah Woah Woah!” Vinyl flailed her arms until Twilight let go of her with her magic, at which point she scoffed, “Easy there, Princess! This guy called himself Façade, and he’s with the police right now. I said he tried to assault me in my own home which uh, was mostly true!”
 
“There was another enemy Stand User in Ponyville?” Twilight pursed her lips together, nodding before turning around and looking off towards the throne room, “Let’s get the full story here. You can come too, Aloe.”
 
Aloe rolled her eyes but nodded, following after Vinyl as the three made their way into the throne room. Once there, Vinyl plopped herself down in Pinkie’s throne, leaning back and melting against the back of the chair. Aloe took a seat in Rarity’s throne, crossing her hands over her lap and sitting upright to look about. Rainbow and Applejack perked up before Twilight took a seat in her own throne.
 
“Alright, Vinyl,” Twilight frowned, “Tell us about the Stand User.”
 
~~~
 
“So,” Applejack snorted, “The cult’s trying to snuff us out already?” She sighed, “I thought we’d have at least a week before they found out we took him.”
 
“Same,” Twilight muttered, “We’ve only had him for three days and already the cult found out, and they knew about all the Stand Users he created….” Twilight sighed, “And you’re sure that Façade said he was there to kill all of us and Crimson?”
 
“Yeah, he called me a ‘loose end,’ he didn’t say he was there to kill Crimson but he kinda implied it. Like how you imply you’re gonna be out late when you say you’re going to one of my gigs, that sort of thing.” Vinyl sighed and leaned her head back and up, resting in Pinkie Pie’s throne, “You know, for crystals these thrones are pretty dang comfortable.”
 
“I know, right?” Rainbow grinned, “I had the same thought when I saw these things for the first time!”
 
While the two shared a chuckle, Twilight was pondering over what was just said to her. She started to write a few more things down, circling a few lines and scratching out others. 

Applejack, taking notice, raised an eyebrow, “What’cha thinkin’, Twilight?”
 
“I think I have just what I need now to make Crimson talk,” Twilight tapped her page, “He may not be loyal to Discord, but he’s loyal to this cult. Once I tell him that the cult tried to have him offed, I think he might cooperate with us.”
 
“Really? Sweet!” Rainbow sat upright, gripping her armrests, “Go down there and tell him now! Let’s get him talking so we can beat these cult guys!”
 
“No,” Twilight shook her head, “If I talked to him now it’d seem like I was making this up. We need to wait a few hours and let him think that we were off doing something else. Once I can get him to tell us where the cult is stationed, then I can tell Celestia and have this group shut down.”
 
“What?!” Rainbow shot upright, her wings open and her hand coming down on the table, “You’re gonna let Celestia take care of this!? Crimson attacked us and our friends! If anyone should be going after him, it’s us!”
 
“If we tell Celestia, she can mobilize the guard and have them taken out in a few hours!”Twilight frowned hard, “If we go, they’ll just pack up and move. Celestia might be able to have Luna lead a strike team and end this entire situation. Spike started breathing fire again, so once I get the message we’ll send a letter to Celestia secretly.”
 
Rainbow growled, “Won’t Celestia just send us anyway? Crimson tried to kill us! The least we can do is go and get this cult ourselves! We’ll save Equestria again for like the billionth time now!”
 
“We don’t even know what this cult even wants,” Twilight pointed out, “I need to get that information out of Crimson first, then we’ll see what we need to do. For right now, we need to wait to talk to him,” Twilight turned to Vinyl and Aloe, “You two are welcome to stay in the castle if you like.”
 
“I actually gotta go out and get all the groceries I kinda left in an alley getting away from Temposhark,” Vinyl rubbed her neck, “I wonder if they’re still there actually…”
 
Aloe looked up at Twilight. The entire time that Vinyl had spoken, she hadn’t said a word. She’d been staring off into the walls of the castle, not giving anyone that long of a glance or even acknowledging what was said. Being addressed directly made her just nod her head, still not saying anything and just slowly sliding to her feet.
 
“Alright,” Twilight smiled, “If you two want anything, the kitchen is down the hall, third door on the right.. If you need anything else, Rainbow knows the castle,.” She picked her pencil back up, “I got a speech to write.”
 
~~~
 
In his cell, Crimson’s eyes were shut as breath slowly came through his nose. His hands rested overlapped on his chest, and he laid completely still. The gentle sound of his breathing was the only noise to fill the dungeon, a comforting one amidst the darkened halls and crystalline colored walls. The thin magically imbued crystals giving light to the walls produced no sound, not a hum nor a crackle, and thus the deathly quiet sound of the dungeon prevailed.
 
A slight twinkling noise filled the air, shattering the silence. The slanted bars of Crimson’s cell slowly turned parallel, sliding towards the right and leaving the exit open. A moment later, Twilight stepped past the barricade. She slowly reached out to take her chair that she’d used earlier, sliding it to her and taking a seat. The bars behind her slid back into place with a small metallic screech.
 
At first, Crimson didn’t move. His breathing continued, and his eyelids didn’t even flutter at the noise. It was not until Twilight had fully seated herself and had opened her mouth to draw in a breath that his lips moved in an eerily peaceful manner.

“Welcome back to my cell, Sparkle. Thank you interrupting my nap. That isn’t very friendly of you, is it?”
 
“We both know that you weren’t napping,” Twilight responded swiftly, “I have some information that you might find interesting, Crimson Spirit.”
 
“I doubt there is much information that I can find anywhere near interesting, stuck in this little cell as I am,” Crimson still didn’t move anything but his lips, “If this is about the arrow again, it was a gift from my allies. All I know about the arrow you already know for yourself.”
 
Twilight’s eyebrow twitched. Crimson was trying to redirect her thoughts already, and she had only just given her first statement. She would have to remain hyper focused if she wanted to get anything actually useful out of him it seemed. She straightened her back up in seat, allowing her wings to unfurl enough to cast a small shadow over the floor. Her chair was situated so that the light crystal on the wall was directly behind her.
 
“Vinyl Scratch is dead,” Twilight grimaced, her tone lowering, “One of your cult has killed her.”
 
“Really?” Crimson chuckled, “You’re an awful liar, Sparkle. I was sent here alone. I didn’t even know Verde existed until you showed him to me… how is he doing, by the way? I noticed you haven’t kept him here within the castle… or do you detain so many ponies under the name of reformation you have a second dungeon?”
 
“Vinyl was killed by a Stand named Temposhark,” Twilight frowned, “The Stand swam into her heart and mauled her to death.”
 
At the mention of the Stand’s name, Crimson’s eyes opened. He sat up rather quickly, his gaze burrowing hard into Twilight once more. As they met, it was almost as though a battle of wills was once more at place, and Twilight wasn’t sure what the competition was.
 
“Really?” Crimson growled, “That was the name of the Stand? Temposhark? And he killed Vinyl Scratch?”
 
“Yes, he did,” Twilight did not falter, “We found Façade impersonating a doctor and arrested him. He was sent here to take care of you and every Stand User you created. We found this on his person when we arrested him.”

Twilight produced a small journal, tossing it over to Crimson. Through her connections to the police, she’d obtained the notepad that Façade had on him. Just like she had suspected, all of the ponies that Crimson had pierced as well as her friend’s cutie marks were on it. She, however, had left it open to the page that contained Crimson’s mark just underneath that of Golden Harvest. 
 
“…Tell me exactly what Vinyl looked like when she was brought in,” Crimson only looked to it for a single second,  refusing to break his gaze, though Twilight could see his fingers tightening. 
 
“She looked normal,” Twilight shook her head, “The doctors think it was a heart attack. There were no visible wounds on her body. It was like, her heart was stopped from the inside, she was dead before she hit the ground.”
 
The two continued to stare each other down for several seconds. Crimon’s fingers tightened around his bunk, straining his knuckles to the point of them going white. Just when Twilight swore he was about to overpower her, his eyes finally broke her gaze and he shot his head down to look at the bunk.
 
“So… they sent the cult’s cleaning crew… after me…” Crimson’s eyes shut tightly, his arms shaking, “Those… those bastards…” Slowly, Crimson opened his eyes just enough to look at his right wrist, staring at it and making a single friendship band form, a charm with a strange mark on it. Slowly, he brought his left hand up to fiddle with the charm, twisting it back and forth and feeling it against his skin.
 
“They didn’t trust you enough not to talk,” Twilight pressed, “And already they’ve taken down one of your loose ends. We caught Façade, but what about any others? If you are not careful, they will do the same to Aloe, Clear Skies, Applejack, Twist and eventually, you!” Twilight scowled, “Unless you are willing to answer my questions so I can provide you with the protection you need…” Twilight looked to his wrist, “You don’t exactly have many friends you can turn to right now.”
 
Crimson gave Twilight an angered look, trying to hold it but finding his rage directed elsewhere. His finger slowly released the charm he was fiddling with, letting his wrist return to normal. He took in a deep breath. His hands curled into fists before releasing, resting calmly on his thighs once more. The rage seemingly evaporated from his body as he turned his gaze up to Twilight.
 
“Alright then, Princess…” Crimson narrowed his gaze, “Maybe I’ll answer some of your questions. Depending on what you ask me.”
 
Twilight let her scowl slip into a neutral smile, but internally she was grinning. She’d have to act carefully here, but if she could get him to talk then she might have a chance! 

“My first question is this: what were the details of your mission here in Ponyville?”
 
“Ah,” Crimson slowly leaned back down to lay on his cot again, “Exactly what I thought you’d ask. My mission was to do two things: to make certain the town would be a favorable environment for whatever mission the cult has, and to make sure specifically that you, Sparkle, did not interfere with those plans. With my Stand, I was the best suited for the job.”
 
“And that mission is?” Twilight pursed her lips together.
 
“I have no idea,” Crimson turned towards Twilight, meeting her look of disbelief, “I’m being serious here, Princess. The cult has an inner circle, and they are the ones who hand down the orders. I’m simply an agent that’s close to the inner circle. Nopony is every allowed into the circle. They are the ones planning everything….”
 
“What do you know about this ‘inner circle’ outside of the fact they handle the planning?” 
 
“Well,” Crimson sat up again “That depends on what rumors you want to go by. I know there are a total of nine of them, including the leader. Only one of them gives orders, we know him simply as V. But he isn’t the leader, he’s, a right hand, you might say,” Crimson leaned back, “V is the only one I’ve ever heard from. Each of us have met the leader when we were initiated… none of us know what he looks like. Some have said that they actually remember when Discord was in reign, and that’s why they’re so devoted to him. Though, that would require them to be living for over a thousand moons, so I have my doubts.”
 
The box Discord had given her, he had listed ten ponies as being apart of the original cult. The number was close to the nine that Crimson had pointed out… but that would also require that they be alive far longer than the average lifespan as Crimson already pointed out. And if he had only heard of somepony named V before, that didn’t tell her anything useful.
 
“Where is the cult situated, Crimson?” Twilight sat forward.
 
“It’s not ‘situated’ anywhere…” Crimson rolled his eyes, “I think you would have gotten this from Verde, but we don’t go to organized meetings. After I entered the cult I never saw another member in my life. We receive messages that tell us what to do. The only time we meet each other is when we go to meet the leader, and when we get paired up for assignments. The only ponies that would stay together are maybe the inner circle, but again I don’t know where that is,” Crimson paused, “Where you planning on using my information here to try to take out the cult in a single move, Sparkle?”
 
“What?” Twilight frowned, “I don’t have to have a plan for every little action I take,” Her fingers tapped her thigh, “How large is the cult, number wise? If you don’t know, then is this your first mission you’ve ever undertaken?”
 
“Clever, Sparkle… the answer to the first one is indeed I don’t know, and to the second I don’t actually have any clue. Now your third question...” Crimson shook his head, “This would be my… perhaps, fifteenth if I count my little surprise job in Fillydelphia.”
 
Twilight felt she was reaching the limit of Crimson’s knowledge of the cult. If the cult didn’t meet in one place, and everything was done in the messages Verde had received, then she couldn’t exactly sit here and continue to press him for information on it. She would need to ask different questions, and get other answers while he was actually cooperative.
 
“Data Stream,” Twilight frowned, “Explain what happened with him.”
 
“Mhm… yes, Data Stream,” Crimson frowned, “You and your friends pushed me a bit towards the thin side of my abilities, and I needed a Stand User fast. I’m sure by now you know that I can alter memories with my Stand here… well, if I altered the memories that I was in for Data Stream, he’d forget everything I taught him about Straight to Video. So I was forced to instead just erase my name and how we met. He tracked me down when the fight went south… and I couldn’t have him giving my identity away, now could I?”
 
“I suppose you couldn’t… I don’t know what good it did you,” Twilight leaned back in her own chair, her fingers drumming, “Why did you choose the ponies you did for your Stand?”
 
“Honestly?” Crimson shrugged, “Proximity and convenience. I’ll go ahead and explain it too, since you’ve already seen it in action: my Stand works by using the friendship that I generate with a pony to put them under my control. Ponyville just so happens to be one of the friendliest places in Equestria, and I met Clear Skies the day I arrived,” He looked up at Twilight, “I formed a genuine friendship with all of them. Even Aloe… that one took a little while. She thought I was just some business pony for the longest time after all…”
 
“Does this Stand have a name?” Twilight leaned forward, “You certainly liked showing it off at Sweet Apple Acres.”
 
“Naming a weapon is such a sick concept…” Crimson huffed, “Naming something implies that you hold a certain degree of affection for it. I would prefer if I am going to attack someone else, I am not attached to the very thing that I use to drain the life from their eyes. But!” Crimson raised a finger, “I suppose if you were to ask them to describe my ability… I suppose they’d say I Know You Too Well.” He paused, “Yes… Know You Too Well, that would be an interesting name. That was, if I were a sadist of course.”
 
“Do you have anything to do with the disappearance of Lotus?” Twilight’s fingers drummed a bit faster.
 
“Mhm… maybe, you don’t need to ask me that question, Sparkle…” Crimson grinned, “Aloe already knows the answer to that.”
 
“That is not what I asked,” Twilight shook her head, “Now, tell me, yes or no, did you have something to do with Lotus?”
 
“Of course I did!” Crimson grinned, “But I don’t answer pointless questions. You’ll have to find those answers out on your own!” 

Twilight’s fingers stopped, “I said if you didn’t cooperate, I couldn’t help you. Right now, you need me to help you.” 

“I actually don’t need anything from you,” Crimson retorted, “If the cult has a death threat on my head, I’m going to die soon enough. I’m only doing this out of the goodness of my heart. And I’m afraid that was a very shallow well you just dried up. I suggest you make like your Stand and just disappear.”  

“We weren’t talking about Stands,” Twilight shook her head, “Several ponies have gone missing, and you’re the only connection. I need to know if you had anything to do with it.” 

“And my answer to that is I won’t tell you!” Crimson turned his head away, “You already know the answer. If I said it, I’d just be stroking your fragile ego.”

Twilight’s fingers clenched. It looked like she was reaching the end of her rope with him. She had gotten something out of him at least… perhaps she should end it now. 

“I have one last question then, Crimson,” Twilight leaned back, “Why did you join the cult?”

Crimson’s breathing stopped. He sat there, looking up at the cell’s wall. He turned slowly towards Twilight, then sat up and gently crossed his legs, placing his forearms on his knees as he once more met his full gaze with Twilight’s own. 

“Because friendship took my family away from me,” Crimson smiled, “It took away everything I cared about. I lost everything because of it. And then, I realized something. Friendship, your values of spreading love and peace and acceptance, all of that, those were what hurt the most. I made a choice to reject them. And once I made that choice,” His smile turned into a grin, “They found me and explained everything.”

That was it. Twilight broke his gaze. She used her magic to open the cell doors up. His condescension had returned in force, there was no point in pressing further. She opened the cell bars and turned to look at him for a brief moment, then made her way up the hall.
 
With a small sigh, Crimson slowly laid back down on his cot.. For a brief moment, he picked up the notepad that Twilight had left. He flipped through its pages, then threw it across the cell. The stallion had no smile nor frown, and he simply seemed to wish to go back to sleep. His breathing once more filled the cell walls.
 
As Twilight ascended the stairs, a small portion of the crystal wall rippled like water. Once the mare had ascended the stairs, another mare stepped out of the wall as though it was water. Her Stand slowly took its hands off her face, and she set aside the small bit of tube between her lips. Slowly, she took in a deep breath, and stepped towards the cell.
 
“Is it true?” Aloe growled, “Did you have something to do with Lotus?”
 
“How long have you been hiding inside that wall there, Aloe?” Crimson answered without moving a muscle.
 
“That’s not the point!” Suddenly, Slippery When Wet’s fist had hold of Crimson’s shirt. The stallion yelped as he was suddenly dragged upwards and across the floor, pulled up towards the bars. His feet scraped the ground audibly as Aloe brought their faces as close as she could with the bars separating them, “I asked you, did you truly have something to do with Lotus?!”
 
For a brief moment, Aloe swore she saw fear in his eyes. But it was gone almost as soon as she thought she saw it. Instead, Crimson slowly reached up and put his hands on where Slippery When Wet was grabbing him, trying to tug his shirt back into place.

“Do you ponies ever listen to me? You already know the answer, Aloe. You know exactly what happened to her… or did Twilight not tell you about the arrow?”
 
“She… she mentioned it to me!” Aloe growled, “She said it’s how you get a Stand!”
 
“But you didn’t have a cut on your hand… did you?” Crimson slowly raised an eyebrow, “`How about I give you a little hint here: when you get pierced by the arrow, you’re not the only one that gets a Stand… does that ring some bells?”
 
Aloe growled, feeling her Stand’s grip on Crimson tightening. If she wasn’t pierced by the arrow, how did she get one? He had to have pierced somepony with it… and Spike almost died from it according to what she heard. How could she get a Stand from the arrow, if she wasn’t cut? There had to be a connection somehow…
 
...Connection…
 
“I see you're starting to figure it out,” Crimson rolled his eyes, “You take too long with these things. Think, what’s the only connection that matters between you and Lotus?”
 
Aloe felt something inside her starting to boil. Something raw. Something angry. Memories, those memories she was putting aside, thinking were fake. Lotus… she’d been sick one day, hadn’t she? She met Crimson around that time, but she didn’t know him. She didn’t know anything about the arrow! It was an arrow!

“You… You…” Aloe’s grip trembled, “Tell me it isn’t true! Tell me you didn’t cut Lotus with the arrow! Tell me!!!” Her voice heightened as Slippery When Wet brought Crimson’s face up to the bars, causing it to smack into them and send a reverb through the room.
 
“Guh…” Crimson shook his head, a bit of blood coming out of his nose, “Well I had to make a Stand User out of somepony. It just so happened that you had a sister. If you both developed Stands, that just meant I reaped double the rewards. In the end, I only needed one of you.”
 
Aloe’s pupils were visibly shaking. Her breath was coming even faster out of her lips. Her fingers were turning white. Her entire body seemed to be holding back something primal. Slippery When Wet was starting to mimic her feelings, its grip tightening and twisting Crimson’s shirt in its grasp. The stallion let out a wheeze as he was lifted up off the ground by Slippery When Wet.
 
“I want to hear you say it!!!” Aloe’s voice rose to a shout, “I want to hear you tell me right here and now you murdered my sister and stole my memories of it happening! TELL ME CRIMSON, TELL ME NOW!”
 
Crimson’s fingers started to curl into fists, but just as they tightened, he released them. Instead, he slowly let his head roll to the side to look at Aloe with an almost innocent gaze. Slowly, his lips curled into a tiny grin, and he let out a little laugh. A hollow laugh, one that seemed to pierce her skull with a dull blunt tip.
 
“If you’re so deaf you need me to say it… fine…” Crimson let out another chuckle before his head snapped straight, focusing his yellow eyes onto Aloe’s face, “I pierced your sister with the arrow, and what remains of her body is at Clear Skies’ house. She lacked the willpower to handle the power of a weapon, and instead you gained the Stand. You wouldn’t stop crying when you saw Lotus slowly withering away on her deathbed, so I did a little editing to make you think she instead was kidnapped by Princess Twilight Sparkle!” Crimson grinned, “Is that what you wanted to hear me say?”
 
In that moment, Aloe’s eyes seemed to dilate. Her pupils expanded, filling with the slightest hint of tears. The moisture culminated in a single tear rolling down her face, before Slippery When Wet’s finger turned it to steam. The constant shaking in her body stayed, leaving her completely still as her eyes met Crimson’s own. And in that moment, they both knew what was about to happen.
 
“Aloe! What the hay are you doing down here?!” Rainbow Dash’s raspy voice called out to her from the stairwell, “You’re not supposed to be down here without Twilight!”
 
“I’LL KILL YOU!!!” Aloe screamed, Slippery When Wet’s hand suddenly shooting up to grab Crimson’s temples, “I’LL BOIL YOUR BRAIN OUT OF YOUR SKULL YOU SICK STALLION!”
 
Crimson’s jaw opened wide, only to let out a dull wheeze as suddenly his head felt hot. Incredibly hot. His entire body went rigid, his eyeballs bulging out of his skull as his entire vision started to go hazy. In a matter of seconds, his limbs began to spasm. His body writhed and squirmed under the Stand’s attack, but his head remained perfectly still, held in place as it was by Aloe’s Stand.
 
“Hey!” The sound of jets roaring to life caught Aloe’s ear as Rainbow Dash had jumped on top of 2M2M, already soaring straight towards her, “Get away from Crimson right now, Aloe!”
 
“SHUT UP!” Aloe screamed, “COME ANY CLOSER AND I’LL KILL YOU TOO!”
 
As Crimson felt his grip on consciousness fading away, Rainbow spread her legs out in a running stance. Under her, 2M2M formed laying almost completely flat. Her hands only lightly gripped the handles, and her feet didn’t even touch the pedals to kick back on. Instead, she flared her wings out.
 
In less than a second, Rainbow Dash was already only a few feet away from Aloe. That split second, however, was all Aloe need to let go of Crimson’s head with one hand and shoot it over towards Rainbow Dash. Having simply used her Stand as a speed boost to get there, Rainbow had spread her wings out, planning to tackle Aloe to the ground.
 
Aloe, however, was seemingly faster. Whether by virtue of her own rage or strength, Rainbow’s face connected with Slippery When Wet’s fist in full force. For more mares, this would be enough to knock them out. But even as stars danced in Rainbow’s vision, the mare had seen her number of crash landings. And in turn, even as the flew backwards, Rainbow kicked her left leg out, knocking Aloe’s out from under her.
 
While her Stand didn’t need to let go of Crimson, the shock of being knocked back caused Aloe to instinctively draw it away from Crimson. The stallion crumpled to the floor, clutching his temples in turn as he continued to spasm. As Aloe hit the ground, however, Slippery When Wet’s hands shot out to catch her shoulders, hoisting her back up onto her feet. Rainbow had already climbed back up onto her own when Aloe’s hands had darted out to grab her face.
 
At the last second, the hands of 2M2M appeared to grab Aloe’s hands. Yet while 2M2M had gripped Aloe’s hands, Slippery When Wet’s wrapped around 2M2M’s to reach out for Rainbow’s temples. Time seemed to slow down as Rainbow saw the hands coming towards her face. Even as 2M2M tried to spread its fingers out to grab them, Rainbow knew it would be too late.
 
Just as Rainbow felt her face heating up, suddenly two ink cuffs wrapped around Slippery When Wet’s wrists. Before Aloe could react, the Stand’s arms were spread wide, causing Aloe to do so as well. Once she was removed from Rainbow Dash, the ink came together to form bands around Slippery When Wet’s arms. The bands colheased together into one large bind that prevented Slippery When Wet from moving its arms apart.
 
“Aloe!” Twilight’s voice shouted out towards Aloe, amplified via magic to cause the sound waves to hit her face, “What are you doing?!”
 
“He killed Lotus!” Aloe shouted without missing a beat, “He killed her, HER KILLED HER!” She tired to turn to face his cell, but the ink binds held her in place.
 
“...Rainbow,” Twilight slowly frowned and walked forward, “Keep an eye on Aloe while I check on Crimson.”
 
“You got it…” Rainbow, while panting slightly, simply turned to Aloe with her strained look. 2M2M took hold of Slippery When Wet’s shoulders, forcing Aloe down onto her knees. Twilight’s magic lit up, opening the cell as she slid past Aloe’s struggling form.
 
“Don’t you dare help him!!!” Aloe hissed, “He’s a murderer! A MURDERER!” She struggled hard, “He deserves to pay for what he did to Lotus!!”
 
Twilight said nothing. Instead, her magic slowly enveloped Crimson’s body and hoisted him up onto his cot. Her magic them moved up to his temples, seemingly seeping inside his head. 

After a few moments of silence, Twilight slowly sighed, “He’s going to be okay… he almost had a stroke,” Twilight withdrew her magic, “I don’t know much about healing spells, but he should be okay.”
 
Aloe let out a shout, devolving into a snarl as she tried to break out of the grip of both Stands. When that proved fruitless, she hung limp for a moment as sweat poured down her forehead. She panted hard, chest heaving as Twilight stepped out of the cell. Twilight slowly got down on one knee in front of Aloe, narrowing her eyes to focus on the squirming mare. After a few seconds, Twilight took in a deep breath.
 
“Aloe, you just attempted to murder somepony,” Twilight put her hands up on her knee, “This is a serious crime. No matter what Crimson has done, you’re not above the law. You cannot go and murder Crimson as though you have the right to do so!”
 
“Don’t start talking to me like that!” Aloe hissed, her anger still very alive in her, “He murdered Lotus, and if the arrow kills ponies if they don’t get a Stand, how many other ponies must he have murdered?!” Aloe spat in Twilight’s face, still struggling, “He was willing to let me die, to let us all die just so he could hide behind his Stand! And you’re going to let him stay down here?!”
 
“Yes!” Twilight firmly declared back, “I am a Princess of Equestria! I can’t allow somepony to come down here and exact their own form of justice on this stallion!”
 
“What is your plan with him?!” Aloe’s eyes shut tightly as she thrust her face out towards Twilight, “What do you think is going to happen!? What evidence do you have against him?! We all have fake memories! We don’t know which are true and which aren’t! If you tried to try him, Clear Skies would go to jail for having a dead body in her house! We don’t even know what memories of ours are genuine anymore; he’d walk free!!!” She screamed, “WE STAND USERS ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN ENACT JUSTICE UPON HIM!”
 
“No!” Twilight’s horn flared, “If we did that, we’re no better than him! When we gather enough evidence against him, we’ll try him! He’ll go to jail for life!”
 
“Shut up, Shut Up, SHUT UP!” Aloe shouted again, tears now streaming from her eyes, “Lotus is gone because of him! I almost killed Rarity and Fluttershy! I did horrible things because of him! I can’t take back what I did! I’ll never take it back! I got Slippery When Wet because Lotus died! I’m never going to see her again and the only thing I have to remember her by is THIS THING HE FORCED ONTO ME!!!”
 
Aloe let out one last cry, her limbs spasming as they tried to break the bonds holding her. For a brief moment, Twilight could feel the ink starting to strain. Her quill raised up in the air, ready to reinforce the bond and tell Rainbow to hold her down.
 
Yet the second she did so, Aloe’s body seemed to go completely limp. It was as though all the rage, all the anger, all the hatred evaporated out of her. She hung completely limb, sobbing openly. Her tears streamed down her face, glistening in the dull crystal light. As she wept, a few words slowly left her lips:
 
“L-Lotus died… because of him…. And I… was the one… he used…” Aloe’s words trailed off, “...why… she didn’t deserve this…”
 
Rainbow looked up to Twilight, raising an eyebrow. Twilight nodded her head, and the ink bonds holding Slippery When Wet retreated into Night Wish’s cloak. Rainbow nodded to 2M2M, whom took its hands off the Stand as well. Slowly, Rainbow got down on her knees, moving to Aloe’s side and putting a firm hand on her shoulder.
 
“You’re right, she didn’t deserve all this,” Rainbow forced herself not to sound angry. Not to show how much she too wanted to punch Crimson until he broke. Aloe needed this, “Crimson is an awful guy, I totally agree with you. But killing him isn’t the right answer here…” Her fist tightened, “We’re gonna track down the rest of his cult, and we’re gonna stop them. We’re going to get revenge for Lotus by taking down the guys who put him up to this.” The mare’s breathing slowed, but tears still streamed from her face.
 
Rainbow slowly forced a grin, “Cause if you kill your enemies, they win. They want you to do that. I’m pretty sure he does too,” She took Aloe’s hand in her own, squeezing it, “Aloe, we’re going to show him we’re better than him and all his stupid cult. We’ll take them down, together.”
 
Aloe slowly turned towards Rainbow. The rainbow mare didn’t stop her smile. For a few long seconds, Aloe didn’t react to her. Until finally, she gave a tiny nod. 

Grinning even wider, Rainbow got up onto her feet, extending her hand, “That’s it. Come on Aloe, let’s go stop a cult.”
 
Aloe slowly nodded her head, taking Rainbow’s own. The mare trembled, but she slowly got up just as Rainbow asked. She gave a weak smile to Rainbow, slowly leaning forward and wrapping her arms around her. 

Just as her hands connected around Rainbow’s back, she leaned in to her, “T-Thank you, Rainbow Dash…” She paused, “But I can’t let him live after what he did.”
 
At that moment, Slippery When Wet shot out, sending an uppercut directly to Rainbow’s jaw. The mare went flying backwards, and 2M2M appeared in front of her almost instantly to sling a punch at Aloe. Aloe, however, jumped backwards, falling back onto her knee. Despite 2M2M’s speed, the stunned Rainbow couldn’t command it, and thus it acted solely to preserve her own life. Slippery When Wet darted directly past it, reaching out for the cell bars.
 
Just before it could reach them, however, the Stand suddenly faded. Aloe hit the floor hard, her eyes having rolled up into her head. The mare was knocked out cold, and a small flash of Twilight’s horn brought her eyelids shut.
 
“Rainbow, are you alright?” Twilight spoke calmly, as though the fact she’d just magically knocked a mare out didn’t happen. As a precaution, several chains of ink wrapped around Aloe’s body, fully binding her arms to her sides.
 
“Yeah… gahhh!” Rainbow rubbed her jaw hard, a bit of blood leaking out the side of her mouth, “Ugh… what are we going to do with her..?”
 
“I’ll have to lock her up in another part of the castle,” Twilight frowned, “I’ll have to find a way to make it so she can’t get out until she calms down.”
 
Solemnly, Twilight levitated Aloe’s body up in her magic. The mare held her a few feet in front of her, not giving her any space to move. Rainbow rubbed her jaw hard, trying to alleviate the pain in her face. And slowly, the mare followed Twilight up the stairs.
 
Crimson’s gaze followed them the entire time.
 
---
 
Being fully aware of her Stand was a new experience for Fluttershy. As she sat on her sofa, staring at the figure that was floating in front of her, she felt both a sense of familiarity and of dissonance. It was something that had always been there, and yet she knew nothing of it. And now that it was fully in front of her, there were many things she wanted to ask it.
 
Yet Comfortably Numb was a Stand, and that wasn’t something she could do. So she had taken to trying to memorize it. Its face, its hands, and its body all were imprinted on her mind now. She hoped that would have told her something about it, yet it instead meant she’d just been staring at something in silence for a half hour.
 
“I… I hope, you’re a good Stand, like Two Minutes to Midnight!” Fluttershy piped up, “I want to do good things with you, like Rainbow and the others! We’ll help ponies and animals with your powers, uhm, I mean, my powers!” The Stand just stared back at her.
 
“Hhmmrrr,” Fluttershy thought of ways to use it again. Was she thinking the wrong way? Or perhaps she wasn’t thinking of it the right way! Either way, she was jolted from her line of thought as she heard the doorbell ring.
 
“Coming!” Fluttershy called out, “Angel, can you get the door?”
 
The little white rabbit stamped his foot and opened the door handle just as Fluttershy arrived. She stood in the opening with a wide smile on her face, “Hello!”
 
In the doorway stood two stallions. Both of them were in simple clothes, with nothing unique on them. The stallion furthest away from Fluttershy had his back slightly turned away form her, looking down the road. The other was slightly hunched over, and looked up towards Fluttershy with a trembling smile.
 
