Blood of the Sunstrikersby Clacker VolleyChaptersChapter 1: A Summoning Gone WrongChapter 2: On the City StreetsChapter 3: The Manehattan ScenesChapter 4: A Summoning and a ResurrectionChapter 5: Stacked OddsChapter 6: Smoke and MirrorsChapter 1: A Summoning Gone WrongRainbow Dash was called a lot of things. She was the embodiment of Loyalty, she was a hero to ponykind, and one of the dearest friends in the world. Rainbow Dash thought she was a lot of things. She was a coward, she let ponies die in the initial invasion and continued to let them die, and she had abandoned some of her friends, knowing that in doing so, they would likely die. But if there was one thing Rainbow Dash knew for sure, it was that she could at the very least protect Twilight Sparkle so that she would be able to fix things. She was always able to fix things, right? So maybe saving Equestria from its demise was another? These were never meant to be questions. But as Rainbow Dash flew back to the remnant of the sheriff’s building in Appleloosa, she could only think of them as questions. “I need to bring Celestia back.” Twilight immersed herself in an old spellbook that Spike had almost died for. “She’s the only one that can stop this.” As Rainbow Dash prepared to walk through the doors, she was prepared to drag Twilight Sparkle out, to keep her safe, and not let her do whatever stupid thing that she was about to do. The last time she tried to get Celestia involved, Princess Celestia died. Rainbow Dash bursted through the doors, but even when the wooden doors slammed into the walls, its noise causing a shockwave through the remains of the building, the one and only Twilight Sparkle was still in the center of the room, as if untouched by the sudden disturbance. All the chairs and broken furniture had been moved away, for Twilight was finishing drawing a circle with a five-pointed star in the center using the chalk dust that had been lying around the school building that Twilight and Rainbow had raided for supplies earlier that week. “I’m almost done.” Twilight responded to Rainbow before she could even get a word out. Rainbow Dash angrily stopped towards Twilight, who placed the spellbook on top of a makeshift table of rubble to make it easier to read the pages. “This spell can bring her back, Rainbow. She can fix this…” Rainbow Dash almost wanted to look away, listening to her the desperation in her friend’s voice. While Rainbow wasn’t much better off, Twilight’s ragged look only added to the scene. “Chrysalis is coming. We don’t have much time left. I’m getting you out. Now.” Rainbow could hear Twilight click her tongue in annoyance. Turning around, Twilight Sparkle held the book in front of Dash’s face. “Read it! It can bring her back!” Rainbow Dash only read the title of the spell, ‘the Blood of the Sunstrikers Summon and Resurrection’, before she knocked it the ground. “Celestia is dead, Twilight. You can’t bring her back. But we can still run! Survive!” Twilight was unshaken by Rainbow’s loud yelling, and she proceeded to pick up the book while recited, “By performing this spell, one can summon and resurrect those that have the blood that can harness the energy of the sun. While this is a dark art that requires an immense amount of magic, this is a spell meant to bring those that can use the light in order to fight back against the darkness.” Twilight Sparkle stared Rainbow Dash down, “Celestia’s magic was the only thing that seemed to actually do anything to them. Magic of the Sun, Dash. Who else is this spellbook supposed to be talking about?! It was in their library, dammit!” Rainbow Dash didn’t back away from Twilight’s stare. She needed to get Twilight out. “And it said you needed a whole bunch of magic right?! And how are you gonna do that in your state!” “I have to.” “Twilight, you don’t even have your horn anymore.” Rainbow Dash looked sorrowfully at Twilight Sparkle. “You can’t create any magic, let alone a lot of it.” Twilight Sparkle held the book closely to her torso, unable to levitate it with her stump of a horn. Slowly backing away and treading very carefully and lightly around the arcane circle, Twilight only responded, “I still have some magic in me.” Rainbow Dash flew into a rage after that statement, not noticing that Twilight had a small smile when Dash started showing her sign of anger. “That’ll kill you, Twilight. Using any more of any magic still in you, pegasus, Earth pony, unicorn, alicorn, it’s going to kill you. Like hell if I’m going to let that happen!” Rainbow Dash started stomping towards Twilight Sparkle in anger. “I’m getting you out of here before Chrysalis can catch up to us. I’m not letting another friend die.” It was only after she finished the word ‘die’ that Dash noticed that the floor was heavily creaking under her. Suddenly, the weight of next stomp left her two left hooves into the floor. And before she could react to what was going on, Twilight Sparkle ran over to her, trapping Dash using a wooden arch that used to hang above the door. All of a sudden, Twilight Sparkle went into overdrive. She grabbed the spellbook, while explaining, “Recently, I noticed that you always stomp when you’re mad. Probably for intimidation or something.” Twilight grabbed pieces of cloth that she set aside and through it inside the star center of the arcane circle. “I knew that you would try and stop me from doing this, so I destroyed part of the floor that you were walking on in advance, and repaired it really badly.” Twilight met Rainbow Dash’s worried eyes. “I’m sorry for doing this.” “Twilight, wait! Don’t do this!” Rainbow struggled against the surprisingly sturdy prison that Twilight had made, guess she always was smart with just about everything. Hearing Twilight place down the book at a point that was almost right in front of her, Rainbow Dash stopped moving for only a moment. To beg. “Please…stop…” Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash, tears in her eyes, almost masking her fear of dying from doing so. “Goodbye.” Twilight look back towards the book and started reciting the words, while Rainbow broke her left forehoof to get it free from the hole in the floor. “Heed my words, Guardians to the Eyes of Heaven. I call upon your blessing to bring forth those with the destined blood to our world.” Rainbow Dash stiffens herself against the arch, pushing against it with all of her desperate might, cutting her wings in the process, to make more room for her to get out. “Those Phantoms that can conduct the Sunlight within their own Blood, who can use their Tendency to Battle against the forces of darkness and bring prosperity, who Stand Proud in the Platinum Stardust.” Rainbow Dash forces her broken hoof alongside the more stable floor and begins to scrape her way towards Twilight Sparkle, who was now glowing with purple magic throughout her body, creating sparks from the horn stump that was alighting