“May we come in..?” The hunched stallion whispered, “I have a few things I’d like to ask you about, Fluttershy…”
 
“Oh yes, yes! Come in, come in!” Fluttershy stepped aside, “I’ll make us some tea!” She let the two step inside, and then the door slowly shut.
> The Straight Path
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three mares stood in somber silence as they watched the last cart being wheeled away from the house. Several ponies had gathered around to see the commotion, but none were able to get many details. Each cart carried on top of it a large black bag, each with varying degrees of fullness. To those passing by, they would count a total of six carts, and thus six bags being taken away. 

Intentionally so as to keep the details secret, Twilight had arranged the investigation during the busiest part of the day. As promised by Crimson, in the basement of the home of Clear Skies had been a large crate. Underneath that crate, the floor’s finishing had been stripped away, revealing the dirt underneath. That dirt had been moved to cover a grave. The length of time it had taken to excavate what remained of the bodies had given the general populace time to notice the Princess was outside of a house in the neighborhood, meaning even with her planning, the procession of body bags had not gone unnoticed. Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity stood by the front door, attempting to shield the crowd from what was occurring, but the volume of ponies making their efforts rather inept. 

“...He did this…” Rainbow Dash broke away from the two others for a moment, turning her back towards them and taking hard breaths through her nose, “He… he killed them.”

Rarity leaned over and put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. Twilight didn’t say anything. The alicorn had her eyes closed and her hands were clasped tightly together in front of her. Her breathing was calm and shallow, being brought up through her nose and out through her lips. The fingers trembled from the sheer intensity of the grip that she had on them. 

Six. There had been a total of six ponies that were found inside of the basement of Clear Skies’ house. Right now, Clear was at the Police Station for questioning. To ensure the mare wasn’t prosecuted, Twilight had sent with the investigators a copy of Crimson’s confession to Aloe. It was edited for anything involving Stands, but for right now she prayed this would be enough to keep Clear from being jailed. 

True to Crimson’s word, the ponies had little to no connection with one another. Four of them were female. All of them had been reported missing sometime within the past month, yet no leads had been found. Most of their bodies were gone, leaving only just enough to identify them based on the samples alone. Just as Crimson had foretold, among them had been the remains of a light blue body with a cutie mark of a white lotus blossom. 

“Come along now,” Rarity reached out and slid her hand along Dash’s shoulder, “I think we’ve seen all we need to here. We should head back to the Castle.” 

Dash snapped her head to look at Rarity. The fire in her eyes was enough to make Rarity shudder inside. Dash shot her eyes to the back of the ambulance closing with the body bags, her body stiffening at the sound of each door closing. She watched the car start up and slowly drive down the road. It was not until it had disappeared after a right turn that Dash turned her body away and gave Rarity a hard nod. 

Two manicured hands gently wrapped around Twilight and Rainbow’s wrists, giving a small tug in the opposite direction. Both took a few steps forward before Rarity released them. Soon all three were walking slowly away from the home and back towards the crystalline palace in the distance. 

“This is just dreadful,” Rarity sighed, “To think that he actually killed those ponies and then… then hid them away, it’s just unthinkable. I recognized a few of them from my shop...”

“Once the police finish investigating Clear, Crimson will have a trial arranged for his crimes,” Twilight looked over to Rarity, “Right now, we just have to figure out how to keep Clear from getting tried as well. I did all I could with the confession he gave to Aloe, but the fact they were in Clear’s home is going to make this… complicated.” 

A growl came from beside the two. Dash’s eyes hadn’t lost their flames, and her fist was now curled so tightly her knuckles had started to turn white. When she spoke, her voice was dripping with anger and barely concealed rage. 

“He doesn’t deserve a trial,” Dash spat, “He should be exiled or banished or whatever right now! He came into our town and killed our citizens. He hurt our friends.” 

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight shook her head, “You don’t get to pass judgement on him. We have courts for a reason. If we banish him, then we’d be just as bad as he is. You can’t decide what happens to him because you feel like you were involved. Remember what Aloe said?”

For a moment, Dash stared down Twilight. The two both stopped as they gazed at one another, seeing whom would bend first. Dash’s fists slowly uncurled. She let out a small sigh and looked down and away from Twilight. 

“You’re… you’re right,” Rainbow sighed, “I just… I didn’t know he’d actually killed ponies. I know he tried to kill Spike, but that was right in front of us. I saved him. Seeing all those… those bodies it, it makes me want to punch him until he can’t get back up again. It’s one thing when we can stop it!” She started to shake again, but gently came down and sighed again, “It’s different when we don’t even get the chance.”

“I know, Dash. I’m angry too,” Twilight pursed her lips together, “But we’re not judges. Crimson will get punished for what he did. For now, we have to keep a level head and figure out what the Cult is planning. This is just proof that they’re willing to do anything to achieve their goals. I need you to put that anger towards preventing anymore deaths instead of causing them.”

“Fine, but don’t expect me to go easy on them when I get my fists on them,” Dash hissed. Twilight just gave an approving nod. 

The three began walking again. They passed in front of Sugarcube Corner, the smell of freshly baked sweets filling the air. Dash looked over to the building for a moment, thinking about Pinkie. She’d watched Data Stream get killed. It made her wonder what Pinkie was feeling about that. Especially about Crimson. 

“We should warn the others about this,” Rarity piped up, “We need to let Golden Harvest and Fluttershy know about Facade and about… this. And… well, we need to tell Aloe that he Sister is indeed passed on.” 

Twilight turned, “Rarity’s right. I’ll take care of telling Aloe. Night Wish can restrain her if she tries to break out. Rarity, you should tell Golden Harvest. And Dash,” She turned to the cyan mare, “You go tell Fluttershy. I think for the time being, we should all stay at the Castle.” 

“That sounds like it’s for the best right now,” Rarity nodded, “Sweetie Belle said she was having an overnight at their little clubhouse. I think I might have her stay at our parent’s home for a bit.  Hopefully we can figure out this Cult business quickly. We can’t let this situation spiral any further out of control.”

“Kay,” Dash nodded, “I’ll get Fluts to come with me. Shouldn’t take her too long to pack up.” 

Dash nodded and spread her wings. Twilight and Rarity both shared a look before parting, Rarity heading off towards the Market and Twilight back towards the Castle. Dash, meanwhile, flapped her wings and took off into the air, hovering in the air for a moment before taking off towards the Everfree forest. 

It would take Dash perhaps ten minutes to fly her way from the center of town to Fluttershy’s cottage at a leisurely pace. If she were to push herself, she could get there in four if at top speed. If she were on 2M2M, she could make it there perhaps in under a minute. Normally she would consider that, but with the possibility of more cult members in town, Twilight had warned them against using their Stands in public. She considered perhaps flying faster, but her normal speed would give her some time to think. 

Despite having mostly calmed down from her initial burst of anger, Dash still felt like punching Crimson. Seeing each body bag had been like getting thrown into the dirt. But unlike a real fight, there was nopony there to hit back. Knowing she’d told Aloe that it would be okay, that they had a chance to stop him the right way, was perhaps why she was so upset. When it had just been Lotus, just been a possibility that Crimson had been lying to her, the anger had been manageable. Seeing those ponies being carted out one by one was something else. The fact she even knew one of them from the old Weather Team had made it too personal for her to stay calm. 

Now more than ever, she was determined to stop the cult. They’d crossed the line when they targeted her and her friends, but now they’d dug their grave by killing innocent ponies. Crimson had dug his grave. They were going to pay for everything they’d done. Once Twilight figured out where they were, she’d beat the crap out of all of them. Such were her thoughts when she landed at Fluttershy’s front door. 

“Hey, Fluttershy!” Dash called out, “Yo, Fluts! Listen, we need to talk!” She reached out and twisted the doorknob, “Pack some clothes too, we’re going to be staying at the Castle for…”

When the door opened, light spilled over broken furniture. As the room was illuminated, Dash’s eyes widened. Broken glass and wood chips were strewn about the floor. There were dents and holes in the wall. Picture frames lay on the ground, their contents spilled out. There were no animals in sight, not even Angel Bunny. The main table had tea spilled over it, running along the ground and mingling with drops of blood. 

What made Dash gasp was on the opposite wall. A message was scrawled upon it in large maroon letters. The words were written in blood. 

COME FIND ME ELEMENTS

---

“...This is Fluttershy’s blood…” Twilight whispered as her magic pulled away from the large crudely drawn letters. 

While Twilight was analyzing the message, Rainbow hefted up the remains of Fluttershy’s sofa. Just as she thought, there were droplets of blood on the floor. Blood being under the remains of it meant somepony had gotten slammed right down through it. She’d found the same with the table and several of the picture frames along the wall. The entire apartment was riddled with signs of somepony getting beaten down. 

Whether Twilight had suggested using Stands out in the open was a bad idea or not, Rainbow Dash had shot towards the Castle as fast as she could on 2M2M the second she saw the message. Rarity hadn’t even made it to Applejack’s house, but seeing 2M2M in the sky had made her turn back towards the Castle. By the time Rainbow had finished explaining to Twilight what had happened, Rarity had arrived. A quick series of teleports by Twilight had brought the three back to the broken home in a matter of seconds. 

“How can you tell it’s Fluttershy’s..?” Rarity paused whilst her Diamond Dogs began to run their needles through the piece of table Rainbow Dash was holding in an attempt to repair it, “Aren’t there, detective ponies who do that?” 

“It’s, I can’t really explain it,” Twilight exhaled and pressed her fingers into the blood, “But, I can just say that I know for certain this is Fluttershy’s blood. This came from her.” 

The piece of the table that Rainbow had been lifting landed hard on the ground. The result caused Rarity to jump backwards as Lennon was nearly vaulted up from trying to run his needle through the broken half. The sound made the other two mares snap their heads towards her. Twilight frowned. 

“Rainbow, don’t break anything!” Twilight snapped, “There might be something in here that’s important!” 

“Nothing in here, is important. What’s important,” Rainbow growled, “Is we find whatever pony did this to Fluttershy, drag them in here and then we pound their face into the ground until they’ll have to be sipping their meals through a straw...”

Neither mare responded to Rainbow. Instead, Twilight took a step back from the wall. She rubbed the droplets of blood between her fingers, exhaling again. Then her horn lit up. The lavender aura surrounded the entire wall, as though running a scan over it. After a few moments, her horn stopped glowing. She let out a hard sigh. 

“Rarity,” Twilight turned, “Have your Diamond Dogs found anything?” 

“Nothing I think is helpful yet, dear,” Rarity grimaced, “It seems that the destruction is only limited to the interior of the house. Starr didn’t report anything when he checked the exterior. Cartney found most of her animals outside hiding under the house. Angel had some dreadful cuts on him. Lennon and Harrison are working to try to fix some of the damage to see if we can find anymore clues.” 

“We shouldn’t be trying to fix this place up! All this means is somepony came in here and beat up Fluttershy!” Rainbow threw her arms out, “I know what a fight looks like when I see it. This looks up the Rec Room after I got done beating the snot out of the bullies that insulted Fluttershy. Somepony came in here, grabbed her, hurt her, and then they wrote that up on the wall!” 

Twilight paused. Looking at the room, at first it was hard to tell if Rainbow was correct. The room looked as though it had a tornado come through it. Yet the more thought she put into it, the more it made sense. The table and sofa were broken inward. The windows were intact. There was blood in all places where somepony could have pushed Fluttershy into. There wasn’t any logical reason to doubt that a fight had taken place, and given Fluttershy’s natural fighting prowess, it was even safer to assume she had lost.

Rainbow walked over to the message scrawled on the wall. For a moment, she squinted her eyes at it. Her fists curled up tighter in her hands. ‘Come Find Me Elements.’ She lowered her gaze and then spoke up. 

“Elements, that’s us, right?” Rainbow’s raspy voice growled, “The Elements of Harmony?”

“I think so… but, why would somepony do this?” Twilight shook her head. She made her way up to Rainbow and put her hand on the wall, “It’s one thing to go and assault somepony, but why leave a message like this? And why address it to us      specifically?” 

“It must be that Cult!” Rarity stepped forward, “If this were work of some, regular homicidal freak, it would make sense to leave a message. Most killers want to be found. This is addressed to us, though. They wanted Fluttershy for some reason… but why? That’s the question we need to answer right now.” 

“Not everything is like a Shadow Spade novel, Rarity…” Twilight turned her head, “For one, we don’t even know if they took Fluttershy. Crimson specifically disposed of all the bodies. We have to make sure that Fluttershy is actually gone first before we assume this was the Cult.” 

“Why are you acting like this isn’t the work of that Cult?!” Rainbow hissed, “Vinyl just got rid of Facade a few days ago! There’s no way this wasn’t them!” 

“We just have to consider all the options first before we decide what to do,” Twilight shook her head, “If this is a kidnapping, then we have to go after her.” 

“Didn’t you say we had to contact the Princess?” Rainbow raised her eyebrow, “Now you want to go after them?” 

“If this really is targeted at us,” Twilight lifted her head, “We have to handle this. This is not only a matter of safety, but they’ve stopped just targeting us. If they hurt my friends, then we have to go after them. But first,” Twilight stepped towards the door, “I need to alert a certain somepony.”

Twilight made her way out of the house, standing on the doorstep. Slowly, she put her hands together and her horn lit up. A strange green aura formed around it as she spoke.

“Discord,” Twilight shouted, “I need you!”

Twilight’s eyes glowed white for a moment, her magic reaching out across the land. If she had the full elements with her, this would be a far easier process. Yet without it, she was sending out a pure magical call for aide. She reached out as far as her senses could, pushing towards every known spot she could in an attempt to summon-

“You called for me?” A condescending voice called out. Twilight opened her eyes to see a massive umbrella being shut in her face, revealing Discord standing in a large black fedora, matching black suit, and holding what looked like a cane in the other hand,  “It’s oh so bothersome when I receive such an old-fashioned call. Really hurts the ears.”

“Discord!” Twilight straightened her back, “Listen, we need your help.” 

“I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want to be bothered at our last meeting,” The outfit disappeared from Discord as he tipped his hand and a pen appeared, scribbling down on some invisible calendar, “I’m very busy. I’m supposed to be in Canterlot right now. Oh you should see it! There’s a parade going on and I wanted to see what ponies would say if I-”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight declared, “Fluttershy’s been hurt.” 

All at once, Discord’s ramblings ceased. All of the silly antics that he normally employed vanished, and instead he took a long stride forward, his body turning into butterflies that reformed after he passed through Twilight. The second his gaze lay upon what lay inside the home, he turned back towards Twilight. 

“I see,” Discord drew in a long breath, his chest expanding and then contracting hard, “Leave this to me, Twilight. I’ll be taking over whatever little investigation you have going here.” 

“We think this might be the Cult, Discord,” Twilight continued, “We need to know if she’s… here. Can you sense her?” 

Discord gazed into the home for a long while, watching Rainbow and Rarity gazing back. He gently turned himself around, taking in a deep breath. To Twilight, it seemed as though his fang had grown larger, his pupils had darkened, and his horns had gained new edges. When he took another step forward and looked up into the sky, his form had seemingly gotten taller. 

“Not here, but everywhere. And that’s not good, not good at all,” Discord turned his head away, “I can certainly tell you she’s not here. If she were, I would be able to tell you exactly where she is. No, she’s been taken somewhere… but I can’t tell where exactly. Somepony has hidden her so she feels as though she’s everywhere… and nowhere.” 

Twilight blinked in confusion. Everywhere and nowhere? Discord had the ability to sense when ponies were nearby better than a unicorn could. She’d been hoping perhaps he’d be able to locate her. Yet if he couldn’t tell where she was, that meant somepony was hiding her. 

“You don’t need to worry your Pretty Princess head over this anymore,” Discord’s voice snapped Twilight back to focus, “I’ll find them and get her back. I won’t fail her.”

“Wait!” Twilight shot her head up, “Discord, there might be more to this! You shouldn’t leave unt-” 

Twilight suddenly felt an icy chill over her body. Discord’s fingers came down from snapping, leaving Twilight’s muscles feel as though they had been flash-frozen. Discord took a few steps forward before he sucked in a long breath. 

“You would just get in my way, Princess…” Discord growled, a long and hollow noise that rung with malice, “I have a lot of places to check now. I’ll find each and every one of them and make them feel whatever it is they did to her tenfold for the rest of their days.”

“Discord!” Twilight gasped out as she watched him snap his finger sand disappear, “Discord, no!” A moment later, her muscles unfroze, leaving her to stumbled forward. 

This left Twilight staring off into the distance as she watched him leave. In truth, she didn’t know what she’d hoped for. Perhaps she hoped Discord’s uncanny ability to know what each pony was doing at a time would lead them to Fluttershy. He’d confirmed that Fluttershy wasn’t here, something which she had wanted. Yet now she worried what he would do if he did find the kidnappers. And that made her gulp. 

“Twilight…” Rarity placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder, having walked up from behind, “I think, right now we should get Applejack and Pinkie to the Castle. If that Discord won’t help us, we need to go find Fluttershy ourselves.”

“...Yes,” Twilight turned around, studying the scene of the crime. Slowly, her horn began to seep out an aura that spread across the home, covering every inch of it. After a few moments, the aura turned a soft pink, at which point Twilight recalled the spel. 

“There,” Twilight nodded her head, “This way we can study it later. Rainbow!” She called out, “Come on, we need to get back to the Castle!” 

Rainbow stood in the middle of the house. She took in everything, just like Twilight had. Yet it was not with the trained eye of a professional commiting a scene to memory. It was going into her memory, but not for analysis. Her fists turned white from exertion, then they slacked. 

“Go get Applejack and Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow raised her head, “I’ll head back on 2M2M.” 

“Okay,” Twilight nodded,  “We’ll meet you in the throne room, okay?” 

 “Yeah,” Rainbow turned around to show a small smile on her face, “I’ll be waiting for you when you get there.” 

Twilight gave a nod of affirmation and took Rarity’s hand. The two vanished in a massive flash of white sparkles. Rainbow stepped outside of the house, reaching back to slowly shut the door behind her. Once she had, 2M2M appeared in front of her. She reached out and gripped the handles on her Stand, kicked back, and took off into the sky. 

--- 

“What, do you think they did to Fluttershy?” Applejack muttered as the doors to the Castle opened. 

Proceeding now along with Rarity and Twilight were one farmer in disbelief and one baker without her usual pep. Neither had said much as Twilight had explained what they’d found. Pinkie’s normal bounce had been reduced to a mundane walk, and Applejack’s hat was pulled down slightly over her eyes. Rarity had her hands clasped in front of her, her fingers drumming on top of her knuckles. 

“I don’t know,” Twilight stated with as little emotion as she could, “It looked like somepony was torturing her for some reason, but why they would do that doesn’t make any sense. If they wanted to kidnap her, they could have done that without hurting her.” 

“Why would anypony want to hurt Fluttershy?” Pinkie cocked her head, “She’s the nicest pony I’ve ever met! There’s no reason to hurt her…” 

Twilight and the others spread out into the throne room. Each of them took their seat around the table, the throne’s emblems glowing as their respective mare sat in them. Rainbow Dash was not in her throne. Twilight clasped her hands together, leaning forward on her elbows on the table and bringing her hands up to her chin. 

“The message addressed the Elements. The only ponies I can think of that correspond to that are the Elements of Harmony. Us. But,” Twilight looked up towards the center of the table, “If this is the Cult, they’re directly provoking us. Discord said he couldn’t sense Fluttershy clearly, like somepony was trying to tell him to go find her. If the Cult does have Fluttershy, then they want the rest of us. But why call us out like this?” 

“It sounds like a trap,” Applejack put her hand on the table, “They want us to go find her so they can get the rest of us.” 

“They most likely figured that kidnapping us one by one would either take too long or be too difficult,” Rarity nodded, “I concur with Applejack. This Cult is trying to get us to come to them.”

“But where would they be?” Pinkie pipped up, “Where would some meanie Cult be hiding Fluttershy? If Discord couldn’t find her, where could she be?” 

“Crimson was sent here, to Ponyville, for a reason,” Twilight looked up, “He was sent here to keep us out of the way of something. To take care of us. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say they have to be somewhat nearby. Perhaps it’s closer than we think it is….” 

A loud clang suddenly rung out from behind Twilight. The group all jumped in their seats from the sudden noise. Twilight’s wings splayed out in shock while Applejack barely caught her hat from falling from her head. 

“Ugh, where is that dreadful racket coming from?” Rarity shook her head, “Is that Rainbow Dash? What could she possibly be doing to make that noise?” 

Twilight turned around in her seat. Behind her was the entrance to the main study and then to the hallway. When she squinted, she saw one door in particular was opened. 

“Oh no,” Twilight stood up, “I’ll be right back, girls!” Her horn lit up, wrapping her up in yet another teleporting aura before the others could protest. 

When Twilight appeared again, she rubbed her horn. This was the fifth teleport today, but given that she’d been ferrying her friends too, it was more akin to her tenth or eleventh. She quickly rubbed her temples to try and relieve the slight fatigue, before racing down the hallway to the main dungeon. 

When she rounded the corner, she saw exactly what she though. Dash was on the outside of Crimson’s cell, Two Minutes to Midnight’s fist holding onto Crimson’s shirt. The fact the stallion’s head was lulling slightly told Twilight exactly where that loud clang had come from. A feeling of deja vu washed over her as she quickly raced forward to the mare. 

“Dash!!” Twilight shouted, “What are you doing?!” 

Dash turned her head to face Twilight, but immediately turned back to Crimson. 2M2M’s other fist came to grip the other side of Crimson’s shirt, hefting him up off the ground. As he hung there, he let out a long cough, a bit of blood dribbling from his mouth. Gently, his hand came up to wipe it away, leaving a maroon mark on his sleeve. 

“Good…. Princess!” Crimson turned to Twilight, “Guh… perhaps, you could talk some sense into this… mare! She keeps insisting that I know where your pegasus friend has been taken! I already told you that we don’t know what the Inner Circle is planning! Can you please relay that to Miss Dash here before I require facial surgery to talk again?!” 

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight spoke without even acknowledging Crimson, “Stop it right now! He doesn’t know anything! I already got everything out of him!” 

“Relax, Twilight,” Dash’s voice was oddly calm and clear, “I’m not going to kill him. I just think he’s not telling us everywhere, and maybe ruffing him up a little bit would help!” 

Immediately, Dash saw her arms encased in a lavender aura. The mare was yanked backwards, the shock causing 2M2M to drop Crimson. As Crimson groaned from being dumped to the floor, Dash felt her arms being forced down to her sides as Twilight stepped forward. 

“This is the exact thing you stopped Aloe from doing!” Twilight shouted, “Hurting somepony for answers doesn’t get you anything! I already got him to tell me everything he knows. You can’t just come down here and beat him up, then expect him to tell you something new!” 

Dash slowly lowered her head, darkness shrouding her eyes. She turned her head to look at Crimson, who slowly got back up and made his way back over to his cot. When he sat down, he stared at Rainbow Dash. He slowly turned to Twilight, then scoffed and laid back on his bed. He closed his eyes, his chest starting to rise and fall. 

“Why aren’t you angry?” Dash huffed, her voice trembling, “Fluttershy got beaten up and her entire house destroyed, and now she’s missing. You didn’t show any emotion at all at her house. Now you’re dragging me off the one stallion that might know something about where she is, and you tell me to calm down?” 

“Yes!” Twilight shouted, but slowly regained her tone back in until it was neutral, “Rainbow, we’re all worried about her. Something horrible happened to her, but we can’t let out anger get the better of us. The Cult is getting out attention, and this is probably one giant trap. Rushing right in will get us hurt, or worse. You need to come upstairs right now so we can figure this out, together. Okay?” 

Dash looked up towards Twilight. There was no change in her eyes. Twilight pursed her lips together as she took that in. The look was far too much like she’d seen when she’d restrained Aloe from her awakening in her cell. She opened her lips to speak, but when words came, it was not from her. 

“That yellow pegasus sure is important, isn’t she?”

“What?” Twilight blinked. The two mares turned their gazes to the still resting stallion inside the cell.

“I said,” Crimson sighed, “That mare is important, isn’t she? I think you two should consider what it is that somepony would want with her.” 

“So you do know something!!!” Dash shouted, trying to yank her body towards him. Twilight immediately flung several globs of ink towards Dash, forming binds on her on top of her magic. This time, it was enough to keep the mare restrained. 

“Thank you, thought I don’t know how much good that will do with that… Two Minutes,” He slowly sat up, “Did either of you ever stop to consider what her Stand could do?” 

“She said that it projects her emotions onto somepony,” Twilight started, “It acts without her even knowing she’s doing it, it’s why-” 

“You ponies are so literal!” Crimson groaned, “No, no, I want you to consider that her Stand might be more powerful than either of you are giving it credit for.” 

Dash slowly turned towards Twilight. Her eyes had lost some of their edge, and her arms slackened enough that Twilight recalled Night Wish’s ink. However, she kept her magical aura around Dash, something with the Pegasus only gave a scoff at. 

“It broke your stupid Stand!” Dash spat, “Is that what you mean?” 

“Yes, actually. That’s exactly what I was getting at,” Crimson slowly turned perpendicular to the two of them and leaned on the wall, “I don’t know anything for certain. But I think you two should consider something. The only thing that broke almost all of those ponies out of my Stand was either nearly being killed, or that mare. And I don’t just mean with that Stare of hers.” 

Twilight pondered that last bit. Comfortably Numb could do more than just break Know You Too Well? What did that mean? Fluttershy had been with Rarity at the Spa. Pinkie Pie had been at Vinyl’s Club. Rarity said Aloe had taken Fluttershy downstairs to get answers out of her. But the only way that Aloe and Vinyl had gotten defeated was by Rarity and Pinkie unlocking their Stands. Was Crimson implying… 

“Whether or not that’s correct,” The stallion continued, “I still say I know nothing about what the Inner Circle is planning. But I know one thing: whenever I get sent someplace, more of us follow after. If they’re not here in Ponyville, where are they?” 

Something suddenly clicked in both the mare’s heads. Dash’s eyes widened as she turned towards Twilight, the two sharing words across their mind without saying them. Twilight just gave a little nod of her head. 

“Now, so that I don’t suffer anymore unexpected trauma,” Crimson rolled his eyes, “I’m sick of getting beaten up by ponies that are too slow to figure things out on their own. There is one thing I want you to know, though, Princess….” 

Slowly, Crimson lifted up his arm. The friendship band that was left started to glow, “I’m an exception to this, but every single pony that entered our group has sworn allegiance to Him. And that comes with certain… consequences,” He nodded towards Dash, “You should be prepared to fight to the death. They won’t give you the chance for a last minute save, or defeating some manipulator. These ponies… I’ve only heard stories, but they aren’t sane. There is no reasoning with them. When I laid eyes on Him, it was like my very soul froze. No matter what you think He is like, you give Him too much credit. If you hesitate for one moment, he will kill you. Even your magic won’t do anything to him.” 

“Why would you tell us about Him?” Dash raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t we gonna go kick their butts and make them regret taking Fluttershy?”

“Because when you deal the finishing blow,” Crimson leaned forward, “I want you to tell him thanks, from me,” Crimson slowly leaned back against the wall, “I want them to suffer before they die. If I’m no longer important to them, I want them to know that they are the ones who will die.” 

Neither of the mares said anything. Instead, Dash turned her head towards the stairs. Wordlessly, Twilight made her way after her. Neither of the two turned back to look at Crimson, whom simply sighed. He looked out towards the crystalline patterns on the walls, his gaze narrowing. Then he laid back down, letting silence fill the floor once more. 

---

“Everfree,” Twilight slammed her hand down on the Crystal Map, “The Cult is planning something at the Castle of the Two Sisters!” 

“Exactly,” Dash moved forward and slammed her hand down next to Twilight’s own, “Those cowards are hiding in the forest and just waiting for us to come and get them.” 

“But… how can y’all know about that?” Applejack cocked her head, “What makes you so sure?”

“It’s simple, why would they sent an operative all the way to Ponyville, just to go and check in on a single room inside a ruined Castle?” Twilight sighed, “I wish I had seen it earlier, to be honest. Crimson said the group follows after him. There’s only one place that has any significance outside of this town that the Cult would be after.” 

“The painting!” Rarity gasped, “Yes, that gaudy thing you two found! It didn’t make any sense why they would even want something like that at first, now it all seems clear.”

“Uh… wait, I’m lost,” Vinyl piped up from the other side of the table, the reverb carrying her voice, “What’s going on here again?” 

“I’m getting to that,” Twilight shook her head, “Fluttershy was kidnapped to get us to go after them. And I think I now know who ‘them’ is.” 

Twilight’s magic carried a small box up from under the table. It was the kiddie box that Discord had given her. Wordlessly, Twilight opened it and levitated out a small list of names, one that she laid down in the center of the Map. The map magically transitioned to project it for them all to see.

“Crimson kept referring to the cult as having an ‘Inner Circle,’” Twilight frowned, “I believe we might be going up against the original Cult. The one that Discord formed a thousand years ago.”

The room went silent for a moment. The others began to look amongst themselves, particularly Vinyl and Golden Harvest. The two had simply been asked to come back to the Castle, without knowledge of what was going on. Their looks of confusion mirrored those of disbelief. 

“But… darling,” Rarity shook her head, “They would be long dead by now. How could they still be alive?” 

“I don’t know yet, but!” Twilight raised her finger, “I think this all ties back to Discord.” 

“Well, duh!” Dash sighed, “It’s his freakin’ Cult!” 

“No, Discord said something interesting to me when he described them,” Twilight leaned forward, “He said that he had one follower that became so devoted he went out and formed an entire cult. But he never said that they were defeated. There were ten of them back then, and Crimson said that the Inner Circle has nine members. He clearly said the leader was a stallion, referred to as Him. I think whatever is going on, it’s all coming back to Discord. I don’t know what they’re planning yet, but I think it involves us. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous.” 

“That’s, all well and good, but…” Golden coughed, “Why did you call the two of us here?” 

“Because we’re going after them,” Twilight declared, “And if we fail, it’s going to be up to you three to defend the town.” 

Vinyl and Golden turned to each other, their looks completely different. Vinyl’s lips started as a grin, but slowly fell. Golden began to frown, but what looked like nervous excitement spread into her, causing her expression to turn neutral. 

“Uh… who’s the third?” Vinyl raised her hand, “I only see me and Goldie here.” 

“I am,” A voice came from behind Twilight. 

The entire room turned to see Aloe walking up to the table. Her hairband was gone, and instead her hair was simply left dangling behind her. She made her way up to the table slowly, almost limping her way there. When she arrived, she moved over to Twilight. 

“Aloe,” Twilight cleared her throat, “I will absolve you of the act you committed against Crimson Spirit if you will stand guard over the town while we are gone!” She turned towards Vinyl and Golden, “We have no idea what is waiting for us in those woods. With Fluttershy already taken, we cannot risk leaving this town undefended. If we should fail and whatever plan the Cult has should come to fruition, it’ll be up to you three to keep Ponyville safe. Do I make myself clear?”

Aloe’s fingers slowly rubbed at her palms. When she spoke, it was hollow, “Yes, Princess Twilight.” 

“Do you promise not to lay a hand upon Crimson Spirit, as much as it may tempt you?” 

Aloe’s fingers rubbed harder, “Yes, Princess Twilight.” 

“Will you honor Lotus’ memory by keeping the lives of other innocent ponies safe?” 

Aloe’s fingers curled into fists that trembled. Slowly, the released, and Aloe just nodded her head. 

“Then you three will be the defenders of Ponyville while we rescue Fluttershy,” Twilight spread her wings wide, “This is my order to you as the Princess of Friendship.” 

“Yes, Princess!” Golden and Vinyl shouted together. Aloe just nodded again. 

“Good,” Twilight slowly sucked in a long breath, “Currently, Spike is writing Princess Celestia about the situation. With Fluttershy’s life in danger, however, we can’t wait for her to send help. We venture into Everfree tonight to rescue Fluttershy and stop whatever plans this Cult may have!”

“...Tonight?” Applejack leaned forward on the table, “Uh… Twi, I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud but… some of us, ain’t exactly ready for this sort of thing.” 

“I concur, darling!” Rarity stood up, “I agree we must rescue Fluttershy as soon as possible, but  is there nothing more we can learn before we go?” 

“No,” Twilight turned to Applejack, “They specifically asked for the Elements, and we must answer that call. Any time we spend learning, Fluttershy’s life is in danger. We leave tonight.” 