the magic circle in fire. Rainbow could feel the energy that Twilight was using, her life energy. “I require that you bring forth the immortal bloodline that will save us, to bring light to the darkness! Heed me!” Just as Rainbow Dash finally got free, she stumbled towards Twilight. But at that point it was already too late, Dash realized as her vision had tinted everything in the room a shade of purple. The same shade as Twilight’s magic. And just like that, Rainbow Dash’s vision returned, as if nothing happened. At least, until Twilight Sparkle collapsed right in front of her. And she didn’t notice the look of devastation that was on Twilight’s face. “Twilight! No. No. No. No. No. No.” Rainbow Dash rushed over to Twilight’s side, immediately checking for a pulse. Dash could feel one initially but it had faded so quickly that what was happening was obvious. Twilight Sparkle was dying. And another friend was about to die and she didn’t do anything to stop it. Again. Rainbow Dash couldn’t speak, and felt as if she were drowning in her own tears, as she realized that now she was going to be all alone. “Is your friend dying?” Rainbow Dash immediately turned, ready to attack the intruder. But instead she found two of them, standing where the magic circle once was. And they were human, the same that Twilight Sparkle had showed her pictures of, in times past. One was wearing a fancy white dress shirt, with a tied red ribbon attached at the neck, and black dress pants. While the other had his back towards her, and was wearing a large jet black jacket, jet black pants, and slightly less jet black shoes, with the only distinguishing article of clothing would be his hat, which seemed to convert completely naturally into his hair. The fancily dressed one was pointing to Twilight, so Rainbow Dash could tell he had been the one to speak. While she was confronted with the fact that these humans, possibly hostile ones, were summoned instead of Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash only thought that Twilight might’ve died for nothing. With almost a willingness to die herself, Rainbow Dash nodded. The fancily-dressed human’s fists had tightened, to the point where it had been audible. “I may not know how I am not currently dead, and I do not know what exactly is going on.” The human started walking towards the two ponies. “But what I do know is that I’ll be damned before I let anyone die right in front of my eyes!” Rainbow Dash, although skeptical, looked up to the giant. “Can you really save her?” “I can at least try.” The human kneeled before Twilight’s dying body and breathed. “Koooooh.” As the human breathed, an aura appeared around his body, in a form similar to electricity through his limbs, and it almost felt as if he was on fire and yet there was nothing to indicate this being so. And for the first time, the capped human actually took interest in the people in his immediate surroundings. “So you’re just going to save the horse then? No questions?” The other human spoke without even turning to face the people in the room. “If I were to leave her to die, I could no longer call myself a gentleman. And that-” The fancily dressed human stopped talking as soon as he put his massive hand onto Twilight’s side and adopted a face of shock. “I can’t feel her heartbeat! What I planned to do requires her blood to be flowing! Dammit!” Before the human could begin trying to resuscitate Twilight, the sound of the coat swinging signifying the other human turning around caught their attention. As he stood towering over the fancily-dressed human, he asked, “Can you save it if its heart was still working?” “I could help her, at least I believe so, so if-“ The fancily-dressed human was interrupted as the other human shoved him aside. Before either Rainbow Dash or the human could protest, the capped human found himself kneeling before Twilight’s body. “Star Platinum.” Suddenly, from nowhere, every individual in the room saw a large purple-skinned human appear beside the capped human, and he was floating in mid-air. And in the next moment, ‘Star Platinum’ thrust his arm into Twilight’s body. But instead of punching a hole through her, the arm phased seamlessly into Twilight. “Yare yare daze.” The phasing arm moved quickly around, as if looking for something. Even the ex-self-proclaimed fastest mare in Equestria could barely keep up with its movements. And then it stopped. “Horse anatomy is damn difficult.” While no one in the room could see what was happening, Star Platinum’s arm was over Twilight’s heart, and was jolting it so that it would restart. As soon as the capped human got confirmation, he quickly looked over the still knocked over and confused human and yelled, “I got its heart working again, so hurry up and do what you were going to do.” The fancily-dressed human snapped out of his stupor and replaced the capped human’s place beside her body. “Hamon can travel throughout living things, and those that can conduct it can experience miraculous recovery.” The human stared at his pinky, and prayed, “Please help me, Mister Zeppeli.” In the next instant, the human jabbed his pinky straight into Twilight and breathed. “Kooooooh.” As the energy enveloped the two, the air in the room seemed to become pleasant, as if welcoming the return of life to the world. The energy surrounding the fancily-dressed human seemed to be transferring to Twilight in a manner similar to electrical current. And Twilight’s eyes darted open. As Twilight started coughing to regain her own breath, the fancily-dressed human stepped back and motioned to Rainbow Dash that she was okay. And he smiled as Rainbow Dash, for the first time in his eyes, seemed happy. Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to rush to hug Twilight Sparkle, who was starting to get herself standing again. “You’re okay…” Rainbow spoke through her tears. Twilight, despite being in a crushing hug, was too busy looking at her hooves in confusion before looking up to the human, a species she recognized. “You supplemented magic into me…” Twilight stated, feeling the energy course throughout her body, an energy that felt all too similar to Celestia’s own. “Who are you?” Twilight questioned the fancily-dressed giant. The human, in turned, smiled while he spoke, “First, it wasn’t magic, it was Hamon. A mere breathing technique. And I believe that you should probably rest before asking any more questions. But as for my name, it is Jonathan Joestar. Son of George Joestar.” Before Twilight could go against his advice of no more questions, the other human exclaimed, “What?!” Jonathan turned to the other human, asking, “Oh, have you of me or my family before? And what is your name as well?” “Hmph.” The other human clutched at the tip of his cap. “I guess I would be familiar with your family the most.” In one swift motion, the human turned towards the doors of the building and started walking. “As for my name, just call me Kujo.” And with that, Jotaro Kujo stepped into Equestrian soil. Author's Note Something I wrote kind of on a whim. I don't normally post the stuff I write, but some friends encouraged that I could at least give it a try. Wrote this during a mini-writing frenzy, with another Jojo Chapter 1 which can be found: Here. Tell me if there's one that you would rather me focus on. Chapter 2: On the City StreetsI can't keep still~ On the verge of something that no one has seen~ A dangerous nightmare is unfurling here, yeah~ “Weren’t you supposed to be with Spike? Why are you here?!” “I’m not just going to leave my wife to die here. You need to get out of here.” “I stayed to save you! You need to protect Twilight…” Her tears muffled her words. “And now I’m saving you.” The crashes were heard throughout the castle, as crystals started to fall from the walls due to the shockwaves. “Spike has what we went to get. He’s getting the book to Twilight. There’s a passage I made in the hallway behind you to get here. Close it when you pass through it.” “I’m not just going to leave you here!” She was starting to taste the salt from the tears falling from her mouth. She was pushed away towards the hallway doors. “I’m going to at least give you enough time to get away. Goodbye, Cadence.” “Shining, please!” She was stopped by his magic barrier, one of the strongest ones that she has ever felt in her life, showing his determination to do this. “Going by what that book said, don’t worry, this Tartarus isn’t going to last much longer…just wait until your next knight in shining armor appears.” Voices and steps could be hear coming towards the throne room. “Go! Don’t let everything we’ve worked for be in vain! Survive, Cadence!” The barrier exploded in her face, and she was thrown down the hallway. As she could hear Shining’s battlecry, she started running down the passage that Shining Armor had already made in the crystals, making sure to collapse it as she ran, ran from the love of her life. “Everything we worked for is already gone…” Cadence walked through the abandoned back streets of Manehattan. At this time of night, it was dead cold in the city, and the rags that Cadence was wearing did little to protect against the cold. And she had lost her crystal sheen a long time ago, with no way of getting it back as long as she had no control of the Crystal Empire. Ever since the day Shining had died, Cadence had been replaying her last moments with him in vivid detail, as the memory would never stop haunting her. Spotting a vending machine ahead of her, Cadence hoped that she could finally get her first clean drink in a few days. Unfortunately, the lack of glass in the machine had already notified her that the entire supply was likely gone at that point. However, there was something unnatural about the glass shards around. Too many of them were outside of the machine, and if it weren’t for the fact that there were still plenty inside the machine, it could’ve seemed like it was broken from the inside. The placement of the shards seemed almost like the glass had exploded in both directions. Despite the entire situation being odd, it was at this point Cadence realized how meaningless her thought process was, it’s not like the glass was anything important. When she woke from her thoughts however, was when Cadence could hear the distant sound of sobbing. While Cadence could easily go towards the source, it was likely that whoever was crying was likely already doomed. Cadence contemplated for a moment, and decided to at the very least fly over the rooftops towards the source to see if it was even possible for her to help. “Wait until your next knight in shining armor appears.” ‘There’s never going to be another, Shining…’ Cadence thought. As she flew, Cadence secretly hoped that she might at the very least, be able to become another’s. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” A mare approached, sporting a dark blue coat, and a lettuce purple mane. Her yellow pupils pierced through the darkness, to the point where it would intimidate her own subordinates. “Be careful, General Cold Blood! It may have sssome tricks up its sssleeves!” A changeling approached from behind his superior. We shall refer to him as Insignificant Changeling A. Cold Blood chuckled, “What could she do? Trapped like a rat?” Her chuckle quickly evolved into a hearty laugh. The daunting pony even pointed to the mare down the alley, as her eyes narrowed to slits. “The Element of Kindness is easily the least threatening! And I’m sure that the higher-ups wouldn’t mind a bruised product.” Fluttershy had nowhere else to go, she was caught. And that means her friends had saved her life to no avail. As Cold Blood approached, Fluttershy came to a realization. She didn’t want to fight anymore. “Oh, but I do love a two-for-one deal, wouldn’t you say?” Cold Blood asked, malice dripping from her voice. “Wouldn’t you say so, Princess Cadence?” Cold Blood shot a dark bolt straight into the sky, colliding with Cadence, who was flying down towards Cold Blood. As Cadence took the bolt, she crashed straight into the ground, narrowly missing a clothesline, between Cold Blood and Fluttershy, writhing in pain, both as the bolt quickly coursed throughout her body and from the hard impact onto concrete. “Oh I’m sorry, you aren’t exactly a princess anymore, are you? And aren’t you lucky, you didn’t hang on that clothesline like a sad piñata.” Cold Blood taunted. “Cadence?!” Fluttershy cried, as she rushed to her friend’s side. “What are you doing here?” Before Cadence could speak, Cold Blood answered, “Probably some stupid reason, like pony bonds of friendships and lovey-dovey crap.” Cold Blood smiled a grin so thick, her teeth could almost be pointed, and asked, “Oh, that reminds, where’s the mister, missus fallen princess?” “Bastard!” Cadence beamed in anger at the mention of her husband, and tried charging at Cold Blood. But instead, was knocked back to the ground with a heavy hoof. Cold Blood pouted, “How sad is it that a princess can be beaten so easily, why didn’t I decide to rebel sooner?” Cadence thought to herself, ‘You wouldn’t have done anything back then… but something changed… and I still don’t know what that is… and I don’t think I will.’ Cadence winced as Cold Blood kicked her again, causing her to cough out blood. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this. Do you fellas want in on this?” Cold Blood turned to call to her two changelings subordinates. When she finished speaking, Cold Blood noticed that the changelings’ ears twitched. Realizing what that meant, Cold Blood turned back but the only movements that her playthings took was Fluttershy trying to help Cadence back to her hooves. “Oh, ew! What the crap?! Giant bugs! Shoo!” A male voice came from behind her. Cold Blood turned her head, swearing she would a neck cramp at this rate, to see a massive creature standing at the entrance to the alley, his shadow against the street lamp engulfing her surbordinates. He stood upon two legs, with his spiky brown hair slightly parted towards his right. Concerning his apparel, his green and yellow scarf was tucked neatly over his olive green shirt and scarlet jacket. And his navy blue pants was covering most of his brown sneakers, with the tips of his jeans slightly coated in mud. “Ssstay where-“ Insignificant Changeling A stated. “Oh my god! It spoke! The bug spoke?! But why the heck are you hissing?! You’re not a snake! You’re a bug! Did you get you species mixed up? I don’t think bugs hiss.” The creature assaulted the poor Insignificant Changeling A with words. “The creature is annoying me. Hiss.” Insignificant Changeling B spoke, ending with a hiss. Yes, there are two of them. “I'm the creature?! Take a look in the mirror, moron. Oh, and you do hiss. Wait, I feel like you did that on purpose. Do you hiss?” The creature pointed an appendage at Insignificant Changeling A. “Hiss.” “Okay, I get that you hiss, Bug Number 1. But I was clearly pointing at Bug Number 2.” “Why am I Bug Number 2? I spoke to you firssst.” “Bug Number 1 is Bug Number 1 because he talked to me first. She?” The creature looked to Insignificant Changeling B for confirmation. Getting a nod, the creature continued, “She talked to me first, you just yelled at me.” “But-“ Insignificant Changeling A started. “Enough! Just attack him!” Cold Blood ordered. The duo of Insignificant Changelings looked at one another before preparing for battle. “Oh, but I felt like I actually bonded with bugs! And I really wouldn’t do that if I were you. I really wouldn’t.” The creature pointed an appendage next to his chest upwards as he talked. Ignoring the creature’s advice, both of the Insignificant Changelings lunged at him. “Rawr!” battle-cried Insignificant Changeling B as she pounced. “My name is Apollo!” said Insignificant Changeling A as he pounced. “Well, I did warn you.” The creature spoke, as Insignificant Changeling A and B both simultaneously hit something that seemed invisible. But instead of slumping to the ground, the changelings were entangle in mid-air. “Didn’t you see the string? It was there the entire time.” The creature’s smile turned into a more serious expression as he started audibly breathing. “Kooooh.” The creature then launched one of its legs straight into Insignificant Changeling B, angled so he would also carry Insignificant Changeling A with her. The force of the kick launched them straight across the Manehattan street, as they both hit a lamppost with enough force to bend it. “I’m still calling you Bug Number 2!” The creature called out as the two Insignificant Changelings flew. General Cold Blood sighed, “Can’t even handle a lower priority target…what’s the point in underlings?” The creature pointed straight at Cold Blood, “Did you seriously just call low priority? Seriously?!” The creature cracked his knuckles, trying to look menacingly as he proceeded to crack his wrists as well, “I’ll show you low priority, dammit!” “Oh, I was hoping-GAH!” Cold Blood flinched as a rubber band rebounded off of her face. “Did you just shoot a rubber band at me?!” “No.” The creature answered, although his hands were still in the position for doing just so. “I flung it at you. There’s a difference, Queen Horsington.” “What did you just call me.” Cold Blood’s eye twitched in anger. “Queen Horsington, y’know? Because you look like something a little girl would think up. But little girls would think of being princesses and you clearly seem a bit older so I went with queen. And the Horsington is just there to sound demeaning.” The creature rambled. Cold Blood could feel one of her veins pop at that absolutely pointless explanation. Cold Blood closed her eyes to use her hoof to pinch her forehead, before preparing to speak. “The next thing you’re going to say is, “This is exactly why you’re low priority.” Isn’t that right?” “This is exactly why you’re low priority. Huh?!” Cold Blood’s eyes shot open, just to see a metal trash can flying towards her, with the inside hole facing towards her. When the trash can covered her head, Cold Blood could feel the creature knocking on both sides of the container. Oddly enough, as he did so, the interior of the trash can seemed to light up for whatever reason. “Ding Dong, Low Priority is at the door! Shall we open the royal gates for him, Queen Horsington?!” Cold Blood had never been quite so mocked in her life, so naturally, this caused her to fly into a rage. She levitated the trash can using her magic, smirking as the creature jumped back with two of his hand plastered on his face in surprise. “Oh, you’ve never seen magic before? I guess this will be your first and last!” Cold Blood threw the trash can back at the creature. Unfortunately for her, the creature smiled back, and quickly uppercutted the trash can straight upwards. “You know, I just realized how oddly devoid of trash that thing was, do you horsies not have any trash around?” “We’re ponies.” Cold Blood simply stated before throwing out several arcs of dark magic bolts. The creature couldn’t move quick enough to dodge all of them, and grunted as he took the impact from one of the bolts he couldn’t dodge. Yet, he still stood perfectly fine as if the direct hit was merely a graze. “So ponies are really clean or something? So why do you have clothesline around? Not only can I not picture you in clothes but someone, like you, might really get hurt.” Cold Blood looked upwards to see what he meant, guarding her front in case it was a feint. That guard was quickly gone as her jaw dropped as the trash can from earlier completed its final rotation around the clothesline, losing the last bit of energy it had. And it plopped its interior right onto Cold Blood. Cold Blood could feel the creature knocking at both sides of the trash can again, creating the curious lighting phenomenon again. “Ding Dong! Have you ever had that sense of de ja vu?” As Cold Blood enveloped the trash can with magic again, the instant she did so, the creature said, “And Queen Horsington, when you take out the trash…” Cold Blood lifted the trash can off her head again, only to see the creature holding a trash can lid. That was coming straight for her face. “…you need to put a lid on it!” The collision from the lid knocked back Cold Blood. However, the rate at which she regained her stance astounded even the creature. And in his surprise, Cold Blood lunged and knocked him to the ground. Cold Blood hit him twice in his smug face, while taunting, “Not so smart when you’re on the floor, huh?!” But the creature stopped the third strike, and held the pony street fighter’s hoof from coming down again using his left hand. The creature proceeded to point his right hand’s wrist towards Cold Blood’s face. “Not to mention, I’ve always got an