“Say,” Rainbow turned, “Where’s Pinkie Pie?” 

Before any of them could answer, Pinkie appeared in her throne. Dumped in front of her were five large backpacks. They were all moderately full, with several bits and pieces sticking out of them. She stood up and slid a bag over to Twilight. 

“One for you, for you and you!” She slid them over to Rarity and Applejack, “And you too, Dashie!” Pinkie slid that bag over and then lifted her own up, “I already packed everything we might need! Rope, climbing gear, flashlights, some compasses, snacks and first aid supplies,” She frowned, “For… when we get to Fluttershy.” 

“Wow, Pinkie…” Dash opened the bag up, “These… are actually, really helpful. Thanks.” 

“No problem, Dashie,” Pinkie straightened her back, “Fluttershy is in danger, so we need to be prepared for this! We all already know what those meanie Stands can do, so we need to be prepared!” She slowly beamed, “Plus, everytime we go on these missions we never seem to pack anything! This time we should be prepared!” 

“Yes, Pinkie, these are great,” Twilight wanted to be annoyed Pinkie hadn’t listened to her grand speech, but the bags were incredibly helpful the more she looked into them, “Alright, everypony, grab your bags and let’s get moving. We have to save our friend.” 

Rarity and Applejack turned to each other, then solemnly nodded. Rainbow’s gaze slowly sharpened, and she stalked her way to the front door of the Castle. There she stood, awaiting for Twilight to follow. Pinkie hefted her bag onto her shoulders and walked over to Dash, standing next to her with a smile. 

“Twilight,” Aloe spoke up as Twilight walked by, “What are you going to do when you meet this Cult?” 

“I’m going to subdue and then arrest them,” Twilight frowned, “Just like I would with any other pony.” 

“...I see,” Aloe turned away, “I hope that works out well for you.” 

Twilight gave Aloe a long look, but Aloe wasn’t interested in trying to meet it. Instead, Twlight just kept walking. She made her way up to her friends, then slowly enveloped them in her magic. 

“Alright, everypony!” Twilight sucked in a breath, “Let’s go save Fluttershy!” With that, the group disappeared in a large shower of sparks. 

----

Slowly, the five mares materialized at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. The large forest they had crossed so many times before was shrouded in the last rays of Sunset, causing the shadows to deepen throughout them. 

“Why didn’t we just go straight there?” Dash snapped to the path, “You can easily do that!” 

“No, I can’t!” Twilight frowned, “The Everfree Forest’s magical nature means I can’t locate where exactly to teleport us. If I tried, I could end up teleporting us all into trees!” 

Dash slowly made her way in front of the group, looking back towards them. She turned back to the forest, then dropped the bag that Pinkie had given her. In an instant, 2M2M materialized in front of her. 

“I’ll see you guys at the Castle,” Dash slowly growled, “I’m going after those guys.” 

“Wait, Rainbow!” Pinkie shouted, “You forgot your bag!” 

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, “We don’t know what’s in there! We should stick together!” 

Dash stepped up onto the handles for her Stand, wrapping her fingers around the slots and kicking her foot back. Immediately, the almost deafening sound of its engines firing up filled the air. Dust kicked up around her as she turned back towards Twilight. Her cyan eyes seemingly turned red. 

“Don’t worry,” Dash’s words came out a a dark mutter, “By the time you get there, I’ll have taken care of them.” The look she gave reminded Twilight far too much of Discord’s own. 

“RAINBOW!” Twilight shouted again, but it was too late. 2M2M took off into the sky, shooting forward over the tops of the trees. The forest seemed to shudder as the mare flew forward, heading directly towards their goal. 

“..C’mon y’all,” Applejack stepped forward, “We need to go save Fluttershy.” 

Slowly, Rarity and Pinkie stepped forward to join her. Twilight stared at the trees as they settled from being blown so hard, then stepped forward with them. The four took several steps forward, the path in front of them leading right into the darkness. 

“Alright,” Twilight sighed, “Let’s go get her back.” 

With that, Twilight stepped forward into the treeline. A moment later, her friends followed after her. The maw of the forest swallowed them up, consuming them as they made their way into its depths. Slowly, the sun set over the horizon, casting a warm navy night sky over the group as they made their way forward into the known and yet unknown to save their friend.

--- 

“They’re here…” 

Looking over towards Him, the second stallion laid the warm yellow body to rest on top of the large coffin. Fluttershy did not move, and instead her body simply slumped against it. The second stallion tied her wrists to either side of it, leaving her body to be displayed on top of the coffin. 

“Are you sure?” The stallion asked to Him, “Have you finished all the preparations?” 

“Yes… Yes I-I… I’m sur...sure of that,” He huffed, “This… this night, will be the last these ponies live without seeing what it is that… that he is truly capable of…” 

“We must make preparations for his return,” The second stallion nodded, “I will alert the others.” 

“Do… that, go!” He snapped, “Do it now!” 

Bowing slightly, the stallion scampered off into the darkness. This left Him with the body of Fluttershy. Slowly, he put a hand on her cheek, gently rubbing it between his fingers. 

“...You… you ruined him…” He whispered, “But… no, no worries, none none none…” He looked up towards the ceiling, “Soon, soon the seal, you’ll break it, and it… it will Rise again. And we… we will be blessed!” He suddenly broke into a long series of laughs, ones that wracked his chest and made him clutch onto Fluttershy’s wrists for balance. When he regained control, he slowly let go of her and stepped back. 

“Soon…” He gasped, “Soon… Come to me, Elements… come… and see the truth… of your world…” 
> Feed My Frankenstein
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everfree had  a way of making one feel both lost and found. The paths that cut through the dark trees were simple to spot and easy to follow. Yet the unnatural way that it governed itself meant that even when one found themselves on the path, doubt would rise in their minds. Was this truly the right way to go? Were they moving forward with the right pace? What if one wasn’t on the path they started, and had somehow wandered onto a side path that would lead them into darkness they could never return from? One often felt that they were at the mercy of Everfree itself whenever they entered its canopy.

Twilight had began the expedition into the Everfree Forest as the head of her and her three friends. The party of Stand Users set out with a clear mission: rescue Fluttershy. Discord had rushed ahead of them as soon as he had been told that Fluttershy was in danger. She had installed several Stand Users back home to defend Ponyville in her absence. Rainbow Dash followed suit and flew to the castle as far as she could on 2 Minutes to Midnight. 

This was already bad enough in Twilight’s eyes. She held that the key to victory would be to stick together and combine their powers against any foes that come their way. But now the two most powerful allies have rushed into the unknown on their own. Separately as well. Just from the few encounters she’d had alone, even the most powerful of Stands could face their match alone.

While she was frustrated by this, Twilight was determined not to break down in a panic. The four members that the group still had were all still more than capable of fighting. Even before they acquired Stands they were able to fend for themselves. They had only gotten better with their Stand since they obtained them. Even Twilight had come up with new applications for Night Wish. If they met back up with Dash at the Castle, then they could rescue Fluttershy the same way they’d done before all this business had happened. 

“Um Twilight?” Twilight, standing at the front of everypony, making mental calculations about battle strategies involving the four of them. She had already thought of several ways their Stands could synergize with each other. She was so deep in thought that she hardly noticed Pinkie Pie trying to get her attention as she walked along the path. 

“Twilight!” Pinkie was louder and more demanding this time. The sense of urgency in her voice made Twilight realize that she had been ignoring her. 

“Oh um, sorry Pinkie, I was just trying to prepare for an enemy attack. What’s wrong?”

“We may have a teense problem,” Pinkie frowned, “ I can’t find Applejack or Rarity.”

“What?!” Twilight pivoted around to look behind her. As Pinkie said, she was the only one there. Neither Applejack nor Rarity, were with them anymore. “Where did they go?!”

“I don’t know!” Pinkie threw her arms up into the air and materialized Ta-Da. “I’ve been blinking around back down the path and in and out of trees, but I can’t find them anywhere! They just vanished like punch at a party.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Twilight slowly started to turn around and keep watch for danger. “Those two aren’t like Rainbow Dash or Discord. They wouldn’t run off on their own. That could only mean that they weren’t separated from us by their own choice.”

“Oh no, I hope they’re ok…”

“They’re fine,” Twilight quickly affirmed, only half confident in her statement. “They can take care of themselves, especially if they’re together. But right now, we have to worry about us. If the enemy is looking to separate us from each other, then that means they’re probably ready to strike.”

“If this is an enemy, why haven’t we seen them?” Pinkie had Ta-Da drew two of its stars out, “How can we fight an enemy we can’t even see?” 

“I don’t know,” Twilight sharpened her gaze into the darkness around them, “But if this cult wants us dead, then we have to be ready for anything. Right now, we should assume that whatever separated us from Applejack and Rarity is the work of our enemy. We need to be careful...”

Twilight manifested Night Wish’s quill between her fingers, and its body behind her. She tightened her grip on the purple feather like it was a knife she was ready to stab at somepony who was going to surprise her.

Mere moments after Twilight finished alerting Pinkie Pie to the fact that they needed to be careful, the two of them heard rustling from the brush to their left. Twilight swished her quill and gathered some ink in front of her. Pinkie assumed a stance and was ready to pounce from her spot at a moment’s notice. 

From the rustling leapt a timber wolf. The creature’s ethereal green eyes were flaming, its wooden body hurtling towards them with a snarl. Its feet drummed on the ground hard as it flung itself towards them with all its might. 

With a couple quick motions of her wrist, and Night Wish likewise doing the same, the ink in front of Twilight shot out and bound around the timber wolf’s ankles. One slashing motion later and it hardened into bindings that caused the wooden canine to fall over mid sprint and tumble into the grass. 

Twilight thought that would have been the end of it. But soon after, she heard the wolf whine loudly. She looked back over towards it, and was horrified at what she saw. The poor creature was struggling and thrashing against the grass.  It shrieked loudly as it literally withered away. Right before their eyes the timber wolf shivered up into rotten black wood. 

Both Twilight and Pinkie needed to take a step back after what they had just witnessed. Twilight felt herself retching and about to throw up. What just happened to it? And would the same happen to them?

“Thanks, Twilight…” Pinkie panted, “What happened to it?!”

“I… don’t know,” Twilight was trying to hold down bile, “What’s a timber wolf doing this close to Zecora’s hut? Don’t they normally travel in packs too..?” After the incident with them the last time, Twilight had looked up more information on the wolves. Even if they were hunting alone, which was unusual for them, they normally were found deep into Everfree. Not only that, but they didn’t just rot away when they were attacked. 

“Look!” Pinkie pointed towards where the rotten timber wolf lie. At first twilight didn’t see what she was pointing at, but the movement became clearer. It was a hand. A severed, tan, pony hand. It was crawled on it’s fingers like a spider off of the wolf’s body and onto the ground. It shook some of the blackened matter from itself, then it lifted into the air and started flying down the path.

“After that hand!” Twilight ordered. That had to be the fourth most bizarre phrase she had ever uttered in her life. 

Pinkie Pie and Twilight ran down the path after the flying hand. Its trajectory seemed to follow the dirt path, taking them past where Twilight assumed Zecora’s Hut would have been. Soon they came upon the end of the path, and to a clearing in the forest. Twilight noted that this is definitely not where this path should have led. 

When the two mares emerged into the moonlight, they both looked up to see where the hand had been heading. Standing on the opposite end of the clearing was their enemy, and his Stand. The pony himself was tall and tan. An Earth Pony, judging by the lack of wings or a horn. He was wearing a leather vest and cargo shorts. Numerous teeth lined the breast of his sleeveless vest. Around his neck was a necklace containing one whistle. One of his hands was missing. When the flying one reached him, he snatched it out of the air and attached it to his wrist.

Behind him was what could only be his Stand. It was normal pony sized. It’s entire body was a solid purple, with white spikes sequencing it from head to toe. Several parts of its body looked like they were separate sections that could rotate. Its head was cylindrical shaped with a wavy pattern on the top. It almost seemed like an action figure a foal would assemble, yet the spikes that covered its body made it look more like a demon. It had no mouth nor nose, only a set of large wide eyes that also seemed like they could rotate as well.

“Well then, it seems our ambush tactic didn’t work out like we hoped!” The Stand user called out. The manor in which he was speaking said that he wasn’t talking to either of them, “But what can you expect? Ponies are clever creatures. It’ll take a lot more to break them.” 

“Um, who is he talking to?” Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow and looked at Twilight. Then she turned to the stallion. “You’re supposed to be more subtle about it!” 

“Who are you?” Twilight demanded, “Are you a member of the Cult of Discord?” But she didn't waste any time waiting for him to answer. That would just give him a chance to attack them. She made the first move instead and created chains of ink that lashed out all around him and his Stand. Within seconds, both User and Stand were immobilized by the solid black binds.

“See here,” The stallion went on, nearly ignoring their presence, “The unicorn is always the most rash of ponies. She tried to remove me as a threat right away. But what she doesn’t know that tying me up like this is actually useless. Like a typical unicorn, she’s disregarded my Stand, even though she’s already seen everything it can do. Well she’s in for a real nasty surprise then!”

To demonstrate his point to the non-existent audience he seemed to be talking to, the stallion removed his arm from his body. His arm simply detached itself from his body like it was always meant to do that. He did the same with his other arm, as well as his lower half. His separated limbs and torso fell to the ground, before floating up and reassembling themselves. With the slack in the chains, his Stand simply slid out of the ink.

“Thanks to my Feed My Frankenstein, I can detach any part of my body that I so chose in any way I chose. So there’s no way this feisty unicorn can tie up ol’ Burgundy here,” Burgundy had a triumphant grin on his face. He looked as though he had outwitted an inferior animal. 

“Stop talking to the audience and focus on us!” Pinkie demanded. Her patience was clearly being tested.

“He’s delusional Pinkie,” Twilight commented while pooling Night Wish’s ink together. “I don’t think he’s entirely well in the head.”

“Well that’s obvious,” Pinkie spun her finger around the side of her head. “I mean, he’s part of a group of ponies who worship Discord. There’s got to be something wrong with you if you do that! At least worship something that’ll get you something out of it! Like cake!” 

“But that’s not all,” Burgundy kept talking and ignoring the two mares. “The separation is actually part of its real effect. What these two helpless fillies right here haven’t figured out yet is that when one of my separate body parts is touching something, the oxygen will be removed from its body when it comes into contact with something that another part is touching. As they saw with that poor timber wolf back there. Let’s see their reactions!”

“Oh no,” Twilight sighed and shuddered in revulsion, “That’s, horrible…”

“What?” Pinkie raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What does that mean? I’m not good with elements that don’t involving laughing.”

“If the oxygen leaves our bodies,” Twilight explained. “Then our muscles will slowly shut down. So we can’t move anymore. Then, eventually our hearts will too.”

“Oh, yes, that is really bad,” Pinkie felt herself getting grimmer every second. 

“Does your Stand have the ability to separate ponies as well?” Twilight called out, “You seem eager to tell us everything about your ability!”

“Now, we can’t catch and tame these ponies by ourselves,” Burgundy explained to no one, “So we’re going to need to call in some friends whom we’ve already tamed. Get ready to meet the crew!”

Burgundy blew his whistle. The sound was shrill and piercing, yet didn’t sound like a normal school whistle. After only a few seconds, four more timber wolves came out of the trees surrounding the clearing. The savage creatures sat tamely at his command. With a softer blow of his whistle, the four shot up on all fours and all started sprinting towards Twilight and Pinkie at once.

Pinkie reacted immediately. Using Ta-Da, she blinked out of existence and reappeared an instant later right in front of Burgundy. She attempted to use her Stand to grab him, but was blocked by her target’s own. Feed My Frankenstein jabbed its fist at Pinkie, its hands spinning like blades. Without any time to block, she retreated and teleported behind its user. 

Now that he was separated from his Stand, Pinkie thought that Burgundy was defenseless. So she prepared to strike with Ta-Da again, this time holding its blades in its hands again. Burgundy was clearly expecting this, however, because he already had his whistle ready and blew a different note on it. Pinkie was stopped dead in her tracks by a loud, avian screech directly to her right.

Meanwhile, Twilight was forced to deal with the timber wolves head on. While Pinkie had the edge in dodging, Night Wish had its strength in attacking. Right as they sprinted towards her, Twilight flung her quill up in her hand, causing a ring of ink to form directly around her midsection. 

The canine at the head of the charge lunged through the air at Twilight. A section of the ink shot down towards her feet, enveloping them in it and then springing her backwards. The action caused the wolf to hit the ground right where she had been. When its feet landed, they found themselves trapped in ink as well she’d left on the ground, sending it flying away from her. Then, while it was recovering from landing on the ground, the timber wolf found itself magically levitated and trapped in mid-air. A crush of her aura made it break apart.

Two more timber wolves flanked Twilight from either side. Still using the ink under her feet, she spun herself around while holding her quill out. A solid ink fist formed floating in front of her. It followed and slammed into both wolves, who were shattered into their wooden components. 

The last wolf cautiously approached twilight. It bared its wooden fangs in an attempt at intimidating her. All the while it waited for the perfect moment to strike. Without waiting for its next move, she levitated the wolf up with her magic and then made three quick slashes with her quill. Three ink blades slashed through the wolf’s core, causing it to burst apart and its logs to crumble to the ground. 

For a brief moment, Twilight felt victorious. She used her magic to hold the components of the wolves apart, preventing them from reforming quickly. But her feeling of victory was only for that brief moment. In the next, Pinkie nervously called her name.

“Twilight…” When Twilight looked over in Pinkie’s direction, she saw the source of Pinkie’s concern. A cockatrice was aggressively walking towards her. Pinkie in turn was slowly walking backwards with her eyes squinted shut. This protected her from being turned to stone by the serpentine fowl’s petrifying gaze. But it did nothing to save her from the timber wolf stalking up behind her that was unable to see.

“Look out!” Twilight shouted out and frantically moved Night Wish’s quill around. A long hook made of ink wrapped around Pinkie’s waist and pulled her out of the way right before the wolf pounced on on. At the same time, a glob of ink from the hook detached itself to form a band that wrapped itself around the cockatrice’s eyes. The now harmless creature squawked in terror as its vision was obscured.

Up until this point, Twilight was keeping a careful eye on Burgundy even as she fought the wolves. She knew that he was still a threat even if he was making his animals do all the work. But that watch was ceased when she saved Pinkie Pie. From the corner of Pinkie’s eye, she could see Burgandy grinning with his arms crossed confidently. 

Feed My Frankenstein lunged at Twilight. Since she wasn’t paying attention to it anymore, it was able to catch her off guard and jam something right into her chest. The impact caused Twilight to lose concentration and release her magic. Within seconds, green magic glowed around the broken creatures and began reconstructing their hosts. When they got up, they did not seem happy with the mare that had just collapsed them.

Twilight winced in pain as she looked down at the wound she was just given. It was a small hole, barely a centimeter in diameter. Blood slowly dribbled down from it. When she looked back up at him, Burgundy flashed a grin at Twilight. The missing tooth in his mouth told her all that she needed to know about what he did. 

Immediately, Twilight attempted to pull out the tooth with Night Wish’s ink. But the timber wolves seemed none too pleased with her. Right as she got the ink in her, a wolf jumped and bit her forearm. 

When Burgundy heard her cry of pain, he detached his from his wrist and put it atop a wolf at his side. The effects were near instant. Both Twilight’s arm and the wolf’s jaw started to turn black. Twilight could no longer feel her arm as it went dead. The wolf released her arm and fell backwards with a limp jaw.

“T-This is too fast!” Twilight gasped, watching as her skin began to blacken right off her bones, “How did he?!”

“Now see here,” Burgundy talked to the audience in his head, “My body part doesn’t have to be touching that specific timber wolf for Feed My Frankenstein’s effects to work on the unicorn. She’ll be affected by all timber wolves as long as my tooth is in her. And all unicorns will affect the wolf as long as my hand is on him. You’ve heard of killing two birds with one stone, how about two species with just one tooth!”

“Stop him!” Twilight ordered. She was growing rather tired of this routine he was putting on, especially with her arm going numb. Her fingers stopped moving, likely due to the lack of oxygen flow down her arm. 

Pinkie nodded her head and blinked in front of Burgundy. Right as she appeared, she was forced to blink right away as Feed my Frankenstein attempted to ram another one of Burgundy’s teeth into her face. 

Pinkie would not have this. She had only Ta-Da blink back in towards the enemy Stand. It caught Feed My Frankenstein’s arm and pulled the tooth from its grip. Then it pushed the Stand away and wound up to throw the tooth away. With great precision, Ta-Da pitched the tooth directly into Burgundy’s mouth, causing him to gag on it. 

Burgundy didn’t take kindly to this at all. He used his still attached hand and blew his whistle. All five timber wolves surrounded the two of them. With a huff, Pinkie simply blinked out of their circle and back towards Burgundy, rearing Ta-Da’s fist again. But as soon as she tried to hit him, one of the wolves leapt directly at her unguarded back. Just as its teeth were about to sink into her shoulder, she blinked away again.

“This is why you should never get too close to a wild animal,” Burgundy reached up towards the wolf now flying at him, placing one hand directly on its face and another on its left leg. He twisted his body into an arc, flinging it away from him before it could hit him. He dusted his hand off and lightly rubbed his jaw, “Always make sure you take the proper precautions when handling these sort of things! Having some professional training never hurts.”

Twilight prepared to aid Pinkie, but had her attention taken away by a shrill shriek. The cockatrice she had blinded earlier was now going completely berserk. It cawed and jumped in all directions, pecking randomly out of terror and anger. Twice over did Twilight have to jump away to avoid getting pecked. Quickly, she surrounded the cockatrice with ink and flung it into the woods.

Just as Twilight thought it was gone, however, she winced as another whistle blow cut through the night air. Burgundy pointed towards where the cockatrice had flown and shouted a few indistinguishable commands. One of the wolves dove into the forest and, after a few seconds, brought back the flailing creature in its jaws. Before Twilight could register what he was doing, Burgundy has taken a cockatrice feather and wrapped his finger around it. That finger was then detached from his body and thrown on the ground. 

Now both the wolves and the cockatrice presented an even greater danger to Twilight. The wolves were under Burgundy’s complete control and would attack at his command. The cockatrice was frenzied and unpredictable at this point. This battle had turned into pure chaos, and a single touch of something threatened to be lethal to Twilight. 

While Twilight wanted to help Pinkie, right now she had to look out for herself. The five wolves had turned their attention away from Burgundy with two sharp whistle blasts, and were now starting to encircle the mare again. Twilight slowly began to back towards the path, but once she’d gotten within a few feet of its mouth, one of the wolves snapped at her ankles. 

The one directly in front of her attacked first. Even if she managed to dodge its teeth, even a single touch could completely immobilize her. Twilight threw up what looked like a sheet of glass in front of her, catching the wolf on it. It scratched and clawed at it, and Twilight could feel its weight pressing down against it. With a heave, she flung both the sheet and the wolf away from her, the ink going liquid and shooting back to her.

The other three wolves, however, weren’t going to let their comrade attack alone this time. Right as she flung the wolf away, the four snarled and leapt at her too. Thinking fast, Twilight formed a cylinder under her feet and caused it to thrust upwards, letting her jump into the air and flap her wings to glide over the head of the wolf under her. The wolves hit the ground and barked at her, leaping towards her now airborne form. 

For a moment, Twilight had hoped that her wings would give her the advantage. She hovered just high enough to keep the wolves from being able to bite her by jumping at her. Yet just as she tried to use her ink to bash the wolves into the dirt, she heard a screech. Burgundy had picked up the cockatrice and directly hurled it towards her. 

Twilight had to dodge to her right in order to avoid it, but doing so caused her to hit into one of the trees surrounding the clearing. While not enough to down her, it caused her wings to freeze up out of reflex. The wolves already reacted to her change in position, lunging right at the tree. As she fell towards the ground, her horn lit up and she teleported herself towards a spot behind the wolves. When she reappeared with a sparkling flash, she formed a small shield around herself with her ink. 

“Looks like they’re both getting worn out,” Burgundy confidently announced. “But they’re not quite ready to be caged and trained just yet. We need to really drive home who’s the boss here. I think it’s time for the rest of our friends to make an appearance.”

Burgundy blew his whistle as loud as he could. For a second, everything seemed to stand still. Then the whole ground started to shake as the sound of monstrous footsteps echoed closer and closer towards the clearing. Both Twilight and Pinkie gulped. Even the timber wolves stopped in their tracks to look towards the newcomer. 

Out from behind Pinkie, a large and vicious cragidile rushed through the trees and straight towards the mare. She barely had time to blink away before the stone reptile closed its jaws on her. Its tail thrashed as it turned around, trying to look to where she’d gone. To be safe, Pinkie now sat scrunched up on a tree branch. 

At the same time, Twilight bore witness to an ursa minor walk up behind Burgundy. The starry creature let out a growl from its throat, looking around the clearing. When it leaned down to see Burgundy, it immediately bent its head down so that he could get atop its back. The Ursa let him stand confidently right behind its neck. Burgundy reached out and stroked its neck as a sign of praise.

Now safe atop the mighty beast, Burgundy detached one of his bare feet and set it to rest on the ursa minor’s back. He took the other one off and tossed it to the cragidile, who took whole of it inside of its mouth. Rather than chewing, it let it rest right inside of it, owing to whatever sort of training he’d done to make such a ferocious beast obey his commands. 

Twilight was feeling vastly overwhelmed by everything she needed to keep track of now. Just any of these creatures that Burgundy has sicked on her would be bad enough to encounter on their own. But they were attacking her together in a coordinated manner.  And the longer she engaged with them all, the more at risk she was at of being killed.

This situation needed to be taken care of methodically. One step at a time. That’s how Twilight worked best. If she could go step by step, then she would ensure no fatal mistakes.

Firstly and most importantly, Twilight needed space to work with. The pause in the wolves assault had given her the time she needed to figure out the best spell. A simple expanding magical force field accomplished that well enough. The magical wave pushed back the five timber wolves and the cockatrice violently towards the surrounded trees. They each fell the ground, dazed and disoriented. 

Only the huge cragidile was unaffected by the blast. But Twilight was already working on a solution for it. The stone reptile hissed and swung its mighty tail at her. Twilight responded by dropping a large ink weight on its tail and continuously applied pressure to it. The weight was so heavy that the beast couldn’t free itself.

Now that she had space, Twilight could focus on her disabled arm. She had a theory on how she could reverse Feed My Frankenstein’s effects. It worked by taking away oxygen from the objects that are linked by it. So, if she could control the flow of her oxygen, she could restore her arm. Slowly, she pressed two fingers of her good arm to the affected skin and inhaled. 

At the same time, Pinkie’s solo fight with Burgundy was not having much luck. It wasn’t even the ursa minor he was riding that was the problem. It was slow and lumbering, something she could easily get around. With Twilight having taken out the cragidile for now, it let Pinkie leave her tree perch and appear in front of Burgundy again. Yet Burgundy, without even moving, simply had his Feed my Frankenstein appear in front of Pinkie with a tooth pinched between two fingers again. Pinkie and Stand both dodged to the right, yet then she saw Burgundy’s own fist holding another tooth going for her stomach. 

Pinkie was forced to teleport back down to the ground. Unfortunately, now that she was in front of a beast such as the Ursa, she had to deal with its massive claws. The paw nearly as big as her body came swiping at her from the right, and only a quick teleport stopped her from turning into the ribbons she used to wrap gifts for parties. The ursa was stunned, allowing Pinkie to back away from it with a series of quick pants. 

If Pinkie could incapacitate Burgundy, then she could end this entire fight. The problem was that every time she tried to teleport on top of it and behind Burgundy, Feed My Frankenstein would be ready to attempt to stab a tooth into her. This forced her to teleport to the ground, where the ursa would try and claw her. If the cycle kept going on, she’d eventually run out of stamina from overusing Ta-Da, and that would leave her too slow to continue dodging these attacks. 

“As you can see, while Unicorns are the most crafty of the pony species, Earth Ponies are the most persistent. If you leave your guard down, they’ll get you; and if they don’t get you then, they’ll just try again. Fortunately,” Burgundy smirked, “They aren’t the best at adapting to the situation.”

Clearly Pinkie couldn’t fight Burgundy alone. But Twilight was too busy trying to deal with all of the animals attacking her. Pinkie realized that if she wanted Twilight’s help, the creatures would need to be dealt with first. Despite how hard it was to turn her face away from the smug stallion, she needed to help her friend. 

Getting rid of Burgundy’s body parts seemed like the best way to mitigate the danger. This way his Stand wouldn’t be affecting Twilight anymore. Pinkie’s plan for doing so was to gather up every part up so Twilight could trap them in the air like she did to the wolves earlier.

Pinkie made note of Twilight’s location. She looked somewhat tired, but she seemed all put together, and her arm was healed. There were still the five wolves around her, but they were still mostly stunned. The cockatrice was a mitigatable threat for now. 

Pinkie spotted the wolf with Burgundy’s hand on it’s back and blinked over. It was still trying to get up from Twilight’s forceful attack, so plucking the hand was easy. What she didn’t anticipate, however, was the separated hand suddenly leaping from Pinkie’s own and onto her shirt. 

Almost immediately, Pinkie heard Twilight’s cries of pain. Just as fast as she heard them, Pinkie blinked away and left the hand behind. When she appeared, Twilight had fallen to the ground. Every so often she would twitch in pain, but wouldn’t move otherwise. Her muscle functions must have been shut downed like she warned Pinkie.

Since Twilight was no longer putting pressure on the cragidile’s tail, it was able to slip it free. It snorted and ran at the imobile Twilight. Ta-Da grabbed her and blinked the three of them away. It then blinked away from where it blinked to when the Ursa pounced.

“I’m getting us out of here!” Pinkie declared when her, Twilight, and Ta-Da appeared to at the edge of the clearing.

“No…” Twilight struggled to mutter in her state. “Stay…where he can see us…”

“But Twilight!” Pinkie teleported away again as soon as the ursa minor got close to them again. “It’s dangerous to stay here! You’re almost dead!” Despite her concerns, Pinkie obeyed Twilight’s ordered and simply teleported to the other side of the clearing. 

“I know Pinkie, but,” Twilight looked down at the hole in her chest. “He probably doesn’t know it, but the tooth Burgundy’s Stand put in me, has slightly punctured my heart. I think he was aiming to pierce it, but couldn’t get deep enough. Right now, it’s plugging the hole he made.”

Twilight coughed. It hurt. Pain was one of the only things she could feel at the moment. Right now, she couldn’t even breathe properly. The tooth would have to come out if she were to restore her muscle functions again.

“But if the tooth is removed without careful precision, I fear it’ll create an even bigger hole. And if we leave Burgundy’s sight, he’ll simply call the tooth back to him. Like… like he did with the hand...”

Pinkie teleported them out of the ursa’s way again as Twilight kept talking, “I need to use Night Wish to take it out, carefully. But that’ll take time. Time we don’t have while all of our enemies are attacking us. So right now our only option is to defeat him”

“But how do we do that? He’s got us super outnumbered! And you can’t even move your body!”

“I can move my wrist,” Twilight used her head to motion down to the quill in her hand. “That’s all I need. I just need you to get him off of that Ursa. I have a plan for defeating him. Can I trust you to do that for me?”

“You can count on me!” Pinkie saluted and instantly blinked away from Twilight. She still wasn’t entirely sure about this. But she knew Twilight well enough to have full faith in her.

When she appeared again, Pinkie saw that Burgundy had given up chasing them for now and focused on something else. She saw that he had ordered all of his animals into a new attack formation. Or rather, Pinkie didn’t see that because every creature was hidden from sight in the surrounding trees. But she could feel their eyes on her with Ta-Da. The only animal still in sight was the Ursa that Burgundy was riding on. 

“Just get Burgundy… off that thing…” Twilight shook as Pinkie sat her down on the ground, “I know you can do it, Pinkie Pie…” 

One blow of Burgundy’s whistle and one timber wolf leapt out from the trees at Pinkie. She was able to sense where it was coming from and used Ta-Da to grab it out of the air. The wolf couldn’t even process what had just happened before it was thrown over to the other side of the clearing. 

Pinkie blinked herself to the opposite end of the clearing, wiping the growing sweat beads from her forehead. Doing so lead the creatures away from where Twilight lay immobile.  Despite the exhaustion using her Stand like this was taking on her, she couldn’t stop. She sadly, however, didn’t get nearly as much time to prepare herself as she wanted. 