ace up my sleeve!” Cold Blood quickly took a hold of the creature’s arm and pointed it straight to his giant chest. “The next thing you’re going to say is, “Go ahead and try it, idiot!” “Go ahead and try it, idiot! WHAT?!” Cold Blood exclaimed as she got read again. “I wasn’t talking about that sleeve, dumbass! Classic misdirect!” The creature pointed his left wrist at Cold Blood’s face, putting the mare off-balance as he was still holding her right hoof. In the next moment, a bunch of cards sprouted from his wrists with enough force to knock away Cold Blood. Before she could retaliate, the creature quickly grabbed a card out of the air, and somehow connected it to three other cards in the air he touched with the initial card, creating a small stick with the four cards. As Cold Blood leaped to knock him back to the ground, the creature swung the card-sword at her. Since Cold Blood thought the playing cards couldn’t do enough to stop her, despite her street-fighting prowess, she only minimally braced for impact. Which turned out to be a mistake. The charged cards slammed straight into her side, launching her straight into the wall of the narrow alleyway. Before she lost consciousness, the creature kneeled in front of her to show the four cards that he used to hit her. Which pissed her off even more. There were four damn aces. “In fact, I’ve got four!” The creature remarked before Cold Blood lost all consciousness. “Jeez, what an idiot. How hot-blooded can you be? I'm glad I had put those cards in earlier, but there goes the anniversary surprise.” The creature sighed as he stood back up. All of a sudden, a look of realization came upon is face. He quickly looked back to the bent lamppost, only to find that the two Insignificant Changelings had already retreated. “Oh no! I forgot to ask for directions!” Looking around, so that he didn’t seem like a completely oblivious protagonist, the creature noticed Cadence and Fluttershy, hurt but somewhat enjoying the spectacle. Like how it feels good when the bullies get in trouble for bullying. “Umm, do you know where I am? It looks like New York, but all the doors are too damn small, and all the taxis look like carriages.” The creature approached the mares, clearly knowing that the two weren’t with Bug Numbers 1 and 2 or Queen Horseything…or was it Van Horsing? Crap, he didn’t remember his demeaning nickname. Thinking that Cadence wasn’t in much condition to be talking, Fluttershy attempted to say something to their savior, emphasis on attempted. “Uhhhh….M-m-m-m” “Manehattan, Fourth District.” Cadence coughed out. “Manehattan? Don’t you mean Manhattan?” Looking at the confused faces of Cadence and Fluttershy, the creature held his hands against the sides of his head in exasperation. “What the heck then?! Wait… oh goddammit! It’s a stupid horse pun! Did the people who come up with it too lazy to think of something original?!” The creature blinked twice. “I just realized you two were here the entire time…” He looked back towards the unconscious body of ~~Queen Horsington~~ Cold Blood, and looked back at the injured forms of Cadence and Fluttershy. “Is this like colorist attacks or something? I don’t really get what’s going here. But…uhh…oh, I got these drinks in a vending machine that I bro- bought from!” The creature took out a couple of canned sodas, before saying, “I think it’s soda, but they’re in cans instead of bottles…which is unfortunate for my bottlecap collection, I bet they can become worth a lot in the future!” Handing over two sodas to the ponies, the creature was about to open his before stating, “I really wish I knew what the hell was going right about-GRBRLGRBRL!” He was interrupted as the soda sprayed all over his face and chest, soaking his clothes. “Ohh, that’s cold!” Taking precautions with their own, Cadence and Fluttershy opened the sodas, and began drinking, relaxing at one of the few breaks they’ve had over the past couple of days. “Uhh, I’ll just wait over there…I want to do something.” Taking out a permanent marker, the creature walked over the unconscious body of Cold Blood. He then proceeded to draw all over her face. “Oh, my name is Cadence, by the way, and this is-“ Cadence stopped before realizing it might be kind of rude to give somepony else’s name to a mysterious stranger. Fluttershy smiled and quietly continued the introductions, “Fluttershy.” “My name is Joseph Joestar. But my friends call me Jojo. And I think we’re friends now, I think.” Joseph scratched the back of his head in confusion, before cracking a toothy grin towards the two mares. The lamppost at the other end of the street started flickering, prompting Joseph to turn and look, and as the light bounced off of his wet clothing, Cadence noticed something. His clothes were shining. Chapter 3: The Manehattan ScenesJoseph was looking around the café, waiting for Suzie Q to come back to the bathroom so that they could call a waitress over for their order. Suzie would probably pester him to get some breakfast in the morning but all he really needed some coffee in his system, today being a tiny bit special as he normally prefers cola. Sighing, he took out an old photo showing Caesar, Lisa Lisa, and himself posing over a ridge right before they were about to take their final Hamon test. ‘Those were good times…even if training was annoying as crap.’ Joseph thought to himself. Looking outside the café window to the busy streets of New York, Joseph took a moment to breathe in the less polluted air of the small corner café. ‘I wonder why no one even cares about that whole tommy gun incident a while back…I doubt I can go back to that cafe ever again…if they ever fixed the exploded mess I left it in.’ Joseph thought to himself. And then Joseph noticed someone that he thought he shouldn’t ever be able to see again on the other side of the street. Walking around with blond hair with his damn wingtips and blue clothes. Joseph quickly got up, garnering the attention of the people in the café, before he rushed out the door. “Jojo?” He could hear Suzie Q call him right before he walked out. “Uhh…I’ll just be a quick minute! I think I saw someone I owe a favor to.” Joseph turned to explain to Suzie Q, before he started running after the impossible phantom. As he rushed across the street, against the horde of people, Joseph spot the silver wingtips of his old friend duck into the alley ahead of him. Running past more bystanders, some crying out in annoyance or anger, Joseph reached the barren alleyway, walking until he stopped in the cross intersection within. ‘Was this always here? Why would there be space here? The buildings should be taking up as the very space I'm standing in.' Jojo thought as he made a turn down the mystifying empty space. “Bubble Cutter!” Joseph heard from behind him. Turning around, he sees an onslaught of bubbles coming towards him. “Bubble Barrier!” Joseph heard from behind him