After another blow of the whistle, the blind cockatrice came running in Pinkie’s general direction. Pinkie simply stared at the frenzied snake-chicken and wondered what the point of it was. She wondered so much that she didn’t notice the two new wolves ambushing her from behind.

While Pinkie felt Ta-Da’s warning, she couldn’t react in enough time to fully move out of the way. Thus, she instead ran forward towards the cockatrice. The tiny creature cried out and lashed its feet out at her once it heard her footsteps, drawing two sets of three slashes across Pinkie’s leg. The pain caused her to shriek and stumble forward, just as the wolves hit the ground and lunged at her again. 

Pinkie turned her head around, having Ta-Da blink her right atop the two wolves. She landed on top of them, smashing them into the ground with her feet and jumping off them. The wolves scampered back into the trees immediately. Once she was on the ground again, she turned her attention directly towards Burgundy. 

“It looks as though we might have managed to down our first Unicorn!” Burgundy made an ‘oohhh’ sound, “But it seems retrieving it will require us to first take out is partner. Unlike most species, the pony will defend its own kind. Of course,” Burgundy’s smile turned dark, “We can always employ pain as a tactic to break that spirit.”

By turning her attention to Burgundy, Pinkie had forgotten that there were in fact five wolves and not two. Another whistle caused the two wolves to run full pelt towards her. She leapt backwards, putting herself closer to the ursa. As it reared to attack her, another whistle blow emanated. 

Pinkie teleported away, but right as she landed, the third wolf had emerged. Burgundy had predicted right where she’d teleport to and had the wolf already barreling towards her! As she turned to see it, Pinkie knew she couldn’t dodge in time. With a wince, she started to draw her arms up in the air to defend her face. 

But before it could bite her, the wolves found themselves decapitated. As the bodies ran around frantically, the heads, as well as Pinkie, looked bewilderingly for for the culprit. From the darkness, Pinkie could see large blades flying away from the spot the wolves had just collapsed in. The blades returned to reveal the culprit of the attack. 

Twilight stood, her quill pointed out towards Pinkie. Since she was unable to move on her own, Twilight had to use her Stand to do it for her. She had ink rings around her wrists, shoulders, and waist. They were lifting her into the air and moving her like a puppet. Neatly floating behind her were the four swords that she had fashioned out of ink. One of which was just returning to position after being used.

“I’ll hand the animals,” Twilight ordered. “You focus on Burgundy!”

“Got it!” Pinkie turned her head towards Burgundy, “Hey! Animal guy! Still think your little animal friends are enough to take on two ponies?!”

But Burgundy would not make that easy for either of them. He blew on his whistle as loudly as he could. This signaled for all of the animals to come out of hiding and attack at once. He had intended to have them split off and attack both targets equally. But Twilight used her ink swords to attack each and everyone except for the ursa minor. This ended up provoking all of them into attacking her. 

The wolves that had until now focused on Pinkie once more pooled their full attention to attacking Twilight. With determination in her eyes, Twilight flicked her wrist, sending her body flying backwards. The four swords came flying out from behind her, spinning about and cleaving into each of the wolves as they collided. As their parts fell onto the ground, Twilight turned two of the swords into a liquid that then pooled around the pieces and completely hardened, preventing them from reforming. 

The enraged cragidle rushed towards Twilight and tried to bite her with its fearsome jaws. Twilight used Night Wish’s sword ink to form a large pillar inside of its mouth and prevent it from closing. The creature tried to chomp down on the ink, but found it didn’t budge. In response, it quickly spun its body around, sending its tail directly at her. 

Using her ink, Twilight lifted her body up into the air, narrowly avoiding its attack. Her two remaining sword swung down to attack the creature, but bounced off of its rocky exterior. As she landed back on the ground, the creature trashed its head, causing the pillar to come loose. Once she noticed, she reformed it into a sword to join the other. 

In response to this, Twilight let the cragidile lunge towards her. Right as it was about to make contact, she levitated her body once more, sending the two swords directly on either side of its neck. While it didn’t cut through the exterior, it prevented the creature from moving. In seconds, this ink melted and formed a neck brace that was driven into the ground, preventing it from moving. It let out a cry as it tried to thrash its way out, all to no avail.

Pinkie was focused entirely on Burgundy. The ursa was focused on her. It clawed and pounced at her, but she kept jumping out of the way. After expending so much of her energy, she wasn’t skillfully dodging them. Each evade was an extremely close call. She could feel the wind of its swipes ruffling her mane as she dodged each attack, and more than once swore she could see the glint of Luna’s light on its claws. Burgundy noticed after about five dodges that Pinkie wasn’t using her Stand to easily avoid his Ursa.

“Seems like… our prey has really made a comeback!” Burgundy called out, “Well, its nothing to worry about. All we need do is make sure that they can’t escape! Every creature has their limit.”

Burgundy reached up and took a tooth out of his mouth, handing it to Feed My Frankenstein. Turning around, the Stand reared its fist back and threw the tooth as hard as it could, causing it to lodge inside of a tree. Twilight’s expression twitched in response. 

“Our ponies would do well to remember that there is more to living things than just animals!” Burgundy grinned, “Now no matter what, we can wear them out right here and now. And first, we should take care of our little Earth Pony…” His voice trailed off as he looked down in front of him to see Pinkie dodging yet another swipe Stand-less. 

That was because Ta-Da was elsewhere. Pinkie could see it resting on a high up tree branch behind the two of them. But Pinkie could tell that they couldn’t see it. Exactly how she wanted it to be. The ursa roared, a sound that shook leaves from the treetops as it slammed its paw directly on top of where Pinkie stood. 

With a final jump backwards, Pinkie landed cleanly on her feet. A millisecond passed and Ta-Da blinked itself from the tree branch and onto the ursa’s back. Burgundy noticed it just before it grabbed him by the shoulders. He was lifted straight up from its back without even a moment’s hesitation. 

“TA-DA!” Ta-Da cried out as it threw him hard into the dirt in front of the Ursa. The impact caused the whistle to fall from his mouth. 

“Twilight now!” Pinkie shouted.

Burgundy groaned as he got up. He had his eyes closed as he tumbled across the grass. When he got up and opened them, he saw the piercing eyes of a now unblinded cockatrice, suspended in ink. His expression didn’t even have time to change before his entire body froze over and turned completely to stone. .

Grabbing Twilight’s shoulder, Pinkie blinked the two back onto the path. The ursa blinked and looked around the clearing for a few moments, stomping around cluelessly as it tried to figure out what had happened to its orders. It leaned forward and sniffed at the petrified form of its trainer, but after nudging it a few times, the creature slowly turned around and lumbered back into the forest. 

Once the two had landed, Twilight gasped hard and shook in Pinkie’s grasp. The ink around her body began to drip down her body until her quill swished and gathered it up again. Slowly, her arm began to move, and after her arm came the rest of her right side. A few moments later and her left side had joined the right in the glorious sensation of motion. 

“Did that do it?” Pinkie looked Twilight up and down, “Can you move? Do I need to make you a wheelchair?!”

“I...I think, I’m fine now, Pinkie…” Twilight coughed. The pain was still coursing through her body, but the oxygen-canceling effects of the Stand seemed to have worn off, “I… just, need a few minutes to get this tooth out of me…” 

“Understood!” Pinkie saluted, “I’ll stand guard while you do!” 

Twilight nodded thanks to Pinkie, slowly closing her eyes and letting feeling fully return to her body. After she was able to fully move her arm again, she slowly began phasing ink down into the wound created by the tooth. As Pinkie stood nearby with Ta-Da at the ready, panting herself and the smallest bit of shivers going down her back, Twilight began the process of pulling the tooth out. The remaining ink from the clearing sped back towards her and joined with the rest of the mass to help in the process.

After those few minutes, Twilight shut her eyes and let out a little shuddering groan as finally, the ink extracted the tooth from her chest. Twilight filled the wound up with ink, placing a small amount over the hole that the tooth had made in her heart. Slowly, she began to use magic to stimulate the growth of her heart tissue, filling the gap filled by it. 

“Hey, Twilight?” Pinkie asked once she saw the tooth, “What do you think we should do with that?”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked and looked towards the tooth floating in Night Wish’s ink, “I was just going to throw it away. Why?” 

“Hmm… one second!” Pinkie smiled widely, then blinked away for a moment. When she returned, she was holding Burgundy’s whistle in her hand. The bit of brown string making it a necklace dangled from it. 

“What?” Twilight shook her head, “Why do we need that?” 

“You know how you get those little touristy things when you go to places like Filidelphia and Baltimare?” Pinkie pulled out a shuriken from Ta-Da’s waist and used it to puncture a hole in the tooth. She undid the string around the whislte, stopped the whistle into the dirt, then slid the tooth on it, “We should keep this so the others will believe us!” 

“It… we…” Twilight paused, then she slowly nodded, “You know what, Pinkie? Sure, let’s keep it. I bet Dash would never believe us if we didn’t have that to prove it.” 

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie nodded and slung the necklace around her neck, stuffing the tooth itself unde her shirt, “If you’re still feeling bad, maybe Zecora will have something?” 

“That’s a good idea…” Twilight slowly forced herself up onto her feet, “If Applejack and Rarity were ambushed, they’d head there too. Let’s meet up with them, then we need to find out how we were separated in the first place.” 

With that, Twilight turned her head back down the trail the two had come, putting a hand over her heart as the two mares slowly walked away from a clearing that now contained only broken wolves and a frozen statue of a wrangler behind. 
> Road to Nowhere
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash sped overtop the trees of the Everfree Forest on the back of 2 Minutes to Midnight with a single-minded determination. The air ripped past her Stand, yet none of it slowed her down. The noise was almost deafening, yet her ears weren’t even folded back. She only had one goal in mind, one singular drive that was fueling every single fiber of her being at this very moment: rescue Fluttershy. Those creeps had crossed a line that nopony ever crosses. It was an unforgivable offence, and for their sake Dash hoped that the blood was just a scare tactic like Twilight said it was. Otherwise, there would be a lot more in the Castle of the Two Sisters. 

The treetops were nothing more than tiny dots that blurred together into an indistinguishable mass underneath her. If she were to go this speed while diving, she’d likely achieve creating a Sonic Rainboom. The pocket of air that 2M2M was creating in front of her certainly looked like it would. Yet with such a sight in front of her, it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to realize that something was wrong though. 

In her fury and drive, Rainbow was making her Stand fly as fast as it possibly could. On her own, Dash could fly from Ponyville to Manehatten in about an hour at top speed. 2M2M could easily fly twice her normal top speed. In addition, Rainbow Dash was making it go even faster by isolating her Stand from outside friction, creating a permanent slipstream effect around it. She knew just from experimenting outside of her home with that affect that would almost triple her normal flight speed.

With all of these factors in place, Rainbow Dash should have reached the Castle of The Two sisters within minutes, if not seconds. When her fury subsided enough to focus on her surroundings more actively, a thought flared up in her head. She had been blasting her Stand’s jets at full speed for at least ten minutes now, and she couldn’t even see the Castle of the Two Sisters. It was impossible that she overshot it. Even if she did, she would have reached the other side of the Everfree by now. Something was incredibly wrong.

As if to add to the growing number of worries and problems she was having right now, Rainbow Dash saw the outline of what looked to be a strange shadow rapidly getting closer to her. Or, she was rapidly getting closer to it. As she tried to develop the shadow into a full image, the colors formed into what appeared to be a bipedal figure. An enemy Stand user perhaps?

Dash grunted. she didn’t have time for this. Twilight had warned her about the presence of more cult members like Crimson in these woods, but even as it approached, she knew her speed was too much to deal with. She didn’t even want to deal with this. So she resolved to not. 

It’s just floating there in my way, Dash thought to herself. I’ll just hit it as hard as I can and fly off! Dash willed 2 Minutes to Midnight to raise its fist and deliver the the hardest blow she could towards the enemy Stand. With the momentum she had going, this could likely shatter a pony’s jaw just by the impact force alone. To add to that, her own Stand gave a cry like an engine as it blasted its arm right into the Stand’s face just as to they came into range.

The punch passed right through it. No feedback at all registered on her hand. No signs of impact. It was as if Rainbow Dash hadn’t even hit anything at all, just thin air. But she knew she saw her first on a direct course with that thing’s face! She didn’t see it move out of the way at the last second either. Her perception filter would have caught that!

Before she could think more, a massive force slammed hard into Dash’s chest. The tree line below her had grown exponentially closer until 2M2M ran face-first into it at mach speeds. It wasn’t until she felt the full force of a tree breaking into two against her face via her Stand that Rainbow realised she was crashing into the ground. And by that time, she was already eating mouthfuls of dirt and feeling the ground scrape against her Stand’s body. The pain reflected back onto her own torso as the dirt drove her to a complete standstill.

It took almost ten seconds before her Stand came to a complete stop. Groaning from the aches, Rainbow stood up and tried to wrap her head around what exactly had just happened. Brushing the dirt away from her body, she remembered that she was trying to throw a punch at the Enemy Stand in her path. For some reason, she didn’t pay attention to her trajectory while doing so. How in Celestia’s name had she done that?! That was a mistake that she was literally taught to not make in elementary school! The fact that she did something that only fillies who don’t even know how to properly fly yet do made Rainbow Dash ground against her smoldering anger.

Standing up caused Rainbow Dash to feel a pain in her back. At first it felt like she had been punched there, but then the pain grew much sharper. She reached backwards and felt where it was coming from. She felt blood on her fingertips. Something solid was protruding from her back. Dash grabbed whatever was in her back and pulled it out of her, only increasing to pain she was feeling. Through squinting eyes, Dash saw that she was holding a bloody stick. She had been stabbed with a stick from the tree she had broken.
 
Instantly Rainbow turned around to try and find the culprit. Whoever had stabbed her wasn’t directly behind her. She looked to her left. Nothing was there. To the right was empty as well. There were only more and more trees. Then she looked up to where she finally found the culprit hovering in the air.
 
Just from looking at it, Rainbow knew it was the enemy Stand. The Stand stood just a few inches shorter than 2M2M, yet it lacked any of its bulk or power in its build. The Stand shone as the moonlight hit it, as though its body was made of something shiny. A closer inspection showed it to look almost like… latex? Yes, the Stand’s entire body was covered in latex. Even its face was covered in it, though the imprint of both eyes and a nose could be seen in them. Dash could see it lacked any sort of mouth.
 
The right half of the Stand was covered in black latex, while the left half was in a deep maroon colored latex. Going down both the side of its arms and legs were small little golden rings embedded into the latex itself. Hanging off of both of its arms were sets of long leather straps and bands attached to these rings which seem to wave in the wind. Some sort of gloves were affixed to both its hands which looked to be a form of silver brass knuckles. On its feet were tall high heels with what appeared to be spiked ends. Across its torso was a black harness with points to attach all of the straps. The Stand hung its head, its chest gently rising and falling as it hovered there.
 
A few seconds later it dawned on Rainbow Dash that she was standing completely still while her assailant was less than ten feet away from her. She hadn’t thought of what she wanted to do when she found it. She knew that she wanted to find it when she was looking for it. But that was the only thing she was thinking about in her search.
 
Good, I’ve found it, Let’s see how I should punch its face in and… Dozens of combat options ran through Rainbow Dash’s head. She tried to punch it last time and that didn’t work out. Would kicking it fair any better? Maybe she should go for some sort of indirect attack involving 2 Minutes to Midnight creating a vacuum?
 
A shiny knee slammed Rainbow Dash in the chest. The air was knocked out of her. Her thoughts scrambled from the impact. Once the pain subsided she silently berated herself. She had flat out ignored the Stand and just allowed it strike her like that! Her hands snapped out to try and grab the knee, but it was gone.
 
Huge breaths of air filled Rainbow Dash’s pained lungs as she tried to keep herself from keeling over. What was going on? Rainbow acknowledged that she wasn’t as hyper aware of everything as an egghead like Twilight was. But she wasn’t single-minded. At the very least, she should have been paying attention to the Stand directly in front of her! One that she saw was already gearing up for another kick.
 
This time Dash was ready. She growled as she willed 2M2M to stand in front of her. Her Stand turned its body to the side to receive the kick. Once it had followed through 2M2M would grab its leg and throw it to the ground. The Stand looked wimpy with its small frame and completely encased body. One or two punches should completely shut the Stand down.
 
The kick slammed into the side of 2M2M’s leg just as Dash suspected. 2M2M’s hands closed around the shin of the Stand. A smirk crossed Dash’s face as she knew it was trapped now. She turned her head off to the forest. 2M2M threw its weight to its side to sling the Stand into the trees.
 
A sharp pain filled Dash’s face. Both she and 2M2M recoiled as the Stand drew its fist back from 2M2M’s cheek. The shock made her drop her hold on the Stand’s knee. Two more sharp jabs came up to 2M2M’s face a second later. Dash’s face was snapped left then right as the pain lanced through her. Instinctually 2M2M raised its hands to cover its face. Another kick to the knee caused Dash to drop to her knee with a grunt.
 
“Are we enjoying the session so far?” A new voice entered the scene. From above the Stand, Rainbow Dash saw another figure emerging. It was a pony this time, likely the Stand’s user. She was a red female Pegasus. At first it appeared that she was completely naked. However, she was simply wearing what appeared to be a red leather outfit that was the same color as her fur. It was hard to make out, but Rainbow Dash was pretty sure the leather covered everything halfway below her cleavage. The skintight nature of the outfit, however, meant any sense of modesty with such a garb was impossible. Her hair was a bright magenta that flowed down her back and glimmered in the moonlight. Several items were hanging from her belt, most prominently of them being a massive coiled silver whip.
 
It took Dash a bit to make sense of the mare’s clothing. This allowed herself to be punched in the face by the enemy Stand again. Dash recoiled as she felt like her nose was bent and one of her front teeth was knocked loose. Blood dripped down onto the hands she covered her mouth with Again she hadn’t paid attention to the Stand! What was going on? Why couldn’t she focus right now?!
 
“I do apologize for that,” The mare said in a condescending voice. “My Stand isn’t the strongest, or most precise you see. Otherwise this would be a quickie. But since you’re still standing, it seems like this is going to take a lot longer than I thought. Not that I mind having you to play with tonight. I feel that introductions are in order. I am Lady Scarlet. The Stand about to kick you in the head is mine. You may call it Road to Nowhere.”
 
Rainbow’s attention was yanked away by Road to Nowhere slamming the dorsal of its foot against her. Blood that Rainbow had been covering with her hands flew in the direction the Stand’s foot was swung in. The force wasn’t strong enough to take Rainbow down onto the ground. Yet it still burned her face from the pain of the impacts.
 
This time Road to Nowhere had been right inside of Rainbow Dash’s vision while it was attacking her. She saw it raise its foot. Lady Scarlet had even told her what was about to happen. Rainbow had heard it and understood what that meant. Yet it didn’t process in her mind. The only she was doing was listening to Lady’s words. How had such an obvious attack been somehow blocked from her head?
 
“What are you doing to me?” Rainbow Dash spat blood and glared right up to Lady Scarlet. “Why am I being so stupid right now?” Dash spat some blood from her mouth onto the ground. With her questions finished she manifested 2 Minutes to Midnight. She dug her hands into the handles on the Stand and kicked back with her foot. Flying right at this Scarlet mare would give her too little time to react and dodge. Dash would grab her and beat the answers out of her!
 
Before she could even mount her Stand Road to Nowhere grabbed Rainbow Dash and threw her to the ground. She spat up more blood before the sight of Road to Nowhere rearing its fist to strike her on the ground registered in her head. Dash rolled and dodged it. The fist slammed into the ground right where her face had been.
 
I’ve had it with this! Rainbow screamed in her head before jumping to her feet. I’ll fight her stupid Stand first! No more getting distracted. Rainbow Dash would fight Road to Nowhere. Once more she willed 2 Minutes to Midnight directly in front of her. She ran right towards Road to Nowhere. Both Rainbow and her Stand had their fists raised and were ready to hit as hard as they could.
 
Her momentum was canceled as a hot lash flared on her back. Her shirt was torn and fresh blood soaked through what was left of it. The searing main made Rainbow let out a strained shriek through gritted teeth. Rainbow looked over her shoulder and saw that Lady Scarlet was reeling her whip back with her hands. The silver tip was recently dyed red. She had focused only on the Stand and forgotten about its user.
 
Rainbow Dash was full of fury at herself. Something was wrong. She began scolding herself internally the way she did whenever she failed a workout routine or an advanced flying method. She knew she should be better at this. This was basic fighting 101! If there were two opponents in the ring you had to always keep an eye on both of them. At the very least she knew that she should have been able to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. Something was making her stupid right now.

A light bulb lit up in realization inside of Rainbow Dash’s head. The reason why this was happening became obvious. It was the same reason weird things were happening to her all this week.  
 
“You’re Stand’s doing this!” Rainbow Dash declared after turning to point at Lady. “Your Stand is making me simple minded! I can’t multitask because of your Stand!”
 
Unfortunately, Dash turned out to be right. She received confirmation of her statement’s validity in the form of a painful lash across her face. She saw the lash coming from the corner of her eye. But she’d been talking at the same time. As the lukewarm blood crept down from the burning cut across the bridge of her nose, Dash knew she had figured out the enemy’s ability.
 
“Oh, I don’t think you need Road to Nowhere’s help to be simple minded, my Rainbow,” Lady taunted with a mischievous grin, “But you are correct. I guess if you’re already seen my toys, you can at least know what I’m doing with them. My Stand takes away my opponent's ability to process more than one thing at a time as long as you’re in its girthy range. While you focus on one thing, you will be completely oblivious to everything else. For example, I know you were preoccupied with my explanation. Otherwise, you would have seen what I just did.”
 
Lady Scarlet ushered for Rainbow Dash to look at her own body. Dash had been focusing just on her voice. Now Scarlet had walked forward until she were mere inches away from Dash’s face. Instinctively,  Rainbow tried to send her fist right at Lady. Now she found that she couldn’t move it. A tight leather strap had been wrapped around her wrist and the nearest tree trunk. She tried to pull against it. The strap had been completely tightened. Her arm was completely restrained and immobilized against the trunk.
 
The thought of being restrained finished processing. Now Rainbow Dash felt the full front of Road to Nowhere’s knee right in her chest. The air sailed right out of her lungs leaving her unable to breathe. Doubling over meant she could see Road to Nowhere readying itself for yet another similar attack. She manifested 2 Minutes to Midnight and attempted to block against it.
 
This only proved to leave Dash open to another attack from Lady coming from a different angle. The Pegasus felt the crack of her whip sting against body. It tore another rip through her shirt and skin around her right side. Dash had to bite her lip to keep from crying out and showing weakness. But all this resulted is allowing Lady to see her grit her teeth and hold back tears.
 
2 Minutes to Midnight abruptly changed directions and snatched Lady’s whip with speed faster than the eye could see. Rainbow’s squinted eyes turned into a scowl. She intended to have 2M2M give a forceful tug on it and pull Lady directly into its first. Taking her eyes off of Road to Nowhere now meant she was unaware of the large tree branch that was being swung at her head until the moment of impact. Darkness burned in her vision as the blow struck the side of her skull. By then the pain she felt made 2M2M release the whip reflexively.
 
“Aww, look at you all restrained and helpless,” Lady taunted. “Everything you do is futile, pest. If you try to fight me, my Stand will hit you. If you try to fight your Stand, I’ll punish you! My Stand’s ability makes it impossible for my opponents to fight two people at once. Or even dodge two different attacks at once. Since I’ll always have my Stand, I’ll never lose a one on one fight! I almost think it’s unfair, but seeing you whimpering like that is making this too much fun…”
 
“I could just end our session right here,” Lady strolled up to Rainbow Dash. Dash in turn tried to raise her hand to strike her. Her free fist was restrained by Road to Nowhere, “At any time now, me or my Stand could thrust a knife into your heart while you’re focused on the other. Your life is in my hands, my little Dashie.”
 
“But that’s what makes it so exhilarating!” Lady cracked her whip and swung it towards the tree. It coiled around the trunk and Dash’s neck twice before going taut. On the completion of its second revolution, Lady crapped the end and began to pull. “You’re in my complete submission! I can do whatever I want to you and never have to worry about anything. You’re just my helpless little toy now. Oh it must be such a beautiful feeling, knowing there’s nothing you can do about it! Sometimes I wish I had that luxury..”
 
The more Lady pulled, the tighter the cord wrapped around her neck. Dash’s airflow slowly cut off and robbed her of her ability to breathe. Her face had begun to turn a deep blue in the cheeks. Dash had to admit that Lady was right. Trying to fight one meant the other would catch her by surprise. The pain of being asphyxiated brought to her mind the regret of having taken off so suddenly to go after Fluttershy. Having her friends here could have beaten this Stand already!
 
But Dash was stubborn. Stubborn enough that regret evaporated from her mind as quick as it came. Stubborn enough that she’d force her way out of the mess she had forced herself into. She had to act fast. Otherwise the lack of oxygen reaching her brain would make planning harder than it already was. Scarlet’s explanation meant Dash could only keep one train of thought at any moment. She’d need a single plan to get out of this. A single plan to try to attack both of them at once. Dash would need to use only a single move to free herself. Not that she would get much more than that.
 
The ground around Lady’s feet started to shake. The mare curiously raised her head, only to see 2M2M standing at the foot of the tree. It had dug its fingers underneath the roots of the tree and was attempting to pull it up. In response, Lady simple yanked her whip another inch closer to herself. Looking back at Dash, Lady could see that she was running out of breath even faster now. Her face turned from blue to purple as she felt the stress of her Stand’s action on her own arms.
 
Lady did not know what Dash was doing, but she didn’t want it to happen. She shot her gaze towards 2M2M, with Road to Nowhere darting towards it a moment after. The punch it made to the plane-like Stand’s gut definitely registered, as Lady saw Dash recoil from it, but it did nothing to phase the 2M2M itself. The Stand’s body shook as it drove its feet into the dirt. It cried out from underneath its own mask as loud cracks splintered from the dirt underneath them. The entire tree Dash was strapped to raised up from the ground.
 
2 Minutes to Midnight swung it by its roots with wild abandon. It wasn’t focusing on Lady Scarlet or her Stand. The only thing it and Dash were focusing on was swinging the tree around in a circle. Dash felt the force of swinging the tree in an arc cause the leather strap holding her wrist to snap apart. She quickly used her wings to stop herself from being flung in a random direction and fly of her own will. She darted up above the tree just as 2M2M completed a full revolution with it.
 
2 Minutes to Midnight dropped the tree to the ground with loud crash. Dash’s arms felt like they were on fire. The most intense weightlifting sessions she’d even done couldn’t compare to the screaming her muscles were doing right now. This was one of those instances where Rainbow wished she was like Applejack. Country Girl would have made that so much easier.
 
Now she was free. Now she could get back to her mission. 2M2M flew up to her and she immediately mounted it. Its engines fired up immediately to burst through the air and towards the Castle of the Two Sisters. Dash didn’t care what its ability was. Absolutely nothing was faster than 2 Minutes to Midnight. Road to Nowhere was useless if it couldn’t catch her. Even if it had some massive range. She’d get out of it and just ignore this Scarlet!
 
The tree settled into the ground. Dash heard coughing from nearby. She must have finally pinned the mare down with that motion. No more taking pot-shot punches from that stupid Stand. Just looking at the mare caused her to stop readying 2M2M’s engines. Dash tapped her now bruised forehead to her Stand with a groan. This ability was so damn annoying! She couldn’t think about Lady. Just think about the engines. The engines going and starting up to carry her off. The engines fired up again.
 
“Going so soon?” Despite carrying a taunting tone, Lady’s voice was pained. The tree shifting had been Road to Nowhere using its shoulder to roll it off of its user. Scarlet herself stood up slowly, hissing as she pulled her arm backwards, “I thought you could handle more than that. Clearly you need to learn how to pace yourself better when it comes to our fun. You’re one of my most disappointing submissives yet…”
 
Again her engines stalled. Rainbow kept her head tilted the other direction. She couldn’t focus on this mare! It was all apart of her plan! Just another second and she would be miles away from here. She just had to ignore Scarlet and get back to her goal. 2M2M’s launched from the ground. The air zoomed past her face. Dash felt her perception filter kicking right back in, and she let out a long and strained breath.
 
“Though not as disappointing as that Fluttershy,”
 
2M2M’s engines died down. Dash heard them as though they were right in her ear. The exhaust disappeared all together. Her Stand landed on the ground with a crack as it broke several bushes. Dash leaped off of its back and landed on the ground. She marched straight up to Lady. The mare was still struggling to fully get up. The light illuminated Dash’s dead serious face.
 
“What did you just say?”
 
It was at this point that Lady Scarlet gave a low chuckle, “I’ve rarely had one of my mares know the other, but yes, nowhere near as disappointing as that yellow Pegasus…” Lady Scarlet gently shifted her weight back onto her feet, running a hand up the side of her body, “She wouldn’t even make any noise, no matter what I did to her. Nothing worked! I think Derry went a little too harsh with her before turning her over to me. Oh she looked so tired, so sad, so upset. I wanted to maybe give her some fun before the night was over! It’s a shame… I’ve heard she has the loveliest voice when she sings.”
 
Flames seemed to light in Dash’s irises, “What did you do to her?!”
 
“Interested now?” Scarlet pushed herself up onto her feet, “Well, I love to go for more than a single round. You’re not my first toy for the night, and I do hope not my last. I tried every single trick in my book to get her to sing for me. Not even my favorite toys got her to do anything other than gasp. Then again,” Now that she was on her feet, she ran her finger along the spine of her whip, “This at least got her to shriek for me.”
 
The fury inside of Dash’s eyes had broiled up to the point of overriding her own common sense. Her thoughts silenced in her brain. Her fist came down in a massive roundhouse straight towards Scarlet’s face. She let out a yell of rage as she did it. 2M2M mirrored her actions with the same look of unadulterated lividness filling its form. Both Stand and User were ready to likely give Scarlet reason to need a reconstruction if she were to ever be recognized again.
 
The blow never landed. Scarlet swung her body to the right, throwing her whip out in front of her and causing the tip to wrap multiple times around Dash’s arm. At the same time, her Stand slid directly in front of her, crossing its limbs and guarding against the attack. Dash was yanked hard towards Scarlet, while 2M2M’s fist connected with a full body cross guard.
 
“You really want to make me work for my time with you tonight, don’t you, my little Rainbow?” Scarlet’s fingers seized Dash’s chin, pulling her face up close before planting a kiss on her cheek, “Well, I do love it when they beg for my attention!”
 
 She needed cover. Rainbow needed cover. She looked around until she saw a massive trunk. She quickly dashed behind it. 2M2M darted to the other side and readied itself for combat. Rainbow had to take her time to catch her breath. She couldn’t afford to do anything else right now. 

This thing, it’s like its everywhere! I have to find a way around it! And maybe help… maybe… Her thoughts flared up and then immediately fizzled out. 

“R-Rainbow…?” A soft voice fluttered from behind her.
 
“Fluttershy?!” Rainbow snapped her head behind her. She ran as fast as she could towards the trees. There she was! The mare was clinging to a burned tree and sobbing into it. Her hair was matted and filled with dirt. That normally flawless yellow fur was covered in whip marks and bruises. All thoughts about Scarlet and Road to Nowhere melted away as she reached her hand out towards the mare.
 
Something snapped shut around her hand. Fluttershy vanished. Dash’s eyes shot upwards to see Road to Nowhere grabbing her wrist. Dash was immediately yanked out completely from her protection. A massive uppercut was delivered right to her face. Blood flew up into the air and splattered over the grass behind her. A kick sent her back right into the tree that she’d seen Fluttershy clinging onto.
 
“H-Hah…hah….” Dash’s body was burning. It hurt to the point of tears. Road to Nowhere was in front of her again. 2M2M shot in front of Dash and raised a cross-guard. The force of the blow was countered. Another punch was blocked by 2M2M.
 
A white-hot pain seared across her left shoulder. Dash felt something lodge into her skin. She turned to see the silver whip imbedded in it. The whip yanked backwards. A massive gash was torn into her body. A now bloodied shard of glass attached to the tip of the whip flew backwards until it fully recoiled into Scarlet’s hand.
 
“Normally I enjoy these to be just between myself and another, but I can appreciate having more to play with,” Scarlet laughed, “But perhaps we can see what other ponies you care to hear?” 

Dash saw another punch incoming. 2M2M raised its guard again. She had to put up another vacuum. She would die out in the open. She’d be vulnerable. Completely exposed. Scarlet was still trying to get inside her head and mess with her. She didn’t know why she’d heard-

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out, “What are you doing?! Get up and fight her!” 

“Gah! I’m trying Twilight!” Dash shouted back, “This isn’t as easy as it-”

Her Stand dissipated as she turned to look towards Twilight. Dash barely managed to pull her face out of the way before the tree she was up against was given a new hole. Dash scrambled her way away from the Stand. 2M2M appeared above of her crawling form to knock away more punches. 

“Please Rainbow!” Fluttershy called out again, “I-I can’t, it hurts, it hurts so much! S-She’s doing, so many, horrible things to me!” 

Applejack leaned up against a nearby tree. Rainbow saw her boots before she even saw her hat. Dash tried to pull herself up onto her hands and knees. She could see Rarity now with all four of her Diamond Dogs darting through the brush. Pinkie zipped out of the skyline and landed in front of her, then shot back into the sky. Was that Vinyl? 

A massive blow to her back drove Dash into the ground again. Road to Nowhere ground its heel into her. The pain was almost unbearable. Dash had been beat up many times before. This was on another level. She tried to pull herself upright again. Instead she felt cold steel pressing against her neck. 

Scarlet ran a finger along the small knife that was pressed to Dash’s jugular. The mare got down on her knee and took Dash’s chin with her fingers again. But she only gently tilted it upwards to look down into her eyes, and then she giggled. 

“Seeing a few of your friends?” Scarlet sighed, “I’m sure you do. You see, it’s fun playing with you just by myself, but I think we can do better. Much, much better. I’m sure you’re going to see a lot by the time I’m through with you....” 

“Can you see them?” Scarlet pulled Dash’s face up from the ground higher, “I like to think of this as a simple re-purposing. All those little silly thoughts you’d be using for planning and strategizing get turned into everything you’re seeing and hearing in front of you. Being able to keep you from focusing on your little power is exactly what I want.” 

Dash felt her body being pulled up into the air. She was pushed forward onto her feet. The blue Pegasus stumbled forward several steps just to keep from falling over. Blood was running down her face and arms. Scarlet and Road to Nowhere stepped backwards towards the treeline. 

“Like I told you earlier!” Scarlet’s voice faded as she stepped into the darkness, “I could kill you at any moment! Let’s see how long you survive, Rainbow Dash!” 

Dash took these seconds to savor her breath. She pulled her fists in front of her face. She had to ignore anything else. She couldn’t win this fight if she didn’t focus. She could only focus on one single thing at a time. And now Road to Nowhere had just shown it was going to play dirty. 

I have to defend myself from those two and stop… and stop… and…. Her line of thought stopped. Dash couldn’t keep the second though in her head at once. She had to defend herself from those two. Scarlet and Road to Nowhere had to be her priority. 

Dash saw it before she heard it. The knife was whistling through the air right at her. 2M2M shot in front of her and knocked it aside with its fist. The knife stuck in the ground to her right. She snapped her head away just in time to catch Road to Nowhere barreling out with its restrained fist raised. 2M2M blocked the blow. The Stand disappeared back into the forest. 

Dash turned her head back. The knife was gone. Turning her head meant she saw Scarlet’s whip coming from the trees again. This gave her enough time to sidestep it. It snapped back into the leaves and caused a few to fall to the ground. 

Where are they coming from?! Dash’s thoughts flared, I can’t defend myself from these two and-

“Ta Dah!” Pinkie’s shrill voice sounded to Dash’s right. Dash turned her body instinctively towards it. Why would Pinkie be attacking her? 

Now Dash felt a searing pain on her right hip. A large knife wound had appeared on it. A rustle in the bushes behind her sounded. She darted her head to see the last of Scarlet’s leather-clad leg disappearing. The knife wasn’t in her wound. Scarlet must have cut her.

Another rustle behind her. Dash shot her body to look to where it sounded from. She was just in time to swipe herself onto her left knee to avoid a roundhouse kick. 2M2M reached up and grabbed ahold of the thigh of Road to Nowhere. Dash shouted as she prepared to drive it down into the dirt. 

Another gash appeared on her back over top of her whip marks. The pain snapped her from 2M2M and Road to Nowhere was freed. She looked up to see it already trying to land another punch on her. Dash shot backwards and fell onto her rear. The second she did, she felt something tingling in her spine. She dropped to the ground to avoid another stab from Scarlet. 

“Come on, partner!” Applejack called out. Her left arm integrated with a tree branch to swing from it, “We’re waiting for ya! Y’all better get a move on if ya wanna get there on time!” 

“Shut up, Applejack! I left… before you!” Dash shouted and dragged herself upright once more. It was by chance she saw another kick from Road to Nowhere coming out to try and nail her in the chin. She hit the ground again with a huff as it missed her. 2M2M grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her upright to her feet. It then pulled her towards the treeline to as to avoid a knife swipe from Scarlet. 

“You’re doing better than I ever could have hoped!” Scarlet giggled, “How long can you keep going?” 

My friends aren’t real! Dash shook her head, They’re just stupid tricks! Stop focusing on them and attack… and… Dash wanted to scream now. She couldn’t keep two Celestia-blasted thoughts in her head at the same time! 

I need to get her close to attack her! There! Dash could focus on that! She had to just focus on getting her close. What could she do to get the mare close enough to attack her? There were lots of things. She could trip her. She could throw dirt at her eyes. She could… she could… 

Dash barely dodged another swipe from Road to Nowhere. Her train of thought crashed. She turned her head away from a spinning Mr. Sandman and back towards what hse had to do. She could only pick one course of action. Just one. No options. Just pick one idea! 

This has to get her! Dash threw herself towards the nearest tree. She hit her back against it. She threw her hands behind her back. She let out a long huff and then shouted. 

“Scarlet!” Dash cried out, “I give up!” 

Almost as though she’d been summoned from the mist, Scarlet appeared in front of Dash. The mare eyed her with a bit of confusion. She approached Dash slowly, her hips rolling but her hand staying permanently bound on her whip. Before she even got close to Dash, she coughed. 

“Do you now?” Scarlet cooed, “Hold out your hands then.” 

Dash slowly nodded. She held her hands out in front of her body. Suddenly Scarlet’s whip was coiled around them several times. It stung as it pulled her hands together. Scarlet just purred as she made her way up to Dash again. She produced two more leather straps to bind Dash with.

“Oh… you actually did…” Scarlet murmured, “Well this isn’t fun at all. It’s a rather disappointing climax. I wanted to take you alive, just to have a little more fun with you later in my proper arena. But… well, if you insist to end it here,” Scarlet raised her knife, “Then perhaps you don’t deserve to be played with by me!” 

Dash grinned. She summoned 2M2M’s fists over top of her own and threw her arms outwards. The force was enough to cause the whip to snap apart and break into pieces. Dash raised her shoulder and rammed it directly into Scarlet’s chest. The two hit the ground with Dash on top of Scarlet. 

Road to Nowhere took hold of Dash immediately. It picked her up and threw her hard away from its master. Dash went flying and hit the ground hard off to the side. Scarlet spat hard as she used her Stand’s arm to pull herself to her feet. 

“Normally I’d say that was the fault of the mistress!” Scarlet growled, “But I’ve become rather angry at having such a fussy brat as my sub!”
 
A loud yell of fury and disgust cried out from Dash’s lips. Her Stand slammed its hands together and produced a massive vacuum. It rejected anypony in a ten-foot radius around her that wasn’t her. The result was Scarlet flying backwards until Road to Nowhere caught her against a tree. The vacuum expanded until it hit its limit. Scarlet’s hair dangled in front of her face as she let out a little hiss.
 
Lady Scarlet curiously leaned forward and tapped it with her finger but found a massive resistance. Then, she reared her whip back and slashed at a single spot twice. The whip went right through it, hitting the dirt on the ground. After a moment, she just sighed.
 
Don’t listen to her. Don’t even look at her. Don’t even think about her. Just trying to listen to her voice made her vacuum flicker. She couldn’t afford to do anything but focus on her vacuum. She forced herself to stop listening to anything. Just that focus would break her shield.
 
Vacuums that Dash created would last on their own for a while. Thankfully even if she wasn’t focusing on them. This meant that she could buy herself some time to think. Flying away was no longer an option. A line should not be crossed had been so multiple times today. Scarlet was just the latest one on Dash’s “Punch as hard as I can in the face” list. Scarlet would not be leaving here with all of her teeth.
 
Rainbow tried as fast as she could to think of a solution. “What if I used 2 Minutes to Midnight to grab her Stand and…” Road to Nowhere in her Stand’s grasp could fly as far away as possible with it. Then it would get out of it range and… just make it disappear. She would be out of its range. She probably wouldn’t be under its influence anymore. But that would be running away. She couldn’t run away. Not after all of this pain.
 
It instantly became apparent what the problem was. Rainbow’s plan involved multiple lines of thinking. Grabbing the Stand then fighting it. But fighting it would be focusing one something else. That was something she couldn’t do. Whatever solution she came up with would have to be something simple.
 
The time for thinking ended when Rainbow felt herself be forced to the grass. She saw that Road to Nowhere’s foot was right on her face. It took the back of her head being ground into the dirt to realize that she had only rejected ponies. Stands could still getting in. Rejecting absolutely everything but herself would yield embarrassing results. There was no in between when it came to her vacuums.
 
Road to Nowhere threw Rainbow out of the vacuum she created and into Lady’s arms. She said something that probably amounted to another taunt. But Rainbow wasn’t focusing on that. She put her focus on easily breaking out of Lady’s grip and turning around to strike her. Yet again this resulted in the stronger Stand catching off off guard and restraining her in its user’s stead.
 
“You pathetic worm,” Lady’s insults didn’t sting nearly as much as the lashes that came with each one. “You’re nothing but a disobedient little filly. You’re really wearing down the fun of our session. So I think it’s time to draw this to a close.”
 
Dash’s feet were lifted off the ground. Both Lady and Road to Nowhere were levitating into the air. It didn’t take much focus for Dash to know that she was probably going to use gravity to finish her off. Dash struggled with all the strength she still had. She couldn’t do anything to affect the Stand that was holding her in place. This fact made her hate it even more. This Stand was the problem. If only she could get rid of it.
 
Dash’s struggling suddenly ceased. She couldn’t think about this idea. She just needed to do it. Act on pure instinct and do the first things that come to her mind. Just like when she was falling behind in a high stress race.
 
I need to get rid of this Stand, from me. Was Dash’s first though. A clear concise thought. No more thoughts after that. Only instinct. 2M2M manifested in front of her. It punched Road to Nowhere as hard as it could in the face. The enemy Stand recoiled and let her go. Lady clearly felt the same pain as blood dripped from her mouth.
 
Dash’s first thought was finished. The limited processing power of her mind was now free for another one. It was the same thought. I need to get rid of this Stand, away from me!
 
Rainbow Dash had kept practicing with 2 Minutes to Midnight until it became second nature for her. She was able to use its powers of rejecting and isolation on an instinctual level. Which mean without even focusing she could create an expanding vacuum that would do exactly what she needed it to do. She had to do that right now. 
 
Then she did it. All Lady could do was helplessly watch as Road to Nowhere was pushed away from her. A vacuum had formed between 2M2M’s hands and expanded until it reached its full radius. Scarlet, however, was not pushed away this time. The enemy tried to have it fly back towards her, but only found an impassable wall in front of it. It was pushed even further and farther until it was nearly out of site. Lady tried to recall it and draw it out again. The result was Road to Nowhere being violently launched out, even faster than before.
 
If Lady had been focusing on something else other than her own Stand, a luxury that only she had right now, she would have seen that 2 Minutes to Midnight had the same effect done onto it. It was pushed back until it was out of Dash’s range. At which point it simply disappeared. But Dash didn’t try to manifest it again. She knew what was going on. 

“What… what have you done?!” Scarlet raised the remains of her whip and snapped it out towards Rainbow Dash, “Where is my Road to Nowhere?!”
 
“I have to admit you’re right,” Dash cracked her neck from side to side. “Your Stand ability is unmatched for one on one fights. I don’t really think it matters how strong or fast they are, as long as you and your Stand are fighting together, you can’t be beat.”
 
Dash easily smacked away the broken whip, “But you don’t know how annoying that is! And here’s the thing: I don’t like it when what I’m trying to do is annoying. While I like to think myself so awesome that I can do almost anything, and I am, don’t get me wrong, I’d like it a lot more if things just went my way.

“What I’m trying to say is, that I don’t want to fight both you and your Stand. So I’ve rejected Stands and isolated ponies from them. Just the Stands themselves though. I can’t keep out their abilities. So I still can’t multitask. But I don’t think that’ll be a problem for me anymore.”
 
Dash finished her speech just in time to see Lady. She was clearly knocked down several pegs at this point and trying to fly away to the edges of the vacuum. Dash just shook her head and overtook her in no time at all. She reached out and snapped her fingers around Lady’s shoulders, dragging the struggling mare towards her. 
 
“Second place in the Fillydelphia 500. Top Ten in the Pegasus Ball Run. First Place in the Cloudsdale Derby,” Dash looked very coy about the list she was going on about. “These are the awards I’ve won just this year. Do you have any idea how much training and exercise getting those takes? How much muscle power flying those races takes? I don’t mean to flex, but,” Rainbow Dash flexed her arms, letting her triceps bulge out against her skin.

Then Dash suddenly stopped and realized what she just said. “Oh my Celestia, I’m sorry, that was a horrible pun.” 

Lady shrieked out and threw her arms apart. It seemed she was rather terrified without her Stand by her side. With her shattered whip, it was hard to blame her. She saw Lady trying to fly away again. This time Dash just grabbed the trailing tail of the whip and yanked her face to face with herself.
 
“Here, I’m done talking now. I want you to take a message for your boss. Something I really want to say to him, ok?” Dash cracked her knuckles, and sent her fist faceward.
> Sticky Sweet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some readers might find the following chapter disturbing.

Everfree’s canopy always became thicker as one went further in. Because of this, the moonlight that normally helped guide the way was often blotted out by the darkness. Walking down the path was almost disorienting, as the shadows often times tricked the eye into guessing if the path they were on was even correct. With such inky darkness broken only by the occasional dark green of the underbrush, it was no wonder as to why many ponies feared walking through this forest. 

Despite having been into the forest many times, Applejack and Rarity still walked cautiously through the Everfree Forest. It wasn’t that long of a walk to the Castle of the Two Sisters; they’d made the trip many times. Yet something about tonight, about this forest, and most importantly about what they would find when they arrived at the Castle was weighing on them. It made the trek feel far longer than it had any right to be. 

The sound of their footsteps were swallowed up by the wind and rustling of the leaves. At first, it’d been somewhat simple to believe the two had fallen behind. The sight of Twilight’s lavender fur could blend into the shadows easily, and Pinkie Pie was bouncing at the front of the group. AJ and Rarity had fallen behind the two, so them not seeing them on the path at first was normal. Steadily, however, it became apparent that wasn’t the case. They weren’t sure how, but they had been separated from their friends. Neither of them even saw when it happened. By the time they had noticed that Twilight and Pinkie Pie were no longer near them, it had been too long to even determine the time at which it happened.

It would have been easy to immediately scramble to find their way back to the group, yet neither of them did. Both of them knew that panicking would bring no good in this situation. This wasn’t the first journey, and as such they were aware of the danger that they were in. Having their Stands gave the two the confidence that they were more than prepared to handle themselves should a situation arise. Their main objective at the moment was to rescue Fluttershy. 

The leaves crunched underfoot as the two kept walking. The path in front of them was only sparsely illuminated by what little light pierced through the trees. The ever present sound of the forest’s undulations of its leaves, scratches and the wind filled their ears. Despite knowing it was their heads getting to them, it was hard to ignore the creeping sensation this brought onto them. As such, they simply proceeded to the castle with extreme care while having a conversation to keep themselves from succumbing to panic.

“So, Rarity,” Applejack coughed somewhat awkwardly, “If I remember what Twilight said, Stands are supposed to be like, us?” 

Applejack was the newest to the manifestation of one’s soul out of the entire group. Even though Rarity wasn’t much more knowledgeable than she was on the subject, Applejack still was hoping to alleviate her confusion with her. It had only been a bit since she awoke Country Girl after all, and she was still unsure about so many things.

“From what I’ve gathered, that is correct,” Rarity nodded, “They’re our souls, as Twilight put it. Our souls are representations of ourselves. As such, our Stands should be some sort of reflection of us.”

“Well that’s got me even more confused,” Applejack scratched her mane under her stetson. “I’m trying to put two and two together here and, well, those stooges are the furthest thing from you that I could probably think of.”

Upon hearing that, Rarity turned her head slightly and outstretched her right arm. On it, Cartney and Harrison formed, rushing up her arm to sit on her shoulders. Rarity let out a little breath from her nose and ran a finger atop Harrison’s head.  

“Oh quite the contrary. I think my precious Diamond Dogs are a perfect representation of how I view the creative process. Multiple, separate, conflicting ideas and processes all trying to work at once. They don’t get along at all, and are always at odds with each other. It’s chaos, it’s rough, and it makes you wonder how anything manages to be accomplished. But when you are able to get everything to work together, you can create almost anything.” 

“Anything!” Harrison piped up, brandishing his ripper, “We can make almost anything. Taking things apart and rebuilding them is what we’re best at.”

“Then what does that make mine?” Applejack, in turn, stared at her right hand. Slowly, her fingers began to gently turn green, forming vines that began to sway and curl around on themselves.

“I hardly think it’s my place to say that, darling. It’s your Stand, your soul. The one who would know what it means best is you.” Rarity tapped both Harrrison’s and Cartney’s heads, causing the two to vanish. 

Rarity rounded a bend, touching a large rock that jutted out of the dirt surrounding the path to alert Applejack. She skirted around it, running her hand along it to see where it lay. Slowly, the hand with vines began to grow further, traveling up her palm and turning the flesh into plant life. As it reached her wrist, the vines, until then neat and orderly if still curling around each other, fully disengaged and began to sway in the air. Their tips reached out like feelers towards Rarity. If she wanted to, she could ensnare her friend in an instant. Yet what did that mean for the Stand itself?

“It’s, trees.” Applejack was silent for much longer than a minute, trying, and failing, to think of the significance of this, “Well, vines that, grow into trees. So, I like trees?”

“You didn’t sound so sure about that darling,” Rarity put her hand under her chin and tilted her head to the side, “Try to dig a little deeper. Think of it like, analyzing a work of art.”

For a moment, Applejack looked down to her hand. Her vines combined and bark fully grew over them to form a tree limb. She reached her arm out and pointed it directly at a nearby gnarled tree. Her ‘arm’ shot out, hitting the tree with enough force to knock a pony out cold. The tree splintered, its top slightly bending in to leave a large gash in its surface. It wobbled considerably, barely staying upright and likely to fall at the next storm. 

“...It’s still trees, Rarity,” Applejack sighed, pulling her arm back in, “I really don’t think there’s much more to this than just, it’s turning my arms into trees.” 

“You’re thinking too literal,” Rarity shook her head, “Think, what do trees represent to you? What exactly do you think of when you think of trees?” 

“My farm, my apples, maybe if I stretched my family?” Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Should we really be talking about this right now? We haven’t seen Pinkie or Twi for a good bit now. I figured we’d have at least heard them calling for us by now...” 

“Nothing wrong with passing time with some healthy discussion. Perhaps County Girl has something to do with those things?” Rarity paused, “You’ve lived your entire life around them, I’m sure that must have influenced you in some way.” 

“I guess it must’ve,” Applejack turned her head back to look behind them, “I mean, it looks like its just showing that I’ve spent my entire life around them. So I must be connected to them. Trees are connected to me. There, solved. Now where did we last see those two?”

“On the forest path we normally take when we enter these cursed woods,” Rarity took a step closer to Applejack as they walked. “But now we’re nowhere near the path. It seems to have just disappeared out from under us. I suspect the same has happened to our friends. At this point I can only hope that they’ll be able to handle whatever kind of trouble they find themselves in.”

Applejack looked down at her feet. The ‘path’ they had followed had become narrow, tiny and barely defined, like some sort of animal-made path. The larger more defined route through the forest they always followed was gone. She wasn’t sure how they had… where had they deviated from the main path?

“How do you know that they’re going to be in trouble?” Applejack asked, “They might just be lost.”

“Trouble always finds us darling. Heroes beget danger, and danger begets preparedness. If our own escapades have proven anything, it’s that. I may not seem like it right now, but I’m on edge for when it finds us specifically.” 

Applejack cast a look at Rarity. While she was smiling, she could only see the side of Rarity’s face. The fashonista’s eyes had grown cold and focused. Applejack turned her gaze away as her own eyes slowly adopted that same look, knowing what Rarity said was likely truer than she wished it to be. 

The two had managed to find themselves in a clearing. The unnerving trees that were synonymous with the Everfree were still plentiful and existed all around, but there was enough room to see more than just them at this point. Only the small patches of moonlight showed the two the fragile path they trod upon. Unfortunately for the duo, what they ended up seeing wasn’t the path that they wanted to see.

Rather than perhaps a glimpse of the Castle’s spires in the distance, Applejack and Rarity found themselves in front of a large, murky pound. The surface of the water was a sickly green, tainted by the high amounts of algae. Both due to the darkness and the copious amount of growth, it was impossible to see past the water’s surface. Occasionally there would be ripples of some insect too small to see in the current light landing on the water. Overall though, the pond was unremarkable. 

“I think I recognize this water,” Rarity slowly squatted down and peered across the surface of the water, “Isn’t it downwards from Zecora’s hut? Isn’t this where she gathers some of those ghastly smelling plants?” 


“I think so?” Applejack’s gaze was directed at the water. She was attempting to gather any memories she could about it by staring long enough, “But, there’s a lot of pounds in the forest isn’t there?”


“No I’m sure of it,” Rarity pointed to the center of the pound, where an old, dead tree sat in the center, forming a natural bridge. “From that downed log I implicitly remember the worst creature imaginable ambushing me.”

“You mean that tiny frog?”


“The thing was slimy and probably covered in warts! You never know what those things are covered in!” Rarity shuddered and stood back up with a shake, “That’s not the point I’m trying to drive at anyway! What I’m trying to say is that if this is indeed the same pond, then Zecora’s hut should not be too far away. If we can find that, then we can find the path again and get a sense of where we are.”

“How’d we even get here in the first place?” Applejack pursed her lips together, “If were on the trail, we should’ve just reached her hut anyways, right?” 

“I’m not sure. This forest had the most devious way of playing tricks with you!” Rarity crossed her arms, “Let’s see, which direction to Zecora’s? We would leave out her back door, which direction does that run? It can’t be too far a walk from here, it never felt that way before…”

Despite nodding her head, Applejack had stopped listening to Rarity. Something else had caught her attention. The ripples on the water’s surface was normal. This forest was full of all manor of bugs and insects. It was only natural to see their disturbances in the green tainted liquid.  But there was one particular spot near the edge of the pond closest to the two of them that was bothering Applejack. She’d only noticed it by glancing about, yet now that she had she couldn’t help but stare at it. The way the water was rippling was far too large and occurred way more frequently than it should have if it were caused by mere insects. 

These unusual occurrences went unnoticed by Rarity, who continued to walk as she talked about ways of getting themselves un-lost. This lack of awareness rose in Applejack’s mind when the rippling in the water started to become even more frequent. She slowly stepped forward, trying to see what it was. It rose to reveal that the rippling was not caused by something on top of the water’s surface, but rather, beneath it.

At first, what rose up from the depths appeared to be a beast. It was covered in mud, dripping with water, and the darkness meant its skin appeared to be completely black at first. Yet the more that it rose up, its shape was revealed. What was beneath the water become more and more obviously a pony. From the build of their shoulders and torso, it was a male pony. A male whom had his eyes set on Rarity. A Rarity who was unaware that he was doing so.

When the stallion rose up from the water, for Applejack it appeared as though it was in slow motion. It reminded her of watching a cart roll downhill, feeling as though it was taking far longer than it normally did. Yet just like that cart, when it crashed it seemed it took place far too quickly. Thus, despite Applejack realizing that this was indeed another pony, she had only a split second to react to it when it suddenly moved. 

Applejack immediately kicked off with her foot to launch herself forward. She dashed forward right as the stallion from the pond pounced at Rarity. Rarity hadn’t even turned her head to see him barreling down on her when Applejack shoved the unicorn out of the way. Doing so meant Rarity was sent into the water to relative safety, yet meant that Applejack was the victim of the stallion instead. 

The stallion clung to Applejack’s body like some sort of serpent. His wet, slick and cold body was latched into her right shoulder and wasn’t letting go. She struggled, but even with her superior muscle, she couldn’t shake him off. The stallion looked at her with a crazed look her in eyes and opened his mouth wide. 

Strands of wet drool dripped from his mouth as he licked Applejack’s right up the cheek. Applejack was helpless to do anything while he did so. Her face curled up naturally in revulsion to such an action, especially as she felt the cold line it left on her face.

Rarity had taken notice finally after Applejack had shoved her out of the way. She scrambled her way up from the water, shaking it from her eyes. Seconds after she turned around to see her friend under attack, she had formed Beatle and was putting its ripper in motion. But by the time she had separated the two and the enemy was sliding off of Applejack, he had already accomplished her goal of licking her face. 

It took a moment for Applejack to recover from being stunned by what had just happened. She could barely even process what he had done to her. But once she did, she was instantly extending her arm into roots and looking for the nearest tree to use. Rarity was likewise attempting to sew the stallion to the ground. But their assistant proved too slippery to catch. Within seconds he was back under the water, disappearing in a new wave of ripples. 

With their assailant gone, Rarity scrambled over to Applejack. Beatle had been disassembled into her four components in order to have more sets of eyes around that could keep watch in case their attacker came back. The four dispersed in a semicircle around their User, each brandishing their ripper in preparation.

Applejack was completely still in a stupor. She was still trying to comprehend what had just happened to her. An enemy had just ambushed her and got her in the perfect position to launch some sort of attack. But, instead, all he chose to do was lick her up the face. Aside from how uncomfortable and violated that made her feel, she just couldn’t comprehend why.

“Applejack!! Are you alright!?” Rarity gasped as she closely inspected Applejack’s cheek. She was just as turnt around about the situation as her friend was. Despite the oddity that these Stands had brought to their lives, this situation was up there in terms of the weirdest situation. 

“Yeah... I think so,” Applejack began to brush away the slick mud stuck to her body, starting with the cheek that was licked, “I, don’t really understand what he just did, but, that varmint is still around and we best…”

As Applejack wiped, she noticed that something was off about her skin. She suddenly felt a bump that hadn’t been there before. Her hand slowed to and her fingers traced the outline of the bump. She lightly pressed her fingers into it, feeling the now slightly warm and loose flesh. That was how she found out that it was growing into a more defined shape. The realization of this unnatural occurrence made Applejack yank her fingers back from her face and let out a sound of sheer disgust.

This new growth didn’t go unnoticed by Rarity either. After a brief pause of confusion, she bent down and got a closer look at whatever was growing underneath Applejacks skin. When she looked closer, Rarity grew even more disgusted at the sight of it than Applejack. 

It was hard to make out an exact image through Applejack’s skin, but Rarity could have sworn that it almost seemed like a fetus laying on its side. The skin of Applejack’s cheek looked as though it’d almost blistered, letting her see slightly inside. Rarity awkwardly reached up and tried to run her finger along it. 

As though reacting to the touch, the skin suddenly vibrated. Before Rarity’s eyes, the strange thing underneath the skin grew! Rarity yanked her hand away from it as the skin bulged outwards to make room for it. It grew rapidly, causing the lump to grow larger and larger until  ‘it’ had almost tripled in size. Rarity found herself holding down bile as ‘it’ now bulged grotesquely from Applejack’s skin. 

“What the hay is this?!” Applejack cried out and shock. The new weight on the side of her face made her entire body shudder. Her hand rested on the growth in her cheek. It shook and wobbled with every motion of her mouth. 

“Be thankful you can’t see it. I would bet good money that its the trouble that has found us,” Rarity nodded grimly. “As for what exactly it is, I haven’t the faintest idea.”

“Well can you cut it out of me?!” Applejack gagged, “Your dogs have those needle things, don’t they?!”

“No ma’am,” Lennon turned around from his post and informed Applejack. With a signal, the four all converged back on Rarity and took perches on her.

“We can separate it if it's attached to anything inside of you, but we can’t cut through your skin,” Lennon followed up, “We can only separate two different objects.”

“Yeah!” Cartney quickly agreed. “We only separate, no cut!” 

“I do suppose that I could cut through your cheek myself with something sharp and remove it that way if we had to.” Rarity had her head turned away from the growth, not being able to look at it. “And then have them sew it back up once its out.”

“No thank you!” Applejack stood up abruptly, “It ain’t a good idea to be doing that with that, user too close. Plus, that just sounds a might too painful.”

“And unsanitary,” Rarity added. “We’ll only do that if push comes to shove. But separate it from her anyway, just in case it's some sort of parasite. 

Wordlessly, Starr and Cartney jumped from atop Rarity and climbed onto Applejack. The other two Diamond dogs took perches on Rarity’s shoulders, staring t the water’s surface and awaiting for the strange pony’s return. Starr and Cartney pulled their rippers from their backs and plunged them into Applejack’s cheek. Instinctively, she closed her eyes and winced as if she was getting a shot, but the tools harmlessly phased through her skin. 

It took a bit more time than usual for the mutts to trace the whole shape due to how complex it was. The whole while, Applejack had her eyes turned firmly away from their work. When the task was completely, the foal-like growth began to sag inside of Applejack’s cheek. She stumbled a bit as the sudden shift in weight slightly threw her off balance. But she nodded in whatever form of satisfaction she could bring up in a situation like this. 

“Doesn’t, exactly feel much better…” Applejack felt sick herself just from feeling it, “But, thanks, Rarity.”

“Now we shouldn’t dilly around her any longer,” Rarity announced as Cartney and Starr joined the others back atop Rarity and aided in the lookout, “Let us proceed with extreme caution.”
Rarity pointed to the tree in the middle of the pound, “I remember now. That downed tree. Its roots point roughly in the direction of Zecora’s hut. I think our best course of action would be to proceed there and see if she can provide us any assistance?”

“Like what?” Applejack asked.

“Well for starters, protection. The dangerous creatures of this forest stay away from her hut for good reason. Not just because of any wards or charms or voodoo; but because she can be legitimately terrifying if she wants to be. Or so I have been told by Sweetie Belle.”

“Yeah, Apple Bloom tells me things like that too. I can believe it given where she, you know, lives.” 

“Secondly, she could have some sort of cure for whatever that inside of you. I doubt it, since it is most likely Stand related, but it couldn’t hurt to try. After all, Zecora does seem like the type to know about Stands.

“And lastly, as well as most importantly, the others could have found their way there as well. Or Zecora at the very least could have seen them. Her hut is one of the only two landmarks we have in this forest. The other being our destination.” 

“Yeah, I agree with you on all of that,” Applejack started to tip her head, but the growth shifting in her cheek made her shudder and freeze up, “So it looks like we’re going to try and pay Zecora a visit.” 

“As for how we are going to proceed…“ Rarity put her hand to her chin and examined the pound. “We need to get to the other side. I suppose the quickest way would be to use the tree as a bridge. Let’s hope our new friend isn’t waiting for us…” 

Slowly, the two made their way around the bank of the pond, keeping sharp eyes on the surface of the water. Even as they made it close enough to climb onto the tree, neither could tear their eyes off the murky depths. The only light letting them peer into the depths was the moonlight, and even then Luna’s light let them see only perhaps a single inch into the water. 

The log rattled as the two climbed atop its massive roots. They both took the trek one step at a time. They walked slowly as to try and not fall off of the dead log. It was laden with slippery slime and moss, making each step they took a risk. Not only would it be a mild annoyance for them if they fell into the water, but it would also but them at risk from their attacker whose whereabouts are still unknown to the both of them. 

Applejack already had her fingers turned into vines, awaiting for their attacker. The log wasn’t very long, but every step felt like a gamble as to whether or not it would be the time something would burst out to grab them. Yet, with all of the danger and threat present, the two made it to the other side and dismounted the log without incident. Both mares jumped down from the log.