again. Turning around to see a giant bubble coming towards him, Joseph holds up his guard and closes his eyes. And he could’ve sworn he saw purple for some reason. “CAESAR!” Joseph yells, waiting for the bubbles to hit him. But they never do. Eventually, Joseph opens his eyes to find himself in the same alley, with no addition of Hamon-charged bubbles. “What the hell?” Joseph looks around to his new surroundings, with the only noticeable landmark being a vending machine to his immediate left. But what concerned Jojo the most was how breakfast morning became the dead of night. “Where am I?” “I need coffee.” Joseph yawned, as he walked down the empty back streets of Manehattan. “Were you even listening to what I was saying, Jojo?!” Cadence asked annoyingly, as she trotted beside him. “I’m sure he was, Cadence…right Mister Jojo?” Fluttershy asked in such a sweet voice that Joseph had no choice but to cringe. “Uhh…no.” Joseph looked down towards the ground, kicking away a small pebble as he walked. Fluttershy looked away in disappointment, and Cadence just proceeded to glare at him, prompting Jojo to at lest try and say something. “Uhh…basically, heroes beat the bad guys. Bad guys come back with more strength and seem almost invincible. They kill a whole bunch of peop- ponies including the godly one that moves the sun around. Moon one is who knows where. Bad guys take over your kingdom, and Flutter’s town. And everything goes to shit. Right? Yeah? Yeah.” Cadence sighed, “…Close enough. Say, what magic did you use earlier anyways?” “I just stuffed cards in my sleeve. It's not too hard to shoot them out, especially with practice." Jojo explained holding up his index finger, assuming Cadence had meant the sleight-of-hand he showed earlier. Cadence rolled her eyes in annoyance. “No, I mean the electricity stuff that let that trash bin fly!” “What? Alright, first, it wasn’t flying, it was only revolving around the clothesline. And it stopped moving because there wasn’t any Hamon left in it since I didn’t keep in contact.” “Hamon? What’s that supposed to be?” Cadence questioned. “Oh, well… basically, it’s breathing. In like, a weird way. It can interact with stuff in weird ways, but it’s mainly an anti-vampire technique.” Joseph explained. “It lets me do things like this.” Joseph stepped onto a puddle, and walked on the water’s surface. As Cadence marveled at what she still believed to be magic, Fluttershy asked, “Vampires? You mean, like the foals’ tales? Or the really mean way of saying bat-ponies?” “Wait, there are bat-ponies, too? And not the masked and caped detective kind?” Joseph blinked rapidly as he processed the new information. Before continuing his explanation and after his recovery, Joseph looked around the next corner, primarily to see if he could find any coffee shops. “Anyway, vampires as in the evil bastards that like killing people and sucking their blood.” “Oh…so you're somepony actually fight those, huh?” Cadence took a moment to process the new information. “So, how does Hamon hurt them?” “Well, it burns their insides and they essentially disintegrate. That’s because the whole sunlight weakness of vampires, Hamon emits the same waves as waves of sunlight, and some other nonsense that I didn’t pay attention to during training.” Joseph explained, stopping his strut as he looked back to Cadence who had taken a moment to ponder his words. Looking up, Cadence began speaking, “Wait, did you say sunlight?” “Yeah, why? Hey, hey!” Joseph cried as Cadence used her magic to hold his arm and pull him with her. “I’m not a pony by the way! Don’t call me a somepony! Where are we going?” Joseph looked to Fluttershy, who seemed similarly confused. Sighing, Joseph looks back at Cadence for her answer. “We were going to get out of the city. But now, I think we're gonna try and take it back.” Joseph and Fluttershy exchanged glances before continuing walking. As Cadence dragged Joseph further down, she didn’t notice the presence the ones following them on the rooftops. “Oh ho? Princess Cadence got herself new friend, did she?” A small rat wiggled its way onto the rooftop, presumably to look for any food, as it spotted one of those that stood upon the roof. As ponies had often granted the rat food earlier, the rat approached them, hopeful for a meal. “But even her new pet could never see us coming…” But as the air around the rat attained a new aura that induced fear into it, the rat hesitated. The small rat then witnessed the two beings vanish within an instant, scurrying away partially in sadness, but mostly in fear. Cold Blood was getting more progressively annoyed, as the darkness continued to giggle at her. At one point, her frustration got the better of her and she spoke out of turn, “This really isn’t a laughing matter.” Cold Blood scowled. The darkness’s laugh became roaring loud in response, as its voice echoed, “While I apologize for being unable to control my vessel…” Noises of steps being taken towards Cold Blood caused her to freeze in absolute fright. “This most certainly is a laughing matter.” As breath trickled onto the top of Cold Blood’s head, she dared not to look up, and continued to focus her gaze straight down into the ground. Cold Blood felt fear run throughout her body as a hoof touched the side of her face to reveal Cold Blood’s cheeks to be clearer for the hoof’s owner. Cold Blood could hear snickering, as the other party proceeded to turn Cold Blood’s head so the other cheek was facing them. And then they repeated the words that were humiliatingly written on Cold Blood’s face in permanent marker. “’I am a pony, fear me’. And ‘I like pretty flowers.’” The other party traced with their hoof over the crudely drawn picture of a sunflower, one that looks like it could’ve been drawn by a very young foal. Cold Blood could almost see Death himself as the other party leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You disappoint me.” Before Cold Blood could try and argue, the other party’s presence quickly retreated and their voice continued, “But I suppose I am curious about the creature for now…” Cold Blood could feel relief rushing through her. “And I do want a new test subject.” Cold Blood finally took a moment to look straight into the darkness, catching a glint of something. “Test subject? For what?” A very simple bow clattered onto the floor. However, what drew Cold Blood’s attention was the ornamented arrow that fell alongside it. Looking back into the darkness, the voice asked, “Miss Cold Blood, would you like to have a Stand?” Author's Note Shorter chapter this time around. I've got a whole bunch of finals right 'bout now, and I've been procrastinating college applications... Need to get on that. Anyways, enjoy, if you want to anyway. Chapter 4: A Summoning and a ResurrectionIt has been three months since the defeat of DIO. Holly Joestar is completely fine and is now back to pestering Jotaro