A mental sigh of relief inside both of their heads was cut short, however, when they heard the soft sound of something breaking the water’s surface. The sudden noise pierced the silence around them. Instantly, the pair turned around to face the source of the noise.

It was a frog. A large frog. It’s slimy brown skin was shining with the water it had just leapt from. Its two large eyes blinked at the two, and it let out a deep noise from its throat a moment later. 

At first, Rarity and Applejack thought it was just simply that, and that only Rarity had reason to fear it. The frog shifted slightly, and then the moonlight highlight something on it. There was an abnormally large growth protruding from its back. This growth look exactly the same as the one sagging in Applejack’s cheek. 

The frog took one hop towards them. When its tiny feet touched the ground, the growth inside of the frog’s back started to shake. The one inside of Applejack’s cheek did the same. In an instant, both of the growths violently ripped out of their hosts. 

Blood splattered across the rocks from both of them as Rarity was treated to the sight of two halves of a purple, stone fetus flying through the air towards each other with the soundtrack of Applejack shrieking in pain and an indescribable sound coming from the frog. Both halves went directly towards each other, and joined to form one whole fetus statue. 

When the two halves connected, the complete statue glew brightly down the center, before exploding into a cloud of smoke. From the cloud a storm of purple well scattered in all directions. From the brief seconds Rarity had to take in, the cloud seemed to give way into tiny points. Rarity had the privilege of not feeling the intense pain of her face being torn open and was able to attempt to dive out of the way right into the lake.

However this attempt was unsuccessful as Rarity was hit with one of the thorns directly in the breast. Applejack was writhing in pain the entire time, and ended up getting hit by a thorn as well in her thigh. Several more embedded themselves in the dead tree, beneath the water’s surface, and in the ground around the explosion site. 

From the spots that were hit by the thorns, new growths similar to the one that was originally in Applejack’s face began to grow at a rapid rate. Rarity, however, was focused on attempting to quickly trudge her way through the water and aid Applejack. The mud at the bottom of the pond sucked her feet down with every step, making her struggle to get near. 

From behind Rarity, the rouge licker rose from beneath the water once again. He opened his mouth and from it a bird flew out. This bird had a hard time flying, however, since a growth was blocking its entire face. When it managed to fly close enough to Rarity, the growths ripped from their hosts like before. 

Another glow, and more thorns. The unimaginable pain from her chest turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The second she felt it, Rarity fell over in pain and inadvertently submerged herself underneath of the water. She felt of the vibrations of more thorns as the were plunged into the water, but stopped just short of touching her. 

Red hot with pain, Rarity dragged herself through the water and onto the shore. When she was on the grass, she saw her Dogs climbing over her and frantically attempting to sew the large hole in her chest shut. Rarity narrowed her eyes, gripped them one by one, and threw them as hard as she could at Applejack’s prone form. Rarity dragged herself up onto the muddy bank, the dogs frantically working to sew up Applejack’s face before rushing over to attend to their User. 

When all wounds and clothing were repaired, the two mares got up and looked around. Their assailant had hidden himself again. They weren’t sure whether or not this was a good thing. It became clear to them that his whole modus operandi was that he would ambush them. So for all they knew, he could have been around them. 

Rarity took in a deep breath to calm herself and force out the pain from her chest, “We should…  let us review the situation thus far. Our enemy’s Stand ability seems to revolve around growing half of his Stand inside of living things. When two halves get close enough to each other, they will tear themselves out of their hosts and join up with each other. At which point the completed Stand will explode into a shower of thorns.”

“Thorns that make more halves in whatever they touch,” Applejack looked down to the new growth growing inside of her inner thigh with a look of apprehension. It was exactly where a thorn from the prior explosions. 

“Right,” Rarity still didn’t gaze at it nor her own chest, “And I would wager that his saliva is the method he must use to form growths otherwise. Which would explain our less than pleasant initial encounter with him.”

As she talked, Rarity stood up, “To what end this is for is very clear as well. Obviously his Stand is meant to cause a chain reaction and create a continuous cycle of explosions that tear his victims to shreds.” 

When Rarity moved out of her sight, Applejack caught sight of something behind her. It was hard to see completely in the dim light of the forest, but she saw movement where it shouldn’t have been. She swore she saw a patch of grass behind Rarity moving.

Applejack didn’t think about it for even a second further. She stood up as well and put both her hands out in front of her. Her arms turned to vines and the vines wove into a bull’s form, which ran straight for the moving patch of grass. It lowered its head and thrust its horns as hard as it could. The result was revealing the enemy Stand user, who had covered himself in grass to blend in. 

Country Girl used its horns to fling the enemy into the air before untangling itself into vines. Halve of its vines expanded and formed a web around their target. Applejack attempted to close them in and ensnare him. Each time a vine ensnared him, however, the mud coating his body let him slide out before she could truly grip him.

“Darnit, hold still you varmint!” Applejack shouted while she could feel his muddy body slide through her Stand. Her right arm recoiled from him, launching outwards to her side. It’s vines connected with the roots with the fallen tree they had crossed previously. 

With a great heave, Applejack lifted the tree out of the water. Mud that had formed around it over all the years it had rested there fell off in clumps along with the dripped pond water as it flew through the air. Applejack brought it down with all of her might onto her attacker. 

The tree hit the ground with a mighty thud. The ground shook as grass and soil flew into the air where it landed. Rarity fell down onto her butt from the force. Applejack heaved from the effort, retracting her vines from the dead tree. As if to mock her, she suddenly saw him slide off to the side and climb on top of the tree trunk. He gave one mocking look before running off into the thicker part of the forest.

“Son of a gun is just too slippery.” Applejack spat on the ground and returned her arms to normal. “And on top of that his whole shtick is that he’s good at camouflaging himself it looks like.” She walked over and picked up a metal tube. A quick glance inside shoved Applejack the spitball it contained. 

“It’s bad enough that we can’t catch him, but he could attack us from anywhere too!” Applejack chucked the tube as hard as she could into the pound. “And as the final rotten apple in the basket, I’ve already got one of his Stands inside me, again! Now it’s only a matter of time before we find another one and get peeled apart!”

“Well if there’s one thing this latest encounter has told us,” Rarity acknowledged everything Applejack had said with a nod. “We shan’t dilly dally here for any longer. Let us make our way to Zecora’s hut, like we had planned, and quickly. We cannot risk anymore surprise encounters!”

The pair shared a glance and stuck close to each other as they rushed down the path to Zecora’s hut. Their Stands stood at the ready. Both of them threw their eyes about the path as the sound of leaves and dirt getting distributed under their feet as they proceeded deeper into the forest. Every small sound that they thought they heard made them jump in suspect that it was their attacker ready to ambush them. Whenever the say the grass in front of them or the leaves above them rustle, they just about launched whatever attacks they had in its direction. 

With the speed they were moving, the pound was far behind them to the point where they could no longer tell where it was. The path became little more than a single tiny band through the underbrush, almost impossible to spot; though Rarity insisted that they were still walking the right direction. With every step they put between them and the pond, the more secure the two felt with their decision.

Rarity was the first one to spot the trap laid by their attacker. It had looked like a normal knot in a tree ahead of them. The canopy blocked out much of the light in the forest, so it was hard to make out too much details. Only when Rarity got closer did she see the shape of the enemy Stand’s ability bulging from the bark.

Unfortunately, they had gotten too close. Being on edge the whole time did allow Rarity to tackle Applejack behind a nearby tree just as she started crying out in pain from the half inside her being ripped out of her thigh. She heard the explosion followed the sound of thorns embedding themselves into all of the surrounding trees, including the one that was shielding them.

There was a brief pause. For a moment, the silence made Rarity feel it was safe. But then she heard the sound of something being ripped from tree bark. Then another explosion plus thorn shower. Another pause, then the exact same sounds in sequence again. Then again. And again. The noise grew in intensity as a horrifying realization overcame her. 

“The trees are growing the Stands!” Rarity shouted as she put her hands over her head and crouched down in cover. She realized that by walking deeper into the forest they had gone into a death trap. She looked around and realized how hopeless the situation was.

Applejack was lying on the ground, wounded while her dogs were busy sewing her skin and clothes back together. Even if she did have her dogs, they wouldn’t be much help. The trees keep making more Stands. The Stands make more explosions. The explosions kept making more Stands in the trees. 

Rarity knew the two had to find cover. She opened an eye and looked about for something, anything to shield them. Thorns whizzed above her head. She cowered down as a thorn narrowly stabbed her in the face, hitting the ground right by her cheek. 

There! Rarity could see a little bit of cover formed by one of the tree’s roots growing over the path. Reaching out, Rarity gripped Applejack’s hand as dragged the mare along the ground. Thorns continued to speed above their head,s each one possibly spelling doom if they were hit. The rough dirt underneath them scrapped at her stomach as she dragged the mare underneath the roots, letting her roll onto her back and breath with their limited safety. 

Now she had a chance to think. She looked out towards the trees, and something seemed wrong. The explosions were still going off, but not in the exponential way she thought they were. Something clicked inside of Rarity’s mind. If it was truly as she thought, then why hadn’t this forest turned into a storm of thorns yet? Cautiously, between explosions, Rarity peaked around the tree. She saw multiple growths inside the trees. Right before she ducked back behind cover, she noticed that there were growths in trees right next to each other that weren’t reacting. 

Why? Why weren’t the growths spreading further? Wasn’t that the whole point of the Stand? Rarity also realized that she was only hearing one explosion at a time. Yet there were so many trees that seemed to be within range of each other. Each singular explosion also sounded like it was coming from roughly the same place every time. 

When Rarity looked to her side, she could see one half every time ripping from a new tree before the explosion happened. But she never saw the other half. 

“Applejack!” Rarity sprung to her feet. Everything had become clear inside her head. “Dig your Stand into the ground and join them with the tree directly across from this one!” She patted the tree they were taking cover behind them. “Then uproot it! Do it now!”

The newly patched up Applejack didn’t even question Rarity’s orders. She thrust Country Girl underground and tunneled them underneath the tree. When she sensed that she had made contact with the next tree, she joined with it and tore it from the ground. 

“Now what?” Applejack asked.

“Nothing, drop the tree,” Rarity looked full of confidence. 

Again, Applejack did as instructed and let the tree fall to the ground with a thud. And that was the last loud noise the two of them heard. No more explosions. Nothing was setting off the Stand anymore. 

With the utmost caution, Applejack and Rarity crawled out from their cover. They looked all around them as the trees and ground where peppered with purple thorns. The tree that Applejack had uprooted laid dead on the ground. Huge chunks of it had been taken out from where the Stand ripped out of it. It looked more like an old rotten piece of wood on its lower parts than a tree. 

The trees all around the felled one also contained chunks ripping out of them in similar regards, only not as frequently. They also each contained a growth of the Stand. None of them were setting the other off, however. 

“Why isn’t anything happening?” Applejack asked, observing their surroundings. “Why aren’t those parts joining with each other?”

“It was just as I hypothesized,” Rarity declared. “For some reason, only this tree I had you kill was setting off with the other trees. The rest don’t react with each other. But why? What is different about this tree than the rest of the ones surrounding it?”

“Well that’s easy,” Applejack crossed her arms and smirked. “That’s a redwood. The rest of the trees around here are oaks.” 

“Redwood… That’s it!” Rarity shouted. “Two growths from the same type of organism cannot set each other off it would seem! That’s why the frog triggered the first explosion! We just learned something incredibly important about our foe.”

Rarity walked over to the nearest tree and put her hand to it. “I would also wager that that a single victim can’t have more than one growth inside of it. Otherwise these trees would be covered in them at the moment.” She observed the large number of thorns embedded in them, and yet only the single growth in each. 

“Well I guess that knowing how it works will help us avoid it some more,” Applejack straightened her hat. “But it really won’t do any good when he’s still so…” 

Rustling in the treetops above them. Both of them went dead silent and looked up. The rustling stopped, but they kept their eyes trained on the trees. 

Rarity’s eyes couldn’t see it, but Applejack could pick it out right away. In one of treetops above them, there was a spot of leaves that didn’t match the rest. Without hesitation, Applejack joined Country Girl with that tree’s and attempted to grab the stalker with its branches. But once again he just simply slipped right through her wooden fingers and started to flee through the trees.

Before he left, their foe threw them down a parting gift. Rarity’s face looked horrified as she realized it was a squirrel that he had infected with his Stand. The poor creature never even got a chance to hit the ground before the growth inside it ripped out and joined with another one inside the trees. 

Neither of them could react in time. They both got punctured by a thorn. Both in the arm. They both backed up from each other, before the growths in the trees ripped out of them and formed more explosions. The two ran in opposite directions with their teeth gritted in pain. The explosions had embedded new thorns inside them both. But this time they had gotten out of range of any infected trees. 

“Are you alright?!” Rarity shouted as loud as she could. Already her dogs were climbing up her and working to repair the hole in her arm. 

“No.” Applejack shouted back. “My arm’s been torn and I got another one in my side.”

“I have another one in my arm,” Rarity replied. “Hold on, I will help you in a…”

“No!” Applejack shouted again. “We’re both infected now Rarity! If we come anywhere near each other we’ll kill each other! You just go on ahead, I’m going to go the other way and hopefully draw him away from you.”

“But Applejack! You’re still hurt!” 

“And if you come near me then we’ll both be hurt even more, probably killed!”

Rarity tried to call out to Applejack, but all she heard was her footsteps going in the opposite direction of her. She was half tempted to just be stubborn and go after her anyway. But she knew that Applejack was right. That fiend’s Stand ability had made it so that they couldn’t be near each other. This was the safest option. But it was only moderately so.

Their enemy had proven that he was adept at being absolutely anywhere without their detection. Even if they weren’t together and risking setting off each other’s growths, they still were vulnerable to his ambushes. Even more so now that they weren’t together to look out for each other.

Splitting up was absolutely not an option. Rarity knew this at once. But with that growth still in her arm, neither was staying together. She needed to get to Applejack. She also needed to get rid of this growth in her arm.

“Boys!” Rarity called out, “You are positive you can’t cut this out of me?” Rarity asked her Diamond Dogs as they appeared on her arm. 

“Positive,” Starr affirmed. “We can’t cut, only separate.”

“Then,” Rarity would not be defeated. She had power. She would use it. She just needed to know how. She needed to make it so that the growth in her arm wouldn’t get near Applejack.

“Then separate my arm from my body!” Rarity shouted the idea as quickly as it came to her. She didn’t even think it over, as was required for such a rash idea.

“What?!” All four of them shouted in unison. Rarity didn’t wait for their responses, however. She had already plucked a needle and ripper from their backs, and went to work reforming them. Soon Beatle was in front of her. 

“I hope you realize what this means,” Beatle commented while Rarity willed her to separate the muscles and tendons from her arm bone, as well as bone from its socket in the shoulder. “You’re arms about as separated from the rest of your body as I can make it. The rest, will have to be the dirty way.” 

Rarity’s arm went limp, the muscles, tendons and the bones in the socket now all loose. The only thing holding her arm on now was her skin. Rarity took one look at her arm, slowly chuckling slightly at the thought of how insane this idea of hers was. 

“I am well aware,” Rarity grabbed hold of a nearby stick. Beatle grabbed hold of her limp arm. “Now, do it before I regain even an ounce of rational thinking.” Rarity put the stick between her teeth, Beatle nodded, Rarity nodded, and then Rarity had Beatle pull as hard as she could. 

~~~

All Applejack ever wanted was a simple life. She liked things predictable and routine. She realized this long ago when she was a filly. That’s why she opted to stay on her farm instead of moving to the city with her relatives. But ever since she met Twilight, her quite, normal life had been uprooted.

Most of the time Applejack didn’t complain. Most of the time it was for the better that her routines were broken, and Applejack ended up doing something fun. But this was not one of those times. This was in fact one of the handful of times where her normal life being changed resulted in her life being endangered. 

Needless to say, Applejack wasn’t happy about it. She didn’t like it, not at all. Nopony would like having their live threatened. But what really frustrated Applejack about it was that she had the tools to fight back against it, but she didn’t know how to use them!

Tools where something she knew how to use. When you needed to put a new board on the fence, you used a hammer. Applejack knew how to use a hammer. When one of the pipes was leaking, you used a wrench. She knew how to use a wrench. Dead apple tree? Hatchet. Need to plant a new sapling? Shovel. Applejack knew how to use tools to solve problems. 

When you’re fighting a Stand, you use your own Stand. That’s what Twilight had told Applejack. Her Stand was the tool. But she didn’t know how to use it. She thought she did. She thought all there was to it was grabbing a tree by its roots and turning it into her arm. But the problem wasn’t solved, so she wasn’t doing it right. 

What more was there to using Country Girl than she already knew then? What wasn’t she seeing? Was that all there was to it? Just trees? And, did that mean that’s all there was to her as well? Was she nothing more than just her farm?

While Applejack was lost in her depressing thoughts, she failed to notice a bulge in the tree bark behind her start to move. The enemy Stand user had been waiting in ambush there, and now his prey had moved into position. 

He leapt from his hiding spot with a large knife branded in his hand. Applejack heard him the second he came within stabbing distance of her. Turned around to face him, moving her head out of his knife’s range and instead causing him to embed it in her shoulder.

Applejack gritted her teeth to the point of nearly cracking them from the pain and immediately turned her arms into vines. They pushed the enemy away from her, but still couldn’t get a good grip on him due to how slippery his mud coated body was. He sprinted on all fours along the top of her arms. Applejack turned her arm back to normal as fast as she could, but not fast enough. He lunged at her again.

“Get your grubby hands off of my friend!” Applejack heard Rarity’s voice gradually coming closer to her. Right before the enemy reached Applejack, he was pushed face first into the ground by Beatle. She attempted to sew him to the ground, but he got up right as she put her needle through him.

“Rarity!” Applejack shouted, “What are you doing here?! I told you to get to…” Her words were cut off by the sight of what Rarity was now missing. “Your arm! You’re arm’s gone!” 

Rarity stood in front of Applejack, her face stained with tears and her still attached arm clinging onto the stump of where her other arm was. Blood had soaked the side of her shirt, still trickling somewhat down from it. Rarity’s body was shaking heavily, and from the way she was staggering, it looked as though she was on the verge of passing out. Yet her eyes were burning with a fierce determination that overpowered that feeling. 

“It can be reattached later,” The now one-armed Rarity assured her friend with a shaky grin, “For now, I say it’s time we deal with a pest!” 

Beatle took hold of her needle in her first. It pulled back on it and the enemy was tethered towards her by the diamond string. His face was dragged right into the Stand’s first. Rarity felt the pain of a good solid blow against her own knuckles. 

Applejack followed up on Rarity’s attack. She dug her vines into the ground and grabbed the nearest tree she could. With her mighty oaken arm, she swung right for his chest. It hit him square on and dragged him along with the trunk’s arc. He quickly flew out of the range of Beatles string, forcing her to release it from her needle.

Soon afterwards, the enemy climbed up onto the tree branch and leapt off. He pulled a straw from his pocket and fired a spitball right at Rarity. She quickly dodged to the side, but a growth started forming in the tree behind her. Applejack noticed this and backed up immediately, dropping her tree arm in the process. 

The enemy grinned and spat straight from his mouth on another tree near Rarity. Applejack’s keen eyes saw that it was another redwood. The first one that had been hit was an oak. They were both in range of each other. Thinking fast, Applejack moved to save Rarity while the enemy fled into the forest. 

Applejack’s arms went into the soil and grabbed the roots of the redwood. She picked it up and backed up as far as she could while pulling the tree close to her. She needed to put as much distance between this tree and the tree behind Rarity as possible. This involved bringing the tree and its growth closer to the one in her leg. 

Rarity shouted Applejack’s name, and both of them closed their eyes in anticipation of what was about to happen. But it didn’t. Nothing happened.

Bewildered, Applejack looked at the tree. The growth was clearly still in it. The growth was clearly still in her leg as well. But they weren’t joining together and exploding. Rarity walked closer in bewilderment, unable to understand why.

“I don’t understand,” Rarity gasped. “They should be triggering each other. Why are they not?”

“Because two growths from the same thing can’t trigger each other…” Applejack gasped. Her eyes widened in realization. “There can’t be two growths in the same thing. And two growths from the same type of thing don’t trigger each other.”

Applejack flexed the branches of the tree like fingers. “The growth in the tree isn’t triggering off of the growth in me because, they’re the same. They’re the same things! I don’t control the tree, I am the tree!” 

Applejack released the tree from her arms, killing it and the growth in the process. “And, it’s not just the tree either. My Stand, Country Girl, it’s not vines… its roots! Roots are the life of plants. Roots connect plants to the planet. My roots connect me to plants.  We become connected. Which means…”

Applejack stretched her roots down into the ground directly below her. She found the roots of the grass on the ground and connected to them. She joined with the grass. The grass was one unified network, all connected. She was connected to it. She could feel what the grass feels. 

“Something’s tearing up grass a couple dozen yards away,” Applejack informed Rarity. “We hit that varmint pretty good. So I reckon he’s not going to be able to climb like he was doing, and instead is trying hide himself in the grass.”

“Excellent Applejack!” Rarity exclaimed. “But how do we defend against his Stand?”

“I think I have an idea.” Applejack eyed Rarity’s missing arm. “Maybe, it’s more than just plants I can join with.” 

Rarity eyes flashed with knowledge, “Well, I do hope we’re compatible blood types then.”

With prompting from Rarity, Beatle undid the stitches on Rarity’s arm stump. Immediately, Country girls roots connected with the raw flesh. More specifically, she found the veins left opened from the missing arm. Rarity felt them dig into her arm, joining her blood flow with Applejack. The two were connected now. They were now the same being. 

The two that were now one ran towards where Applejack felt the grass being disturbed. Sure enough, they saw the enemy Stand user trying to make a grassy disguise for himself. The two weren’t having any of that. 

As soon as he saw them, the injured enemy pulled out his straw and fired a spitball at them. It landed on Rarity, who looked simply annoyed by it. She already had a growth inside of her by proximity of Applejack. A new one would not grow inside of her. 

The User’s eyes blinked in confusion. He pulled out a fish that was still barely alive from his pocket and licked it. The flopping animal flew through the air at them and it caused the growth in Applejack’s leg to rip and explode. As blood burst from her leg, Applejack was already prepared for it. As soon as the cloud formed, Applejack used her other arm and grabbed a tree to block the thorns with through the pain. One hit the tree trunk, forming a new growth inside of it, and then she dropped it. 

The User’s eyes turned from confusion to panic. He reached down and took now a tiny snake that had a massive lump on its tail. As soon as he tried to throw it, however, he found his arm was bound. Lennon gave a toothy grin as the diamond threads had joined his arm with the roots of a nearby tree. 

“Actually… let him up for a second,” Applejack turned to Rarity, “I wanna make sure he won’t follow us.” 

Rarity, raising an eyebrow, had Lennon undo the threads. Before he could even move, however, Applejack had extended her other arm and this time wrapped her roots around his body like coils of a rope. They completely covered him, swallowing him up as he let out a screech of terror. 

Raising him up, Applejack let out a little tssk as she drew her arm back, then sent it barreling forward. The force of her punch sent him flying through several trees, snapping and cracking the bark of each one as he flew along. When her fist stopped ,the impact of being jostled around inside her fist had knocked the stallion completely out. She brought her fist back, opening up her hand and dumping him down onto the ground. 

When they got close enough, the four Diamond Dogs leapt at their foe. With needles brandished, they sewed the enemy to the ground so that he could not more at all. His now unconscious breathing added nicely to the ambience of the forest.  

“We better go get your arm,” Applejack looked towards where her roots were dug into Rarity’s stump, “I don’t think we should stay connected like this for too much longer. We’ll drive each other crazy.”

“Agreed, and after that,” Rarity grinned as she turned towards the path, “Let’s go find Zecora.”
> News of the Parade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were only two locations in the entirety of the Everfree Forest which had their exact location known to the five Stand Users who ventured into it. The first being The Castle of the Two Sisters. This was their destination. It was also the chosen lair of the evil cult of Stand Users. So it was safe to say that the closer they got to it, the closer the more danger they would be in. 

Facing more danger alone wasn’t something that four of the five who entered the forest wanted to do. As for the fifth, she was not getting any closer to the castle no matter how hard she tried. For these reasons they all had the same idea. They would go to the other place which they knew the exact location of: Zecora’s hut.

Naturally, being the fastest, Rainbow Dash arrived first. She had tears all over her clothing from a time she’d prefer not to mention. She looked around for her friends, hoping that they would all have the same idea as she did. 

She didn’t have to wait long, as it turned out. Twilight and Pinkie Pie arrived a few minutes after Dash did. The friendship princess walked with a limp, and she was forced to lean on Pinkie for support. Blood stained the center of her shirt. 

Then, before long, Applejack and Rarity arrived as well. Neither of them were in particularly bad shape. But there were numerous subtle stitchings on their clothes that suggested that they, as well as the flesh underneath, had been repaired recently. Rarity was also holding one of her arms usually still, as if she was paranoid about damaging it.

Everypony was happy to see the others in relative safety. Rarity had her dogs tend to the wounds and tears that her friends had received while they all traded stories of their encounters within the woods. With each story being told, the others listened in silence as they took this moment to finally get a chance at reprise.

When everyone was up to speed on what the others had been through, Twilight put her hand to her chin and started to piece together all of the facts that they had.

“Well it’s obvious that we’re facing stronger Stand Users than we had in the past.” Twilight put forth firstly. “Ones who are more experienced, rather than our friends who were brainwashed and given them recently.”

“I can’t believe I'm saying this,” Dash commented. “But I think I preferred it when it was ponies that we knew.”

“Same here,” Rarity agreed. “Misguided impulses are certainly much easier to deal with than what I can only assume to be experienced killers.” 

“We also somehow got separated from each other while we were making march towards the castle.” Twilight went on. “Pinkie, are you sure that you didn’t see Applejack and Rarity take a wrong turn?”

“Absolutely,” Pinkie affirmed. “I was paying attention to them the whole time. The second I looked away from them to you, they were gone!”

“And Rainbow Dash,” Twilight turned to her Pegasus friend. “You said no matter how fast or far you flew, you didn’t make it to the castle?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow threw her arms up in annoyance. “With the speed I flew at, I should have been nearly to Appleloosa by now! But I never even cleared the forest! I know it's not that big!” 

“Ok,” Twilight scratched her chin more. “I think I’m getting close to figuring this out. But first, I think we’re going to need another opinion.” Twilight turned to the hut they all gathered at and knocked on the door.

“Zecora! Zecora, are you home?” Twilight paused for a response. There was none. “Zecora, it’s us. We need your help!” Still there was silence.

Twilight slowly opened the door and peered inward. It was completely dark. She lit her horn up and walked inside, illuminating the the hut as she did so. It was empty. The only creatures inside were the five that had come here. The hut’s owner was nowhere to be found. 

“Perhaps she’s stepped out?” Rarity offered.


“This late at night?” Rainbow countered. “She’d probably be sleeping.”

“That’s correct Rainbow Dash,” Twilight nodded her head, her eyes fixed on Zecora’s empty bed. “It’s past midnight. Zecora should be fast asleep in this bed. But it’s empty. Why?”

“Um, because maybe she’s sleepwalking?” Pinkie asked. 

Twilight shook her head and turned around. “No, I don’t think so. I think it’s because this isn’t Zecora’s hut.”

“What do you mean, not Zecora’s hut?” Applejack raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Exactly what I said Applejack. We’re not in Zecora’s hut. In fact, I don’t even think that we’re in the Everfree at all.” Twilight squinted her eyes and pointed upwards. “We’re trapped inside of an enemy Stand!” 

Everypony standing in front of Twilight gasped and took a step back at this revelation. They all instinctively looked around them to try and look for danger.

“Are you positive?” Rarity asked.

“It’s the only explanation.” Twilight began to walk around the hut, examining everything. “I theorize that we entered this Stand the second that we walked into the Everfree. It created a copy of it, starting from the entrance, and ending just at the Castle of the Two Sisters.”

Twilight paused to think more. “And it’s been keeping us in here by moving us around it’s illusion. It’s probably able to warp the space inside its fake illusion. That way it could even keep up with 2 Minutes to Midnight flying at full speed. It just made the transitions seamless so we wouldn’t notice.”

“So why aren’t we being moved around right now like when we got separated?” Applejack asked.

“Probably because we’ve defeated all of the Stand Users they sent after us.” Twilight explained. “They most likely didn’t expect us to, and didn’t have backup planned. So the User is leaving us alone for the time being, until they can get more cult members to come in and attack us.”

“Then we’ve got to get out of here before that happens!” Rainbow shouted. “How do we do that Egghead?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I have a working theory.” Twilight faced Rainbow directly. “And it involves your Stand Rainbow Dash.

“This Stand can’t possibly have infinite space. I don’t think anything could accomplish that. Logically, it has to have boundaries.We just never reach them because we’re moved to different locations.”

“Alright, and how do I stop that from happening?” Rainbow’s interest was peaked knowing that she might be the most important one here.

“Don’t you see Rainbow Dash? Your 2 Minutes to Midnight has the power to reject anything. Friction, outside distractions, physical objects, and…”

“And enemy Stands trying to move it!” Pinkie excited added, to which Twilight nodded her head in confirmation.

“Exactly. So Rainbow Dash, if you could create a vacuum around all of us that rejects outside forces moving whatever is inside, then we could reach the edge of the Stand and escape.”

Rainbow’s face told Twilight that she didn’t fully understand what she had just said. But the quick change into a confident grin said that she got the just of it.

“Alright, you can count on me!” Rainbow hopped into the air and mounted a freshly summoned 2M2M. She had everypony come in closer to her Stand before closing her eyes and thinking. She tried to picture outside movement, and what that would be like. Strong winds blowing you back. A carriage running into you and sending you in the direction it was going. Somepony trying to push her back down to the ground. She visualized all of that in her head and rejected it. She would move in the direction that she wanted to and nothing would stop her from doing so. 

“Got it!” Rainbow Dash felt the vacuum around her, her Stand, and her friends. “Hold on tight everypony, ‘cause we’re busting out of here!” 

Before anypony could say that they weren’t ready yet, they all heard 2M2M’s engines starting to roar to life. They all grabbed onto the Stand as quick as they could. Holding onto its wings and shoulders tightly. They all closed their eyes and braced for the gforce to make them feel like they would plummet down the ground at any second. 

But they didn’t feel that at all. They didn’t feel anything. When they opened their eyes, they all saw that they were high in the air. Zecora’s hut was rapidly shrinking as they went higher into the air. But they didn’t feel any motion at all. Gravity pushing downwards counted as an outside force. Nothing would stop them from going the way 2M2M wanted to go, which was up. Up and towards the edge of the Stand.

A Stand which was tucked away in the real version of the hut far below them. The cult member that controlled it didn’t want to be outside in the Everfree Forest, especially at night. But he needed to be in the area he was creating a copy of with his Stand, Two Doors Down. So he elected to take up shelter inside the hut of a sleeping Zebra, hiding inside of an empty black cauldron.

He was able to sense the victims he trapped inside of it all moving towards its upper limits. He simply tried to warp them downwards constantly so they would never make any progress towards those limits. But to his shock, he never felt them move. No matter how hard he tried, they would move in no direction but the one they chose to go in.

Soon, the small frog like Stand attached to his back started to cough. A large bulge formed in its throat before it threw up five ponies and one Stand. The sudden increase in volume caused the cauldron to loudly tip over, spilling out all seven of its occupants. 

The sound of cast iron crashing onto the floor, as well as ponies shouting and surprise, was enough to wake the hut’s owner from her sleep. As soon as she awake she grabbed a staff from nearby her bed and waved it as she got up. Every candle inside lit up at once and she pointed the staff towards the center of the hut.

“Who dares intrude upon my home?!” Zecora shouted. “Speak up now, and let your purpose be known!” But she right where she stood when she witnessed the sight of five ponies she knew all surrounding a stallion she didn’t, along with an apparition holding holding said stallion by the neck.

“I must say, this is such a vexing sight. Your tears and tatters tell me you’ve all had quite the night.” Zecora lowered her staff and calmed down upon seeing who had woken her up. She was still slightly confused, but less so now.

“Zecora!” Twilight exclaimed. “Celestia, you don’t know how happy we are to see a friendly face.” 

“Of how much, I am only left to guess. But before words are exchanged, take care of this pest.” The zebra ushered to the cultiest in 2M2M’s grasp. “And when doing so, I ask you show restraint with your power. I do not feel like cleaning my hut at such a late hour.” 

“Wait,” Applejack widened her eyes in realization. “You can see Dash’s 2 Minutes to Midnight? Then that means you…”

“You have a Stand too!” Pinkie shouted to finish Applejack’s sentence.

“The Earth Ponies are correct in that I do, in fact, possess a Stand. And this intruder should be happy he didn’t force my hand.”

~~~

The absolute second Princess Twilight and her friends told her that the cultiest had kidnapped Fluttershy, Discord had snapped his fingers harder than he ever had before and teleported straight to the Castle of the Two Sisters. He knew better than to go anywhere else less he walk directly into a trap that might have been set up for him. Tonight, he was not playing any games.

In the past, Discord was always aware of this cult’s existence. But he never paid them any mind. They were just a bunch of silly, misguided ponies to him. At first, the constant praise he received from them was nice. He soon grew bored of it though. Boredom even sooner turned into annoyance. So he cast them off without a second thought.

But now they’ve crossed a line that they, nor anypony at all, should ever cross. They had messed with his Fluttershy. And now, they would pay the price for it.

When Discord entered the decrypted Castle, he found a mostly empty foyer as his first sight. Empty, save for the lone pony standing in the center of it whom the god couldn’t care less about. They had some sort of Stand manifested, but that mattered not to Discord. He didn’t even pay mind to the words they were saying. None of that mattered to him. Only Fluttershy’s safety did.

Apparently, they weren’t aware that Stands don’t work on him, as the confused look on their face told Discord that they didn’t understand why nothing was happening to him. This confused look only existed for the second it took Discord to snap his fingers, as that was how much longer their face did too. After that second, the pony cultist was no longer there and instead a literal worm cultist was in their place. 

Discord did not linger in the foyer for much longer after that. He snapped his fingers once again and teleported straight to the dungeon. This was the most logical place to keep prisoners. And even if they weren’t being entirely logical, as any cult that had him as their object of worship should not be, it was the only place in the palace that came pre-equipped to do this. 

With a flashlight which did not exist until recently in hand, Discord began checking each cell one by one. 

~~~

Fluttershy hurt. Fluttershy shivered. Fluttershy wanted to sit curled up into a corner of the dank and wet cell she was being held in. But she couldn’t. Her arms were chained uncomfortably high to the cold stone wall. Her clothes were in rags. Dried blood stained her yellow fur. 

Why was this happening to her? She didn’t want this to happen. She didn’t even want to think about what had just happened to her. She wanted to make it all go away.

But most of all right now, Fluttershy wanted to get out of this cell before he came back. The very thought of that made her shiver in terror. Waiting was not an option. She would have to escape now and hide so that he wouldn’t find her. 

The only pony with the key to unlocking Futtershy’s bindings and cell was the cultist who was left in charge of guarding her. He had given them strict orders not to even look at her. So trying to convince him was out of the question. Fluttershy dreaded this, but she saw no other option. She would have to use Comfortably Numb. 

The bound angel materialized on the other side of the bars, directly behind the cultist. It laid its hand on their shoulders and radiated a soft aura. The cultist didn’t have time to react to feeling Comfortably Numb’s touch before they froze stiff.

Sympathy was what Fluttershy needed. She needed to instill a deep sense of sympathy for her in this cultist. That way, they would feel so bad about keeping her in here that they would have no choice but to let her go.

Fluttershy focused on her negative emotions. Everything that made her seem pathetic and helpless. Something somepony would want to help. She channeled them through Comfortably Numb and into the guard. They were now feeling all of Fluttershy’s helplessness and pity. 

At first, it appeared to be working. Fluttershy could tell that the guard’s expression was changing. They looked deeply hurt. Regretful for what was going on. But the look only deepened. Any semblance of hope left their face. Fighting back tears, the cultist drew a knife from their pocket.

“NO!” Fluttershy screamed. But she knew that she could do nothing to stop what she had caused. She closed her eyes tightly and turned her head away. When she opened them again, the cult now had one less member. 

Everything seemed to stand still after that. Nothing moved. Not Fluttershy, not Comfortably Numb, and certainly not the guard. Fluttershy, much like the guard, wasn’t even breathing. Then she resumed her breath at an extremely heightened pace. She squinted her eyes shut and again fought back tears of her own. 

At first, Fluttershy didn’t want to make the guard’s death pointless. So she had Comfortably Numb bend down and take the key from their corpse. Even if she wasn’t directly touching it, it still nauseated her to do so. Then she made her Stand use that key to unlock the cell. It slowly walked towards the far wall where Fluttershy was bound. There it paused.

Fluttershy stared at the key in Comfortably Numb’s hands, then at the chains around its wings. Should she unlock herself? It had happened again. Somepony was dead because of her. Because her Stand protected her from her own emotions. It nearly happened at the school, it almost happened with Spike, and it happened to everypony in the room when he was torturing her, except for him.

This monster had caused so much harm in the name of protecting Fluttershy. But, this monster was her. And it was using what she created to cause harm. Maybe it was best if she stayed in her cage.

Any further deep thinking was cut off by the bright flashlight of a Draconequus. 

“There you are!” Discord shouted in relief. 

“Discord,” Fluttershy cried in surprise.”What are you doing here?”

“Why I’m here to rescue you of course,” Discord snapped his fingers and Fluttershy’s chains disappeared. Then he looked to the corpse on the floor. “Though it appears you were doing just fine without me.” He shrugged and a giant broom and dustpan appeared, which swept the corpse up and disappeared. “Now let’s get out of this ghastly place.”

Fluttershy slowly walked out of her cell to join Discord. But then she froze in place when she looked down the hall. She saw him.

The pony that stood at the end of the hallway did not stand as if he was guarding it. In fact, the way he stood was still and frozen in place. His head leaned slightly backwards, looking up at the ceiling. His arms hung down at his sides, completely limp. In the darkness of the musty caverns, his coat color nor clothes could be seen. Fluttershy froze as she stepped out towards Discord, nearly within his embrace. 

When she stopped, however, Discord raised an eyebrow and turned to follow her gaze. When he laid eyes on him, they shrunk down in thought. 

“Come now, Fluttershy,” Discord extended his hand out towards her, “Let us be rid of this ghastly place and get you someplace safe.” 

The second that Discord spoke, the pony’s head snapped back towards him. His body seemed to lag behind his head as it turned, but once he had his gaze could be seen. His deep purple irises were trembling, jerking as though they were creatures contained by a net too small for them. After a moment, his lips opened slowly. 

“My… master…” He let out a breathless gasp., “You’ve… finally come back for… me!” 

His last word was a shriek of joy, followed by him stepping forward into the hallway. His lips curled into a wide and unconstrained smile as he continued to step forward. With each step, it brought him closer to Discord. Closer to them. Fluttershy shook hard as each step made her entire body quake before she pushed herself against the bars, her breath turning into gasps. 

“Come now, Fluttershy,” Discord moved to put his body between her and him, “A single stallion can’t do that much harm to you. Especially when you have me around,” With that, Discord raised his fingers. 

“WAIT!” He screamed. His shriek was so loud and piercing that it made Discord pause. Immediately after, he dropped down to his knees, the sound of the thud it creating reaching the two of them. 

“Wait! Please.. .be..before you show, your incredible, your wonderful power, please… please, my Master!” He leaned his head up, his eyes opened wider than saucers as he stared at Discord, “Look… look upon my face, let it, remember me, and let me show… show you everything that we’ve done…” 

Curiously, Discord looked at the stallion, then to the trembling Fluttershy, His fingers snapped, causing a block in the nearby wall to turn into a little lamp. The lamp turned towards the stallion, illuminating his face. 

Now, Discord could see that the stallion was a dull, deep brown. The lack of horn on his head and bump under his clothes indicated he was an earth pony. Beginning at the bottom of his chin was a set of three slash marks. As the light panned down, it revealed these marks to travel all the way down to his neck, where the deep red of his skin through his fur seemed to indicate that the scars were severe. His hair was long and matted, looking as though it hadn’t been washed in a long while. Droplets of red were dispersed throughout it. It hung in little strands over his face, obscuring his eyes when he moved it around. 

“I know you… yes, I do remember you…” Discord rubbed his chin as a bit of flame formed from the friction of it, “Oh, but I don’t remember your name.” 

“D-Derelict! Y-You wouldn’t know it, I changed it! O-Or rather, I forgot it…” Derelict opened his arms wide, “Y-You remember me, you do? I’m so glad… it, it, it never… Discord…” Derelict whimpered, like a filly in awe of a superhero. 

“Y-You know him..?” Fluttershy whimpered from behind Discord. Her body shrunk down behind the draconequus. 

“Yes, he started following me and eventually he started leading around that group of ponies that called themselves my worshipers,” Discord paused, “Oh, but I thought Celestia and Luna would have taken care of you by now. And certainly if not them…” 

“They… did… they did, they did so much…” Derelict’s entire body tensed, “T-They took it all away. They did this to me…” Derelict leaned his head backwards, letting the two see the full extent of the scars across his neck, “They hurt us all, my Master, all all all all all all of us!!” 

“Yes, I’m sure they did,” Discord nodded his head, “Listen, I would love to stay and reminisce, but right now, I have a few places to be, and you’re not in them.” 

“NO!!!” Derelict screamed, his voice reverberating off the walls and causing Fluttershy to shriek and cower down behind her rescuer, “No you can’t leave, you can’t leave, you can’t leave! Not yet, not yet!!” 

“And why is that, Deri...Derry… Derelict?” Discord fumbled for the name while a spark formed between his ready to snap fingers. 

“I-I want through, all the trouble, to bring you here… t-to bring them all here… w-what was sealed away, what was lost from you, it must be found, it must be given form, it must be shown the light, you must herald it! Come, come please, follow, follow me, me down into, to show you what you need!” 

“I’m afraid you’re getting rather lost there,” Discord’s eyes narrowed, “And given that you apparently went through some trouble getting me here, I believe you have just put yourself in a very dangerous position from where I stand.” 

“Stand! Where you Stand, yes! Your Stand!” Derelict giggled, his fingers moving up to run through his hair. Almost instantly, his head snapped forward and whatever glee was there was immediately shot out, “Why did you abandon us…?” 

Discord had little way of reacting to that, “Abandon you? I usually keep close tabs on the ones I do that to, so I would ask you be more specific there.” 

“You… you left us… you left us all alone to face them…” Derelict raised his hands. Slowly, something began to form over his hands. A pair of fists. Black outlines with white scribbles began to sparkle over his own, “Gifts, you gave us these gifts but… but no, you still left…” 

“If you’re referring to back then, I had a little case of, oh how you say, petrification going on. So unfortunately you will have to move on,” Discord put his hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “Come now, Fluttershy, let us not indulge the ravings of this pony any longer.” 

“You can’t leave!!!” Derelict yelped, “You didn’t abandon us, you didn’t! Cast aside your trappings and come, come, join us!” 

“Trappings?” Discord turned to look at Fluttershy. His gaze followed her trembling eyes to the sight of Derelict with his arms now held out wide, “It seems my earlier warning didn’t get through to you. I would make clear right now that you’re not insinuating you were the one that arranged all this?” 

“I… did more, than just arrange, arrange it all!” Derelict nodded his head, “I-I, I did it, I found it! I found it, the news I’ve waited for so long, the one that rattled in my head, that consumed me, that couldn’t let me sleep, the one that I thought of every day since our defeats! You, you understand, don’t you? Don’t you?!”

Derelict’s grin was suddenly turned to a twisted terror as he saw his arms starting to writhe. Tiny little ropes sprouted from his skin, then turned to chains and launched back and dug into the wall, melding with it like water. Derelict had no time to react as the chains tightened, yanking him by the bone to the wall. When he hit the wall, he was completely pinned. 

Discord was in front of him in an instant. The chaos god slammed his palms on either side of Derelict’s face, his eyes alight with flame. His snarl looked feral, his teeth growing wider, sharper and scarier. As his breath came upon Derelict’s chin, it stung of poison and malice. 

“I will give you one last chance,” Discord spat, his saliva turning to acid on Derelict’s face to burn into his flesh, “I wanted to assume you were all insane and leave, but tell me right now. Did you do this to Fluttershy?!” 

Derelict’s eyes widened. His entire body locked up. Everything about him seemed to freeze, to unfreeze, then freeze again. Tears began to well in his eyes as his fingers opened and closed. As he turned his head away, his eyes screwed shut. His lips opened and loosed a high pitched wail of utter unrestrained terror. 

“BLACK PARADE!” Derelict shrieked out with all his voice.

In that moment, something materialized in front of him. What appeared in the space between them was a figure that looked like it only existed in two dimensions. It’s body was flat with long, circular, disproportionate limbs. While it’s whole body was black, it seemed only to be an empty void for the white scribbles inside of it to inhabit. They had nor definite form and were constantly moving. The only shapes that persisted were the white circles that made up its eyes and mouth. Even then the outlines jiggled and shook. The expression this face made looked to be constantly in pain.

“You and your followers should know that your petty little playthings won’t work on me!” Discord raised his fingers, “I’ll see how you like to spend eternity with your organs shuffling themselves about on a whim!” 

Discord put his fingers up, bringing them down to form his snap. Yet just before he completed the motion, he froze. His expression softened, then it shattered. He turned towards Fluttershy, and what he saw brought him to his knees. 

The Stand that Derelict had summoned had passed through Discord, but instead had turned towards Fluttershy. A hand was placed right above his eyes, holding them open. The two piercing red orbs were staring straight into Fluttershy, and the mare was utterly immobilized as she lifted her hand up towards Discord. 

“C-C-Comfortably… Numb…!” Fluttershy gasped out as though she was being strangled. Just as she spoke, her Stand materialized in front of her, holding onto her arm. It shook and trembled like it was being held, restrained against its will. But both User and Stand pointed their full force towards Discord. 

Pain. Discord felt pain. Not the physical pain, the mental one. The one that came of knowing what true fear was. The fear shot through the pain. The pain encased the fear. His entire body, it felt like he was stiff. Like if he moved, he’d be hurt. Punished. He felt it. He felt Fluttershy’s terror, her pain, her utter horrifying notion at something happening to her. To others. 

Discord was on his knees, no on all fours. He couldn’t breathe. He felt suffocated. Suffocated as though breathing hurt. Breathing would hurt him. It would remind him of the pain in his throat. From the fear. The pain that came from swallowing too hard, that came from screaming too loudly. His body went limp. 

“P-Please… s-stop…” Fluttershy gasped again. Tears were streaming from her eyes. Her entire body was held still, save for trembling. 

The chains going through his bones that held him to the wall vanished. Derelict slumped down to the floor. He didn’t get up. Instead, Black Parade moved over. It opened its arms and drew his limbs closer to his body. It helped Derelict curl into the fetal position. Then he wailed. 

“I WAITED FOR YOU!” Derelict yelled out, “I WAITED I WAITED I WAITED! THE PRINCESSES, THE MOUNTAIN, THE DEATH, THE FEAR! I WAITED FOR YOU! I WAITED FOR YOU!” 

Discord tried to turn his head towards Derelict. Just doing that felt like moving a mountain. When he did look to Derelict, Black Parade was hovering over him. Wrapped around him. Comforting him. Derelict didn’t stop. 

“I WAITED FOR YOU I WAITED FOR YOU I waited for you I waited for you I waited for your I waited for you I… I… I waited… for… you…” Derelict’s screams turned to sobs, his sobs to whimpers, and then to silence. He stopped moving. 

Fluttershy stumbled forward, only to gasp as the pain of trying to stop herself caused her to slump forward. She gripped the wall, unable to breath. Just seeing the sight of Discord in front of her, on the ground and unable to move, another victim of her Stand, made her sick. She shook hard and then broke into tears again. 

Her crying was interrupted by a hand on her throat. Her hands feebly reached out as she saw Derelict in front of him. His eyes were wide, tearstained with vengeance. His hand around her throat was tight, painful and concise. His other hand came to grab her face, dragging her eyes towards his own. He held here there, just off the ground, letting her suffocate for air. 

“You… you defied me…” Derelict whispered, “You… you said no…” He cocked his head to the side, “Do not forget… what you signed…” 

Fluttershy gasped for air. Her eyes shut tightly as she gagged and spat up for some semblance of air. After a moment, she was put down onto the ground, only to be slammed into the bars behind her. The pain stunned her, leaving her to fumble about for something. 

Then she heard laughter. Laughter coming from Derelict. She looked down to see him, his head hung low and unnaturally slumped forward while his chest heaved in uncontrollable fits. When he stopped laughing, his head seemed to creep back up towards her like a spider on a web. 

“Its ruined… you ruined it…” Derelict giggled, then he howled, “You ruined it all! You corrupted him! You took away my Discord! My lord! My Master! You… you ruined all the Black Parade stood for!!!” 

“I-I’m… sorry I-I… I didn’t know!” Fluttershy shrieked. 

Derelict stared at her for another moment, then he let her go. She fell to the floor unceremoniously. Derelict reached out with his arm, but form it extend that of Black Parade’s fist. It gripped behind Fluttershy, dragging out Comfortably Numb from her. After a moment, it used its other hand to pull its eyes open again. 

“You will… You will keep Discord… in this state… if he attempts to speak… to move… to do anything that would allow him to snap his fingers, you will pour all of your fear into him. And let me remind you… if you leave this castle without your friends in tow… you will die, and your soul will forever be apart of my Stand…” 

Fluttershy looked as though she was being constrained again. She nodded her head weakly, causing Black Parade to let her go. Derelict hovered over her for a few moments, before he flung himself towards the opposite wall and pressed his head into the stones. 

“Discord, he’s not my Discord anymore! She took him!” He babbled to himself, “He’s gone, I can’t use him, I can’t, I can’t do it, the plan is wrong, the plan is failed. He’s gone, she did it! Have to, have to find something, something else! Something new, something to make it work! News, need news, the news must be spread, the Black Parade must rise, must rise!” 

“Stands, Stands, the others, coming, the seal broken…” He continued, “Broken, without vessel, without User, Stand, not there, not worth it, nothing to recover… she did this! She, she must, break, seal must break, need to break, break break… break…” He put his hands on his head, “Discord only one, but, Discord corrupted, have to, have to find… have to find…” 

“Master!” A refined voice called out from the end of the hallway. A stallion ran forth, skidding to a halt in front of him, “Master, two of our members have been reduced to insects, we need to-”

The stallion looked to the prone form of Discord on the ground. As he looked ot Derelict and listened in on his babblings, he sucked in a breath. 

“It… It has already begun then…” He ruffled his hands together, “I’m… I’m so sorry, Master, I wasn’t around for this. Has… has he agreed to be the vessel?” 

“NO!” Derelict groaned out, “He… refused… I will have to do it…” 

“...Master,” The stallion paused, “Is that wise? We don’t know what it will… what it could do. We could fix him, I’m sure he just needs the right persuasion…”

“I’m the only one!” Derelict gaspepd out, “The… the only one who can… who can do this. Who can take this task on… I… I have a task for you…” 

“Yes, Master!” The stallion bowed graciously, “Anything you ask of me.” 

“I need… time… to rethink… to prepare myself… vessel…” Derelict sucked in a breath, “Delay the others when they arrive for as long as you can. I need their blood. Do not… do not take their corpses…” 

“I see, I will do so for as long as I must!” The stallion nodded once more, “What of the siblings?”

“Stand-by, they be ready for the News…” Derelict lifted his head up, “Leave them ready for the News. I will spread the News myself.” 

He turned towards where Discord lay, “If he will not do it… then the News… I will take on the task… the world will know once more… what it always should have been…” 


 
> Voltaire -The Chapter-
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was finally right in front of them. The Castle of the Two Sisters. After what seemed like one of the most dangerous nights of the group’s lives, they finally stood right in front of their destination.

But having reached their destination did not mean that the journey was over. Nor did it mean they were clear of any dangers. If anything, there would be even more dangers than before now that they were this close to the source. Nopony liked this fact.

“Stay alert, girls,” Twilight ordered. “We don’t know what lies ahead. Judging by what we encountered on our way here, however, I think it's safe to say that it’ll be just as bad, if not worse.”

“I don’t care what I have to go through,” Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow towards the palace. “Fluttershy’s in there. They took her. And we’re going to get her back,”

“I share your intensity for the objective, darling,” Rarity offered to be the voice of reason. “But I think that we need to listen to Twilight’s advice now more than ever. None of us will be saving Fluttershy if we all wind up dead before we even reach her.” 

“I know that,” Rainbow growled while she still had a single-minded gaze fixed on the palace. “I’m just saying that whatever gets in my way, I’m going to go through it.”

“Well if find an enemy Stand that’s weakness is stubbornness, I think we’ll beat it no problem,” Pinkie offered a light hearted smile in a small attempt to make humor of this situation. But even she wasn’t feeling it, given  the circumstances and stakes they were facing right now. 

Wordlessly, the five entered the palace. Rainbow Dash took point silently, her insistence weighing heavily on her friends to do so. Nopony objected, as they knew she did have the best offensive and defensive Stand out of the group. If they faced a surprise attack, she would have the best chance of reacting fast enough to deal with it.

The group passed through the gate and into the foyer. The whole castle was still in ruins, giving off a very frightening atmosphere. The few times they’ve been there were times of restoration and warmth among the ruins. Now, it was as if everything had shifted to make them see the truth behind the facade. The darkness was made even more terrifying by the fact that this time, they knew for a fact that there were things hiding in these shadows. 

The foyer stood, regal as it always had. The two thrones, silently standing strong even as the world around them crumbled, shone in the moonlight through the cracked wall behind them. The carpets that Rarity had worked to restore were still immaculate, even laying semi-exposed to the elements as they were. Much of the room remained in a partial state of fix from their previous efforts. In some twisted sense, it was as if they’d given rise to their own place of demise.

Their walk into the castle didn’t last long, however. Mere steps after entering the darkened foyer, it lit up via illumination. Flames danced along the torches on the wall, and light cast from stands where torches used to be. Everypony turned to Twilight only to discover that she was not the source. The only light she cast was a small spell to brighten the area around them. Seeing this, she dropped her spell and her horn lit up defensively instead. 

The source of the room’s brightness was a unicorn standing on top of a balcony overlooking the entire foyer. He casually leaned on one of the few instact sections of railing he could. He wore clothes that were colored with no rhyme nor reason, similar to the rest of the cult. But, as chaotic and nauseating to Rarity as the suit he was wearing was, his eyes did not look as the others had. Those in the woods, driven mad or vicious by circumstance, somewhere were not present on him. Behind him was his Stand. It casually leaned up against the wall, mimicking his nonchalant attitude while looking at them. Had he not been so clearly dressed like the others, he could almost pass for… normal.

“Hello, hello, hello Elements,” Every word from his mouth was voiced lowly and singsong as it projected through the ruined room. “You finally made it to our little party. I can see that you had no trouble finding the place.”

“Well, you, we made it, despite your directions,” Pinkie spat at him. 

“Or your escorts,” Applejack added.

“Ah yes,” He gave a small sigh with a smile on his lips, “It would seem that there was quite the error in shipping. I ordered five fresh corpses. Yet I received just the opposite it would seem. A less dignified stallion would likely simply send it back. No matter, I will just fix this damage myself.”

“Who are you?” Twilight demanded.

“My name is Voltaire, the user,.” He announced before pointing back to his Stand behind him. “And this is my Stand, Voltaire.”

“You and your Stand are named Volitare?” Applejack raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

“It has been so long that this is the only name I can remember.” Voltaire explained. “I know one of us was bestowed that name, but I forget which. So both me and my Stand have adopted it. Please, refer to it as such. I think it is quite the attraction. Though the name of your killer does not matter, so long as you know that they are the one that is killing you.”

Voltaire -the Stand- stood up from against the wall and held out its arms. From slots in its body, what looked almost like cards of smoke slid out and onto the ground. When the smoke card hit the ground, it rose into the air, twisted, and morphed. They took the form humanoids without any sort of features, not even a face. Each were just bright yellow lights in the shape of a pony. They all stood completely still, staring towards the group with their nonexistent eyes.

“These are Voltaire's, the Stand, Tragedies,” Voltaire -the user- explained. “The horrible deaths of creatures that I have personally witnessed and given physical form. When any living creature, such as a pony, touches one, they will relive that same fate. And suffer similar results.” 

“Why are you telling us how your Stand works, Voltaire?” Twilight called out to him in confusion, “You’re giving us-”

“Which of us are you talking to?” Voltaire -the user- interrupted her, “It’s rude to talk without identifying your subject, Princess.” 

“You, the user!” Twilight huffed, “You’re giving us information that a competent Stand User would never reveal!”

“Because, Princess,” Voltiare spread his arms out. “Knowing the steps to the dance does not detract from one’s enjoyment of it. No, it merely enhances the experience. So I invite you, Elements, to come and partake in my dance. Waltz towards me, for I have the only way forward.”

Looking around the room, the group saw that Voltiare was telling the truth. Before, there were multiple exits to this room. Now, they were all bricked off. In fact, the room itself appeared to be in a far less chaotic state of disarray than before. The foyer looked as though they had rewound time for several hundred years. It was now a beautiful room, one with only one throne that Voltaire stood in front of. All exits were gone, save for the one his Stand was near.

Rainbow Dash didn’t care about any of that. She only cared about Fluttershy. No matter how many of those things there were, she was confident that nothing could outspeed 2 Minutes to Midnight. She instantly mounted her Stand and took off towards the balcony where Voltaire was looming. Almost as instantly, one of Voltaire’s apparitions sped from where it was standing and made for Dash as speed equallying her own. The two crossed paths and Dash’s charge was halted. 

At first, she wasn’t sure what happened. Dash felt like she wasn’t moving no matter how hard she tried. All around her, the scenery of the decrypted castle foyer changed into a wide open desert. 2M2M was gone. Below her was a wide open revine with sharp stalagmites jutting up from its bottom. And they were growing closer to her, rapidly. 

Rainbow Dash’s first thought was to try and flap her wings and stop her descent. But as soon as she tried to, she was met with a seething pain in her back. Trying to look revealed her left wing was far closer to her than it should have been. Her wing was obviously broken. Instinctually, she attempted to form her Stand underneath her, but for some reason, 2M2M didn’t respond. 

Time seemed to slow down as she fell. It was clear those rocks would skewer her body. Her wing was broken, and her Stand was gone. Voltaire -the user- had said that he captured tragedies. This must have been the tragedy that this was a rementant of. It didn’t feel like this wasn’t real either. If Dash wasn’t saved soon, she realized she would meet the same fate. 

“RAINBOW DASH!” Applejack shouted as she ran towards the ravine that Dash was falling into. Another apparition mimicked her movements and ran at Applejack at the same speed. While she didn’t notice this, Twilight did.

“Applejack stop! Don’t move!” Twilight shouted. 

Applejack’s gut instincts told her to ignore her and keep running to save Rainbow Dash. But the saner part of her brain knew better than than not listen to Twilight at this point. So she begrudgingly paused. When she did, the apparition making its way towards her paused as well. She couldn’t move, lest that apparition come right for her. 

But that meant that they couldn’t run to save Rainbow Dash. And the ravine below her wasn’t getting any further away from her. Applejack knew that she couldn’t move, but she just couldn’t stand by and let this happen to her friend. So instead of moving to save Dash, Applejack would help her from right where she was. 

Applejack pressed her arms together and turned them into Country Girl’s roots. They intertwined together and extended towards the mouth of the ravine that Dash was falling into. She sprouted and branched them off as mouth as she could until a large portion of the crevice was covered. Instead of falling to her death on sharp rocks, Rainbow instead crashed onto a bed of solid roots. The impact rattled her head and hurt her neck, but she was alive.

“Gwwahhhhhugggg...” Rainbow groaned, relieved that her life was saved. The desert around them started to dissipate as Country Girl wrapped around Rainbow and slowly pulled her back towards the group. When the room was back to normal, however, the closest tragedy to Rainbow started moving closer slightly faster than the speed she was being pulled at. Applejack put her back down as a response.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight began to scold as soon as everything was as alright as it was going to get at the moment.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Dash sighed as she tested her previously broken wing. It was completely fine now. “Charging in recklessly, almost got myself killed, bad idea, I get it. Good news is we know how this guy’s Stand works.” 

Regardless of running in headfirst, more information was becoming clear to both Dash and the others. The tragedies would only move when somepony else does. Since the one that attacked Dash was able to catch up with her, it was also obvious that they moved around the speed of whom they were moving with. As long as they didn’t move, the tragedies wouldn’t either.

Twilight looked across the room and analyzed. “These, Tragedies, as he calls them, only seem to move when we move. Only one seems to move towards a pony at a time, and it’s the closest one to that moving pony. When they move, they’re slightly faster than however fast you’re moving, so you can’t outrun them.”

“And it appears that once a Tragedy touches you,” Rarity added on. “Another won’t pursue you until you get through living it.” 

“They move fast,” Pinkie had an idea. “But I wonder if,” In an instant, Pinkie blinked a quarter of the way across the room. When she appeared, the Tragedy that had started moving towards Applejack appeared a few inches away from Pinkie.“Ok, so they can do that.” 

“So what do we do, Twi?” Everypony turned back and looked at Twilight. This was a puzzle. Twilight was the best at solving puzzles, everypony knew this. 

“Oh why yes princess,” Volitaire the user mocked, privy to their entire conversation. “What ever shall you do? Once again the world falls on your shoulders. Will you hold up the sky once more? Or will you finally let it all fall on you?”

“That’s not even a legend we have!” Pinkie shouted.

Feeling the responsibility she had to take on now, Twilight began to analyze the room. She counted five Tragedies total. three of which were still where they started, on the other side of the room. Two were at various distances towards her three friends who were also at various points in the room. Of her friends, Rainbow was the furthest in, with a Tragedy five meters away from her. Pinkie Pie had one that was dangerously close to her. If she moved even a few more steps, it would catch her. Top priority needed to be making sure Pinkie was safe.

Night Wish appeared behind Twilight and made an arrow out of ink. With a flick of her wrist, she launched it at the Tragedy. The black arrow flew through the air at high velocity and passed right through its target with no effect. Instead, it simply imbedded itself in the cold stone floor on the other side of it.

Twilight then turned her sights to Voltaire -the user- who had decided to go back to watching with amusement. She made several more arrows and launched them all at Voltaire at once. Voltaire -the Stand- got between its user and the arrows. It caught them with ease and broke them in half to make a point. Twilight immediately moved to attempt to swirl the ink up with her pen to entrap the Stand’s foot, but the snakes that moved up to curl around him were snapped in two just as easily as the arrows. 

“Well it was worth a shot, darling,” Rarity tried to offer some consolation to Twilight’s failed attempt at an easy solution. 

“I need to get Pinkie away from that Tragedy.” Twilight furrowed her brow. “But I can’t figure out how to. If she moves, it’ll catch her.”

Her mind was working quickly. Either the main Stand was invincible, or attacking it without someone like Dash to deal heavy attacks would be worthless in the end. Given that was the case, she needed to maneuver each of them around the room to attempt to actually make that reality happen. Thus, protecting Dash would be priority one, with the rest of her friends as two. To that end, she also knew that whatever speed they moved would dictate terms. It was like some sort of game, a game where a wrong move led to literal deadly consequences.

“Well, perhaps we should attempt to move them instead?” Rarity offered. To demonstrate her point, she bravely took two steps forward. The Tragedy near Pinkie turned to Rarity and took three steps towards her as it was the one closest to her. 

“You’re a genius, Rarity!” Twilight shouted. She understood how she needed to approach this now. This wouldn’t be a battle, it would be a complicated game of chess. Herself and her friends were her pieces. The Tragedies were Voltaire’s. Her opponent moved simple mindedly and predictably. She just needed to work around that.

“Every problem has a solution,” Rarity smirked, “Tis just a matter of seeing it from all angles.”

“Alright, I think I know what we need to do,” Twilight turned to her friends, who each turned to look at her, along with the apparitions, “I’ve learned almost every board game in Canterlot. Coming up with a strategy here to get you all out will require me to tell you where to move. Do you all trust me?” 

Everypony nodded to her, sans Dash who had turned back to Voltaire -the user- and just huffed at her, “Good. Do exactly as I say!” 

Her mind immediately worked at translating this place into a board. It was easier to think when she gave spaces in her mind where to move. She needed to get Dash or one of the others to Voltaire. Assuming that he didn’t move would be what she needed to do. Why he was sticking around, she didn’t know, but she would have to plan around that. He was at the stairs, and they were on the other side of the room. Just like chess, if she thought about it. For almost a minute, she processed everything she could, forming at least four different strategies to use. With a nod, she opened her eyes and raised her quill in the air to direct them all. 

“Ok Rarity, take three more steps forward,” When Rarity obeyed Twilight’s commands, the Tragedy that she had moved previously moved closer to her. Twilight’s calculations were correct and it stopped within a few feet of Rarity.

“Ok, now, Applejack, take five steps towards the other side of the room,” Applejack, knowing Twilight was most likely to know what she was doing, obeyed. The Tragedy that Rarity had lured away from Pinkie Pie turned around and moved closer to her. When Applejack was finished, it was now an even distance away from all of the mares in the room.

“Good, now we have plenty of room to work with here.” Twilight looked at the three apparitions that had not moved yet. They needed to move if they were to get to Voltaire. She needed to start moving some of them. 

“Ok, first, Pinkie, start walking back towards me,” Pinkie nodded her head and obeyed Twilight’s commands. As soon as she started and the Tragedy in the center of the room started moving, Twilight gave another command. “Now Applejack, walk towards the left wall.” 

The result of Applejack’s movements were another Tragedy that had previously been still starting to walk diagonally towards her. Even though the one following Pinkie Pie was the one that was closer, it already had a target and would not move away from it. When Twilight gave an order to stop, there were now three Tragedies scattered throughout the room with only two by the stairs.

“Rainbow and Rarity, start walking towards each other.” Twilight’s plan was to get Rainbow to lure the one that was closest to her into a spot where she could manipulate it better while also using Rarity to drag a different Tragedy away from her friends. But a wrench was thrown in her plan by a factor to this game that she had largely ignored up until now. 

Next to Pinkie Pie a small orb of black energy started to grow. She curiously looked at it until it grew larger and exploded, sending her off the ground and towards the nearest Tragedy to her. Pinkie’s motion was read by the Tragedy, which in turn moved closer to her. Just close enough to make contact with her. Gasping, Twilight looked up and saw the glowing horn of Voltaire -the user- as the culprit of the magical assault.

“Oh do forgive me,” Volitaire gave a small bow of apology,. “But this is a game that requires two sides, does it not? I felt terribly ignored here!”

Now, the castle vanished and was replaced with a new background. This time they are in a wide open plane with untamed grasses growing up high. The only thing off note were the train tracks stretching on for miles. Train tracks in which Pinkie was tied to. And the thundering sound of an engine in the distance made it clear these tracks were serving their purpose.

“Warp away!” Rarity shouted to Pinkie Pie. “Use your Stand!”

“I can’t!” Pinkie shouted as she struggled against her bindings feebling. “I can’t make Ta-Dah appear at all!” Her struggling grew faster when she could see the train in the distance rapidly approaching.

“Use yours then!” Twilight desperately called to Rarity. “The Tragedies should only follow ponies!” 

All four Diamond Dogs were already scurrying across the floor towards Pinkie with their rippers ready to tear Pinkie from the ropes. But with the speed they ran at, how long it would take them to make a full circle around Pinkie, and Pinkie still having to get up and move out of the way, nopony was sure that they would make it in time.

So instead, Rainbow decided to be the one that would. Always being the first one to throw caution and self-preservation out the window, she stopped holding still and sped over on 2 Minutes to Midnight to where Pinkie was. The Tragedy that was following her went faster and made contact with her. But nothing happened when it disappeared. 

As soon as Rainbow Dash landed she acted to save Pinkie from the train. She had 2M2M cross its arms and form a vacuum around her and the tied up Pinkie Pie. She made the parameters simple and clear. When the train hit the edge of the vacuum, Pinkie squinted her eyes in fear. But Rainbow narrowed hers in determination. 

What came next was the deafening sound of metal crashing against itself. The steel train felt the full feedback of colliding with Rainbow Dash’s vacuum. The shockwave went back through each car, completely destroying the first few and causing the rest to grind to a halt.

“I reject all force,” Rainbow Dash snarled. “Nothing will get close to my friend.”

“You... became an immovable object!” Twilight shouted in amazement, “But, that would require?”

With the fate avoided, the scene of the train tracks in the grassy field faded. But instead of turning back into the castle foyer like last time, it changed into another scene. Rainbow Dash realized that this must the Tragedy she triggered flying over to save Pinkie Pie. At least they knew only one Tragedy would go off at once.

Now the foyer took the appearance of a burning building. It appeared to be nighttime, and the building itself was in large state of destruction. The fires raged hard, suffocating the room with smoke. The only visible exit to the room was trapped behind burning rubble.

Rainbow’s first instinct was to try and find a way out of the room. But as soon as she saw that the exit was blocked, she felt a feeling of hopelessness wash over her. Something that wasn’t natural for her. She fell to the ground and let the dread overcome her. 

“I… I can’t run…” Dash gripped the floor, digging her nails into it, “It’s… I can’t…!”

“If we don’t stop this scene from playing out,” Rarity put her elbow over her mouth to keep from inhaling more smoke. “I fear that Rainbow won’t be the only one who’ll die from this.” 

“But how do we do that?” Applejack asked, feeling like a tree in a burning orchard fire.

“The other two stopped when we saved the victim from their fate,” Twilight was taking in more information. “Stopping Dash from getting impaled on the spikes, and stopping the train from running over Pinkie Pie. Dash’s fate is to die in this burning room, so-”

“So we need to get her out of this room!” Pinkie called out before bursting into a coughing fit.

“That’s all well and good,” Rarity fell to her knees to get low of the smoke that was rapidly filling the room. “But we don’t exactly have a lot of options for achieving that. We can’t move without risking getting caught up in another Tragedy ourselves. And I do not think we can take a third one in a row at the moment.”

“We can’t move,” Applejack’s arms were turning into roots as she spoke. “But Rainbow can!” She made her right arm into the largest root-fist she could and smashed the ground beneath her. A hole formed in the ground, showing the level below the building they were in. “Remember when she was falling the first time? None of the of the other ghosts went after her.” 

Applejack looked to Dash, who was curled up in a fetal position with the fear the actual victim of this Tragedy faced. If the situation weren’t so dire and life threatening, she would of teased the Pegasus about it. But now there wasn’t much time for anything besides doing. 

Country Girl shot out from Applejack’s left arm and wrapped around Dash as fast as it could. Applejack then had it retract and reel Dash in. The second that she was above the hole in the ground, Applejack chucked Dash into it. 

When Rainbow was out of the room, the room ceased to be a burning building. It turned back into the castle foyer once more. Rainbow lay on the ground in front of Applejack where the hole she was thrown into previously was. Everypony else in the room took deep breaths and got over the last of their coughing fits. 

“I really must applaud all of your clever solutions to your fates,” Voltaire -the user- smugly said from his perch atop the balcony. “I wonder how long you two can keep me entertained. Don’t worry, though. As soon as you get done with the toys I’ve given you, I’ll just make six more for you.”

“I don’t think I can keep this up for much longer,” Pinkie Pie groaned. “Almost getting hit by a train, it’s not super fun at all.”

Twilight realized that Voltaire -the user- was right. They all had gotten lucky up until this point. If things had turned out even slightly differently, any one of those Tragedies could have ended in death. Twilight didn’t doubt him when he boasted that he had an endless supply of them either. They were all dangerously close to an untimely end.

What was worse was that Voltaire -the user-  proved to Twilight that she couldn’t take her time to strategize in this situation. If she tried to take her time here, he would meddle once again and make things much harder for them. If Twilight wanted to succeed in this struggle, she would need to do something brash and drastic to win and one fell swoop. Playing this like a game would just result in her running out of time, like an opponent deciding it was time to stop going ‘easy’ on her.

Plan, plan, she needed a new plan. Nothing complicated. No more thinking about the grid. No more thinking about how to make this play out in an advantageous way. She had to make this happen, had to just get it done. Think! Spike could come up with silly plans at the drop of a hat, she had to be able to too! Something had to be up with this, something hse hadn’t thought of!

Then Twilight thought of the stupidest, most irresponsible plan she could think of. It was downright suicidal when she thought about it. And that’s why it was going to work. 

“Dash, Pinkie,” Twilight furrowed her brow towards Voltaire. “In buckball, what did you say you call a play that’s your last desperate attempt to win the game?”

“You mean a hail mary?” Dash asked.

“Yes. I have a plan.” Twilight clenched her fists and took in a deep breath. “Consider this my hail mary.” Without letting a single additional second go by, Twilight darted forward. She ran directly into a Tragedy.

Everyone in the room cried out, but Dash soon understood. While the room was still changing to reflect the tragedy that Twilight had triggered, Dash made 2M2M take off in Voltaire -the user-’s direction. A tragedy rushed at her and made contact, but it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter. 2M2M grabbed Volitaire -the user- by the throat and threw him to the ground.

Knowing she probably had less than seconds, Dash revved up her Stand’s engines and unleashed its fist right in Voltaire -the user-’s face. The rest of the group understood and used their own Stands to follow suit. Voltaire -the Stand- attempted to create Tragedies to defend Voltaire -the user-. But it did not matter. Every Tragedy that hit sompony just uselessly disappeared, not being able to come to fruition until the one that Twilight was affected by ended.

But it wouldn’t end until the effects of the Stand ended. Within a few seconds, Voltaire -the user- was knocked unconscious with an extremely bruised face. Voltaire -the Stand- disappeared, along with its effects. The entire room turned back to normal.  

Everypony turned around while they breathed heavily from their assault. To their relief, they saw Twilight still alive. She was laying on the ground. She looked terrified, but otherwise ok. A fact that Dash looked like she was about to change.

“What the heck were you thinking, egghead?!” Dash shouted angrily in Twilight’s face.

“Yes darling,” Rarity concurred. “Surely there was a better way to resolve this. You were nearly killed!” 

“One Tragedy doesn’t start until another has finished,” Twilight panted, still catching her breath from her rapidly beating heart, “And I’m guessing one of his limitations was he couldn’t move from where he activated his Stand. We just so happened to be in the best positions for that, but if he did anything else to mess with us, it’d be over. So I went for it.” 

“That ain’t like you, Twi!” Applejack narrowed her gaze, “We would have won eventually. Sure, it worked out this time, but we can’t go losing friends! Especially you!”

“That doesn’t matter now,” Twilight shook off her friends, as well as the shocked look on her face. “It worked, and that’s what’s important. We can move on now. Saving Fluttershy is our number one priority.”

Twilight walked up the stairs and through the only open hallway without letting her friends say another word to her. With her leading the pack, Twilight could let her real emotions show on her face. Her eyes became hollow as the images flashed in front of her face. 

Just moments before, Twilight found herself standing in the middle of the pouring rain. There was no light for miles, and the clouds were so thick it was difficult to see in front of herself. She felt like there were others around her, others that she knew and were willing to die for. Lightning flashed, striking and making rocks burst apart. She couldn’t move from that spot. Her willpower wasn’t letting her even think of running away.

She was staring down the angry faces of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Their eyes had the clear intent to kill on them. Then, in front of the monarchs, their Stands appeared. The fiery avian form of Vanilla Twilight, and the crystalline canine form of Dark Side of the Moon. It was only just before Vanilla Twilight’s flames threatened to burn Twilight’s body to ashes and remake it anew did the Tragedy end.

The looming question in Twilight’s mind would not leave. Where did Voltaire get that Tragedy? 
> Marching Band
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only reason Dash was showing any restraint at all while the group walked down the long, dark hallways of the Castle of the Two Sisters was because of Twilight’s insistence that rushing forwards could very well end in falling headfirst into a trap. Normally, Dash would have just ignored this and decided to brave the traps. Having just come off of the oddity that was Voltaire, however, she didn’t want to risk it. Rushing into a Stand could easily end up far worse than spikes on the ceiling. Otherwise, she would have taken off the second they were free.

The only hallway that was left open for them to enter after their fight was a narrow one. The bricked off ones could have been easily breached by a number of Stands at the five’s disposal, but Twilight figured logically that this was the path they needed to take. Her reasoning was simple: Voltiare intended to win his battle against them since, if he had, then he would have had to have a way to regroup with the rest of the cult.Thus the open path was the most logical one for them to take. No one wanted to raise an argument to Twilight. 

Rainbow Dash was on point. Her Stand had the rest of theirs trumped both offensively and defensively. Should a sudden attack come there way then it would deal with it the best. Twilight followed close behind with the rest of the group in tow. In her mind, she wasn’t worried most about what to do if somepony attacked them. Instead, she was worried about how to stop Dash from doing something rash in that case. 2 Minutes to Midnight had the potential to level this whole palace should its user unchain herself. And with everything that’s happened, it was seeming that was a likely possibility. 

Everypony else was on serious edge at the moment. If it wasn’t for the sake of Fluttershy’s safety, none of them would ever have found themselves in this scenario. Pinkie Pie for once in her life found that there was a kind of surprise she didn’t want to experience. Every step filled the party with more dread. Every hollow footstep felt like it was carrying the threat of death that was so ever present in their struggles this night. They were in the belly of the beast now, and there was no telling what laid ahead.

The trek ended in the sitting room where Celestia and Luna once sat and held private court with each other. But its current two occupants were far from the royal sisters of Canterlot. 

Sitting on Celestia’s former thorn was a man who did not seem to be all there. He was wearing a patchwork suit that seemed to be in a state of disrepair. It was hard to tell, but it’s color pattern was meant to mimic that of Discord’s. He laid lazily, as if he was bored of waiting. Behind him was the goal the reason they had come to the castle for. Fluttershy. A very exhausted, tired, scared looking Fluttershy. She was on her knees, looking directly down at the ground. She didn’t dare move.

This mere sight was all Dash needed to abandon any semblance of caution she may have been harboring for Twilight’s sake. 2 Minutes to Midnight’s jets fired up at full blast and cleared the entirety of the court in the blink of an eye. Dash let out a cry of rage as she intended to break apart the face of anyone in the room that wasn’t Fluttershy. 

When all blinks had concluded, they would see the sight of 2M2M’s fist making hard contact with his face in an uppercut motion, so hard that he was lifted from the very seat that he sat on. The sound of engines roaring preceded him being grabbed out of the air and thorn hard to the ground. Engines still shrieking, 2M2M punched him in the face with the full force of its jet powered descent.

The very ground around his head fractured and gave way. Rainbow could feel through the feedback in her Stand’s fist that the skull had been broken. And yet, somehow, his Stand still materialized and took her own by the neck in a tight hold. 

Near instantly, the airflow was roughly cut off in Dash’s neck. She coughed and sputtered, struggling on 2M2M’s back. 2M2M punched the two-dimensional figure in the gut as hard as it could, but it gave no reaction. It only tightened its grip on her. Dash tried to focus and reject it, but she had lost two much air to do so.

Then it suddenly all came back. His Stand’s hands loosened their grip on 2M2M’s neck. Two cloth muts quickly scurrying away told Dash all she needed to know about how she was saved. With her air back, she created a vacuum around herself that rejected the enemy Stand from her proximity. The rest of the girls sprung into action as well.

“Black Spear!” Twilight swished Night Wish’s quill and shot several spears of solid ink into the hands and feet of the Stand. They pierced it with each and pinned both it and its user to the ground. Corresponding wounds appeared on the user. Applejack shot her Country Girl’s roots out and crawled them through the castle floor. They all sprung up from the ground around the Stand User and formed a tightly woven cocoon around him. At the same time, Rarity ordered each of her Diamond Dogs to sew the Stand to the floor. They made each stitch three times over just to be sure. Pinkie Pie appeared with Ta-Dah and through a couple shurikens at it for good measure. 

“T-There,” Twilight panted, falling to her knees from the surge of adrenalin she had just felt. She still had Night Wish’s quill between her fingers and didn’t dare move a single drop of ink. 

“Shy!” Rainbow shouted. 2M2M disappeared and her feet touched the ground. Said feet immediately started sprinting towards the defeated yellow Pegasus. “It’s ok! We’re here! I’m going to make all these jerks pay for…”

“BLACK PARADE!” The misdressed man’s voice came loudly from underneath his root prison. It commanded the attention of the five heroines. 

The Stand whose name was just called started to dissolve. It took on even less of a form than it already had. It looked like a gas and moved like a liquid around the stitches and ink holding it in place. It stood up and completely ignored everything.

While its opponents were left completely stunned and shocked, Black Parade outstretched its hand and held it towards Fluttershy. A shadowy hand appeared in front of her chest and reached inside. It took hold of whatever it grabbed tightly and pulled upwards.

“C-C-Comfortably Numb…” Fluttershy muttered against her will. The shadow hand lifted upwards, and Comfortably Numb was forced out of Fluttershy’s body. Not long after, its powers activated and radiated Fluttershy’s powerful emotions onto everypony in the room.

All at once everypony felt the intense hopelessness and sense of defeat wash over them. They all fell to their knees and withdrew their Stands. Night Wish’s ink turned back into liquid before disappearing altogether. Country Girl’s roots looked like they were going to wither away before fading. Each one of Rarity’s Diamond Dogs curled up into a defensive ball before they too went away. 

Just before suicidal thoughts could take over them, the now free’d cultist stood up and called off his Stand. This in turn called off Fluttershy’s as well. Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack all crawled up to their knees, shaking and trying to get ahold of themselves. The cultist merely brushed himself off. 

“Now now now now now now now now, rudeness. That was...just nothing but rudeness.” Despite the wounds on his body, in addition to the heavy beating he had just sustained from 2M2M, he walked as if nothing happened to him at all. “No introductions were given. You don’t even know my name. Don’t know my name you don’t.”

“W-well what is it then?” Rainbow tried to sound tough as she shuddered to her feet. But she was probably the most shook out of all of them. “I’d like to know the name of the jerk I’m going to beat the crap out of.” 

“You may call me Derelict,” he grinned as he casually strode about the throne room. “Introductions from you are not needed, no they are not. I know who you are. You are the ones…” Derelict’s mood suddenly shifted. He ran up as fast as he could and kicked Rainbow in the gut with the side of his foot. She fell back to the ground. Everypony else began the motions to go to her aid, but Comfortably Numb waved its hand to warn them not to move. 

“YOU ARE THE ONES WHO RUINED MY MASTER!” Derelict shouted in a raspy, dry screech. “EVERY. THING. HE. STOOD. FOR. RUINED. BECAUSE. OF. YOU. ALL.” He stomped on the ground roughly between every word. “Especially her…” His eyes turned towards Fluttershy, before running up and spitting on her face.

Rainbow Dash forwent all pain and rushed at Derelict screaming with her bare fists. When she tried to swing, Derelict’s Stand threw her to the ground. Then it waved its hand and commanded Comfortably Numb to act against Dash. 

Another ocean of depression flooded into Dash. She had never felt worse or lower in her entire life. She truly felt like the worst thing in the world. Every little thing that she had ever done wrong and every imperfection about her was magnified to the point where they decreased her sense of self worth. Tears fell from her eyes to the stone floor.

At the same time, Derelict kept shouting “RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM!” Like a spoiled child. Or a mad stallion. Or both. 

“How are you controlling Fluttershy’s Stand?” Twilight asked while she pulled Rainbow Dash to safety using Night Wish’s ink. This enemy was highly unstable. She attempted to engage in a calm discussion with him for now in order to make things safer for all of them. 

“A part of the Parade.” Derelict muttered. He turned to Twilight and the group. “She joined the Black Parade. Ponies, they have wants. Desires. Deep desires in their souls that they don’t know about. When those desires are brought to light, they join the Black Parade. Then, they all march to my tune. Their souls, are part of my Parade.”

“I see,” Twilight calculated this in her head, and attempted to translate it back to her friends. “So, you find a deep rooted desire in a pony’s heart. Then your Black Parade uses it to take control of their soul? And by extension, their Stand?” 

“Yes yes yes yes!” Derelict seemed excited that somepnoy was understanding how Black Parade worked. “Their soul and Stand are part of the Parade. They form a contract, a contract out of their desires. The desire for wealth, power, longevity,” He looked to Fluttershy. “To make the pain stop.”

“You mother…” Rainbow Dash forced herself through the pain and a cough of blood to get to her feet so she could attempt to voice her grievances with Derelict through means of fist. She was immediately pulled back over to the rest of the group by Applejack’s Country Girl. 

“So, you forced Fluttershy to want the pain to stop,” Twilight tried to keep calm while talking. If she was calm, Derelict would be relatively calm too. “And that let your Black Parade’s ability take hold of her Stand?”

“She wanted the pain to stop,” Derelict nodded. “And Black Parade allowed it. No longer, will she be hurt by me. I am physically unable to bring her any harm, or even attempt to stop her. Nopony is. If they dare try, they will be forced to stop, by the Parade.”

“I see,” Twilight couldn’t think of a way out of this situation. But for now, while he was talking, Derelict was not harming. “And this contract is completely binding?”

“From her side, yes.” Derelict affirmed Twilight’s question. “She may not resist Black Parade’s influence, no matter how much she struggles and squirms. But should I use the Parade to break its side, the contract is broken.”

“So you never really gave her what she wanted!” Pinkie shouted and pointed her finger at Derelict. “You can still hurt her if you really wanted to.” 

Derelict responded to her accusation by willing Black Parade force Comfortably Numb to fill Pinkie with depression so great, that not even the pink party pony could resist the urge to fall to her knees and feel the intense emotional pain of having no hope in yourself.

“Want!” Twilight quickly held up her finger as she found a new topic to keep Derelict busy on. “What do you want? Surely you can’t be going through all this trouble just for revenge on us, if you went through all the trouble of keeping Fluttershy alive.” As much as Twilight hated the logic behind that point, it was logic nonetheless.

“Ah, yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES!” Derelict seemed elated by Twilight’s question. “I had nearly...forgotten.  Come now, my little ponies. I want to tell you the story, the story of how the Parade started. And how i learned now of the News. When I was a young colt...” 

~~~

A young colt who’s name has been long forgotten to time was born in the pre-Discordian era of Equestria’s history. Like his true name, he forgot what his life was like before then. Though to him, it did not matter. 

In his own eyes, this colt’s life began the second he saw Discord’s influence take hold of the land. Where others either saw it as a corruption of the world, or simply subcame to madness, he saw the new state of reality as a thing of beauty. Perhaps it was because his mind was warped by the infectious chaos, or perhaps he was just born that way.

The colt soon sought out others who were like minded as him. Others who were, in his eyes, pure of mind. But instead of finding others, one found him. A stallion who would become the most important pony in the colt’s life. 

This pony had also been spared of Discord’s madness. And like the colt, he saw it as a sign he was chosen for something greater  by the god. So he scoured Equestria, and found nine other ponies across the corrupted Equestria with the same delusion as him, including the colt. Whatever lives they led before bore no meaning anymore, for they had believed that they had found their true purpose with each other.

The cult was officially formed, under the leadership of the one who had brought them all together. Their first order of business was to find their god and proclaim their devotion to him. For without him, they would not have seen what they believed to be the truth of this world. And Discord was the ultimate arbiter of that truth. 

Discord himself did not care for these delusional ponies. They were clearly driven mad, but not in a way that particularly amused him or achieved anything that he desired. Of course the admiration was flattering for a while, but it grew old and boring. So soon he wanted nothing more than to cast them off and be rid of them. 

In order to do this, Discord gave the small cult formed in his name a single task: To create him a pretty pony parade. He gave no further details on what this meant and left that up to their interpretation. He issued them this order without a second thought and discarded them from his mind. To him, they were nothing but simple ponies.

But the cult, with their distorted minds, saw their entire interaction with Discord as something different than the god himself did. To them, it was everything that their purpose was in life. So when they were given such a task, heavy debate rang out among the group on how to do it properly and perfectly.

It was the one who had brought them all together and assumed the role of their leader that had decided on what the correct interpretation of Discord’s words would be. He wanted them to take the deranged masses of Equestria and have them join The Parade. What was The Parade, the rest had asked their wise leader. The Parade was them, of course, the leader replied.

There was not a single amount of disagreement among the cult. That would surely please Discord. But such a task would be too great for them. They lacked the power to move Equestria’s masses in such a way that they saw their light. Their leader had accounted for that, and already had a solution. A source of more power.

The leader produced an intricately crafted, gold colored arrow. It’s material seemed to be made of something otherworldly. Their leader said that all they would need to do would be to pierce themselves with this arrow. Show their devotion to their leader and their god through this act and then they would achieve the power they needed to start The Parade. 

One by one, each of the members took the arrow and pierced their own heart. They each fell on the ground, motionless and seemingly dead. But their devotion, or perhaps their delusion, was too great to be swayed by this. They plucked the arrow from the one who had used it last and used it on themselves.

All but cult leader and the young cult used the arrow. The leader waited for the result. The colt was overtaken by fear. He held the arrow himself, but could not go through with the ritual the other eight had. The colt had expected shame and anger from his leader. But instead, he put a hand on the colt’s shoulder, understandingly. He told the young one that perhaps he was destined for something greater than all of them.

Then, one by one, each member of the cult that had seemingly died began to stand back up again. Much to the shock of the colt, and much to the satisfaction of their leader. When they stood, they each had been rewarded with a new power for their participation in the rituatal. 

Each’s power was different. The power to record a pony’s death and force another to relive it. The power to separate his own body and suck the oxygen out of life. The power to cause spreading destruction. The power to take away one’s focus. And a power so great that it had to be shared by the remaining four. A power that was the ultimate source of chaos. 

Then  their leader did the same, falling down dead before rising again with his own power. The colt attempted to cease the arrow and follow suit finally, but the leader stopped him. He said it was fate that he was overtaken by fear to not to. So it would not be his time yet. 

With their new powers, the cult began to unleash their terror upon the citizens of Equestria. They saw themselves as spreading the power of Discord’s followers. The power of The Parade. In truth, they only caused death, destruction, and panic. But in their delusion, this is exactly what Discord wanted.

Just as they began the march of The Parade, however, the unspeakable happened. Two ponies had stood up against Discord. The two mutants who had been born with immense magical power. They rose up and declared that they would put an end to Discord’s Chaos. 

At first, the cult thought that they had nothing to fear. The found the notion laughable that any mere pony would be able to stand up to Discord. His power was far greater than anything a mortal could obtain. But those ponies, they were not mortal. They were deities on their own level. 

And then a great blow to them was struck. They had obtained a new power in addition to their magic. It was the same power they all had obtained to create The Parade. And now they were using that power to destroy it! The leader was fueled with rage that spread to his followers. He ordered that they immediately find their god again.

The cult did something that would actually be of use and consequence to Discord, for a change in his eyes. They offered him the arrow that they had used to obtain their Stands. They explained that in order to fight Stands, he needed a Stand himself. As unfun as Discord found that, he accepted the cult’s offering without hesitation. 

And upon piercing himself, Discord’s twisted soul was drawn out of his body. It was given a form. And as the soul of the god of chaos, the Stand that was born from it was the pure embodiment of chaos. It was powerful, it was fear inducing, but it was uncontrollable by its user. 

However, that did not matter. It was too powerful for the princesses, even with their own Stands, to fight. And it turned the world even more chaotic than before. It was glorious in the minds of the cult. They had done their god’s will! They spread chaos in ways that he never could before.

But it was not the fate for Discord’s Stand to bring the world down. Having failed in using the power of Stands, the princess’s instead found another power to combat Discord. The exact opposite of chaos: Harmony. Six elements of it, divided among the two sisters. 

Their power completely sealed away the soul of chaos. It created a tomb in which the soul would sleep, never to be released again. It also undid all of the chaos that had befallen the land, turning it back into its state of order and harmony. But worst of all, it defeated the cult’s god. It had turned him to stone and seemingly caused him to perish. 

These were the darkest times for the cult. Not only did the world they revealed in disappear, but their god had been slain by two false ones. The members looked to their leader for guidance. They were lost on what to do. But the leader had been driven even madder by his god’s defeat. 

So he decreed that they would began to spread chaos through means of The Parade. They went across Equestria and used their power to unleash their Stands even deadlier than before. They would make sure that nopony ever forgot what their god stood for.

Their presence grew so great that the false gods could neither ignore nor tolerate it any longer. If they were to use Stands, then they would use Stands to fight them back. The princess’s found where the cult had hidden, and assaulted them. 

None of them had any hope of fighting back. The powers of the Princess’s Stands were far to great for even the nine of them to overcome. The leader, in a moment of clarity, made a sacrifice. He used his own Stand to protect the rest of his members from the wrath of the alicorns. He was the only one who was slain by them on that day.

Now this was truly the darkest time for the cult. The most important stallion in all of their lives was no more. Him and their god had been taken away by false ones. Eight of the remaining nine members fell in defeat. They had lost their way. There was nothing that they could do. 

But the ninth member did not see it that way. The young colt remembered the words that their leader had said to him back when they started The Parade. He was destined for something greater. In his twisted mind, he understood now. He knew what he was destined for. 

From the colt’s body, his soul came out and gave itself physical form on its own. His Stand manifested at this moment, and none of the other members debated it. He was destined to be their leader. That was clearly what this sign meant. His Stand was not just a part of The Parade, it was The Parade. But not a Pretty Pony Parade. It was The Black Parade.

The newly risen leader of the cult made an order. Their goal was clear. Their god was no more. But his soul still existed. His Stand was the embodiment of chaos. They needed to find where the false gods had hidden it, and released it. 

~~~

“...and now, and now, now, now, now,” Derelict went on as he finished his story to the helpless group of ponies before him. “We have it. We have The News. We have found it, and we have discovered the way to release it.”

“But, Discord doesn’t have a Stand,” Twilight commented. Even upon hearing the backstory of Derelict, she could not understand a thing about him. “He told me so himself. He hates Stands!”

“I...don’t…” A raspy voice called out. From a tunnel behind the throne, four ponies came holding the large coffin that Twilight and Rainbow Dash had seen in the basement. On top of it, a defeated and sprawled out Discord laid. “I have no idea...what they are talking about...these ponies are crazy...insane…”

“He doesn't remember,” Derelict simply said. “Of course he does not remember. He is not, our lord anymore. This yellow monstrosity saw to that. She RUINED HIM!” He clenched his fists tightly, but slowly unclenched them. “But it is of no matter. He would not remember anyway.” 

Derelict pointed to the coffin. “This was made with powers threefold. Firstly, the first of the powers, was the power of reincarnation. False God Celestia’s accursed Stand. This coffin will always renew the magic that seals it. Whatever is inside will always be reset back to its base. Never evolving.

“Secondly, it is made with the power to make the subconscious physical. False God Luna’s accursed Stand that cursed us. It stole the memories of our god’s Stand from him to make the coffin. As a means of making sure that it was lost forever. Only, only a painting remained. A painting painted by the Stand itself.

“And lastly, lastly…” Derelict trailed off. “It is made of harmony! Harmony is what magically makes the coffin. Harmony is what keeps the Chaos inside. But Harmony is what will break it out! And then I will make The News part of The Parade.” 

“Stands don’t work on Discord,” Rainbow spat as she grabbed one of her aching ribs.

“Stands did not work on the real god! You foolish Pegasus!” Derelict shouted. “This imposter, has a crack in his armor. When the cursed yellow pony wormed her way inside of him, like a parasite, the false Discord opened himself to her. She can get in. I can use her to get in.”

Derelict spread his arms out. “Now for the ritual! Stand helplessly, pitiful elements of harmony, as I undo the wretched order that you all work so hard to maintain.” 

Black Parade stirred. It’s flat body motioned and conducted Comfortably Numb. The Stand aimed its hand forcefully at Discord, and projected emotions straight into him. Emotions of despair and agony. Worthlessness. Helplessness. Fear.

The Draconequus felt them harder than he had ever felt before. It was like Derelict has said. Because he had let Fluttershy into his heart, she could pierce his wall against Stands. So his very soul cried out in agony. 

Then the coffin in the center of the room began to tremble and shake. Lights from the center of each of the six elements of harmony in the room shot from their chests and to the coffin.

“Its user, crying out desperately for its protection.” Derelict chanted. “The six elements that imprisoned it, gathered in one place. The keys are all here. The call is being made. There is no reason to slumber for any longer! RISE! NEWS OF THE WORLD!”