once again. Life has gone back to normal, and Jotaro is once again attending two or three classes each week. As one of the days he actually participates in school, teachers being unable to reject him due to the influence of the Speedwagon Foundation, Jotaro is currently walking down the same stairs where he had his first encounter with an enemy-turned-friend, Noriaki Kakyoin. And he’s not alone…much to his annoyance. “Jojo, you have to be careful! Why don’t you hold onto my arm for safe keeping?” said Annoying Girl. As usual, Jotaro completely ignores the question and continues walking, letting the argument unfold behind him. “Hold your arm?! Why would Jojo need to do that?! He’s perfectly fine on his own! And if anything it should be my arm!” yelled Bothersome Girl to Annoying Girl. “Ugh, what?! No! Don’t you remember when Jojo fell down the stairs a while ago! It’s like right before he stopped showing up to school at all!” Annoying Girl annoyingly explained loudly. “Oh, when we met that Kakyoin guy, right! I saw him earlier today! I guess he transferred pretty-“ Bothersome Girl was unable to continue as Jojo immediately grabbed her shoulder, much to the surprise and chagrin to the other six or so girls that were following him. “Where.” Jotaro asked, his tone sounding more serious than any of the girls had ever heard him speak in before. And they would know, they stalked him. “B-back at the park! Cherry Tree!” Jotaro broke into a run, climbing the stairs, skipping five steps with each individual stride. ‘Is it a Stand?’ Jotaro thought to himself. As Jotaro ran, everyone, and even everything, seemed to reel back away from Jotaro as he ran on the sidewalk. Jotaro did have an infamous reputation around the town, but most people still knew that he didn’t bother anyone that don’t piss him off. Even a delinquent with a very bad haircut tried to run away, scared Jotaro was coming for him since he had been just harassing a girl from his school, left behind from the stalker train. (Note: she followed the stalker train not because she wanted to know Jotaro, but it was surprisingly a very good defense from any harassment.) Although Jotaro could care less at the moment, he quickly clocked the delinquent since he was almost at the park anyway, much to the relief of the unfortunate girl. As he came upon Cherry Tree Park, Jotaro slowed his pace. Using Star Platinum’s enhanced senses, Jotaro carefully swept the area. As he strode into the middle of the park, empty save for a few squirrels darting up a nearby tree trunk, Jotaro thought to himself, ‘Did he move on? Or was he not even here in the first place.’ But then Jotaro could feel a presence behind him. One that felt like the moment he turned around, Jotaro would be attacked with an intention to kill. In the next second, Jotaro took initiative and called out Star Platinum. When he turned around however, there was nothing but heavy mist that quickly surrounded his immediate area, tinting his vision in purple. Unsure of what was happening, Jotaro could only prepare for any possible attacks from any direction, ready to drive Star Platinum’s fists into whatever appeared. But as the mist settled, Jotaro’s fists clenched as the small park he was just in transformed into a rustic building, doors crumbled at the feet of the opening. And then he heard a voice. “Is your friend dying?” ‘Yare yare daze.’ Jotaro thought as he took in the scenery. An old western town that was seemingly destroyed by something or possibly someone was all Jotaro could see with all signs pointing to any life that may have previously been here had abandoned it. Jotaro could hear Jonathan and the purple horse talking behind him, and while he was curious, Jotaro couldn’t bother himself enough to ask and instead decided rely on his own instincts for answers. However, not everyone agreed with that same sentiment as Jotaro could hear a voice that was slightly elevated to his head and beside him ask, “So where’d that purple guy go?” Jotaro shifted his eyes, not bothering to turn his neck to see the rainbow-haired horse from earlier flying beside him. ‘So it can fly, huh? And speak perfect English...it's gonna be a pain not to speak Japanese then. Great, guess I somehow managed to get myself into more trouble…’ “Why do I need to tell you anything?” Jotaro replied. “Wow, rude much?” Rainbow Dash said, taken aback to the brashness of his answer. “Your friend over there’s being more open, you know? But he’s got Twilight in geek mode since he said he was studying to become an archeologist or somethin’. I came over here since I didn’t really get what they were saying after they started interpreting the spell or whatever.” “You talk a lot.” Jotaro stated. “And what would make you assume I’m even friends with the other guy?” Rainbow Dash blinked before taking a quick glance back at Jonathan. He was currently engaging in answering Twilight’s boundless questions about how Hamon energy works, while exchanging questions as to how Equestria as a whole operates. “Well, you look alike, I guess. And you guys came together, right?” “Are you an idiot?” Jotaro said with the same monotone voice, making it feel more like a statement. “Since when does looking alike mean friendship? Ever. I haven’t even met him before in my life, either.” ‘Wow this Kujo guy is an ass. But I guess I still owe him for helping out Twilight…’ Rainbow Dash thought as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “What?!” Jotaro and Rainbow Dash turned back only to see Twilight wide-mouthed. And then proceed to poke Jonathan. “Are you really dead?” Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash, curious about the conversation started to make her way over. Jotaro, however, could already infer what happened to Jonathan and instead decided to take a walk around the town, for no particular reason other than to get away from any bothersome questions that may later be directed at him. “Well, the last memories I have are of my death, so I believe so.” “You seem calm about that.” Rainbow Dash said. Jonathan let out a small chuckle, “Yes, I suppose so. But when you’re about to die, I guess you come to terms with everything that has happened in your life. I’m more curious as to how I’m not dead right now.” Jonathan clutched his hand, feeling the circulation of blood through his entire arm. Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged disbelieving glances. They both thought that Jonathan almost radiated life itself, not death. They wouldn’t even be surprised if flowers sprung up along where he walked, despite the fact that they only just met the man. “But I suppose that would be why the spell mentioned a resurrection. But I am assuming from our reactions that I wasn’t exactly the one you were hoping for, correct?” Jonathan asked. Twilight couldn’t help but be caught off-guard. She messed up Jonathan’s life, or rather, death, and it wasn’t even planned. “Uhh, that’s right.” Twilight confessed. “But if Hamon is the same energy that you describe than you could still help us!” Twilight blinked before realizing that she was already assuming that Jonathan was going to help them at all. Jonathan didn’t need to do anything, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he would rather enjoy being alive once more. “I was planning to do so from the start, you needn’t worry.” Jonathan smiled, noticing the look of worry that was on her face. “Although I must admit, it feels odd to talk to a species that I’ve never heard talk before. And if you wouldn’t mind my asking, is the small appendage on your forehead meant to be in that state?” “Err, no. It isn’t, I lost it a while ago…” Jonathan sighed, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do anything for it, in any case. From what I’ve heard, Hamon is able to recover gangrenous limbs but I supposed removed ones altogether may be too much.” Twilight couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed in herself. She, in essence, had sacrificed herself somewhat thoughtlessly, and brought Jonathan back to life when he seems as if he was at peace with his death. While she couldn’t help but be elated at a new ally, asking him to fight felt wrong even if Jonathan was ready and willing to do so. And the moment where Jonathan had to fight was also right around the corner. “Oi, we have company. You know them?” Jotaro called out from outside. Standing in the center of the dusty street, Jotaro could see small black specks in the distance. “Oh, crap. I forgot all about them. We need to go, come on!” Rainbow Dash yelled out, already starting to pack up the spare belongings. “I must apologize, but I will not run.” Jonathan said. “If they are responsible for the suffering done to this world, I cannot forgive them.” “And besides, I was starting to get pissed off.” Jotaro added. “But-“ Rainbow Dash started before Jonathan looked back at her. His fiercely determined eyes immediately silenced her resistance. Rainbow Dash sighed, “Well, alright, but I’m helping.” But instead of joining Jonathan and Kujo, Dash flew over to Twilight, “And I think you might want to as well. I hope that Hamon stuff is still in you.” “Well, yes, but why?” Twilight asked. Instead of saying anything, Rainbow Dash instead took out something from her bag and showed it to Twilight. “I kinda kept it just in case. Although I’m not sure this is gonna work.” Rainbow Dash, in her hoof, held Twilight’s horn. Author's Note Sorry for the lack of updates recently, as I mentioned I've been mainly working on college applications for a while. However, the deadlines are coming up and they should clear up around Jan 15. Again, the chapter is kinda slow right now, but I'm planning back-to-back fight chapters for a bit from here on. Chapter 5: Stacked OddsHer vision was blurred. She could feel Hamon rippling (heh) throughout her whole body. The bright lights that blanketed her limited vision was quickly dashed away as a figure blocked out the sunlight. Dizzy with the thought that these may be her final moments, she felt as her life quickly flashed before her. She couldn’t help but wonder… how did she get here? And then Chrysalis realized that she knew absolutely nothing. That’s why as your faithful narrator, I will tell you what happened before these not-so-precious moments! Starting from the end of the last chapter… “Oh? What’s this? Did you two transmogrify yourselves into a different species? With those stupid princess amulets? You’re fools if you didn’t realize we can sense the magic that they soak up, Twilight.” Chrysalis stated, facing the space between Jonathan and Jotaro. ‘Wait, does she believe us to be the two ponies? I suppose the rules of magic can be quite flexible…’ Jonathan thought to himself before his musings were interrupted. “Really? Well, I suppose you are a fool, considering you’re addressing Twilight and looking at the space between the two of us. What? Or can’t you tell the kind of magic we’re using?” Jotaro stated. “Yare yare daze, I shouldn’t a bug like you to be that smart, I guess.” “I agree. My friend here does raise a valid point that makes me personally wonder where your head has gone.” Jonathan added. Chrysalis, while enraged, decided not to lower herself into the obvious provocation. Instead, she held herself with a cool exterior. “Can you both honestly be so bold? I’ve brought almost half of my hive with me, ready to extinguish both of your lives!” When she talked about half of her hive, Chrysalis was already aware of how massive it was. At least two hundred of her soldier blanketed the skies above Appleloosa, and five of her trusted elites stood behind her, their black chitin scratching the dust beneath them. “What a f*cking pain. Then try it.” Jotaro met Chrysalis’s gaze with his own penetrating steel eyes. One instant happened. Two things happened. First, Chrysalis had been building up her magical reserves and let loose a shining green magical beam straight at Jotaro. However, it was the second thing that held the interest of Chrysalis. One of the elites behind her voiced his confusion and posed a thought. “Wait, didn’t Nightmare send a report that she broke Twilight’s horn?” Chrysalis’s eyes widened in the next instant. She held in her thoughts as two things happened. First, she recognized that the beings in front of her were likely not Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Second, she stood, bewildered as Jotaro vanished. If perhaps, the beam was aimed at his feet and kicked up dust, then the capped human might be dead. But she aimed straight at his chest, but with no traces, her target just vanished. Where could he have gone? I’m sure all of you readers already know. “I was right. You really are stupid, aren’t you?” In the next instant, Chrysalis could feel the shock hit her all at once. Somehow, between two instants, Jotaro was behind her. However, that sudden realization wasn’t the shock. The shock was the twenty or so impacts that were currently on her torso and abdomen. She barely had time to register her pain before she could turn her head to see the back of one Jotaro Kujo. And then she was sent flying. And not of her own accord. And it was in that instant, that the fight was no longer in instants. “Queen!” The elites all yelled as Chrysalis crashed into a purple barrier, the same that around twenty of her changelings were blocked by to try and catch their queen. The impact let her see one smug-looking Twilight Sparkle walk out of a building with her horn emblazoned with her accompanying purple-colored magic. Her damn horn. Now, another question that may arise is that why were only twenty changelings ready to help Chrysalis and were attacking the barrier when the fact was there were two hundred or so flying above Twilight’s barrier. That answer is simple. There was currently a phenomena cutting through them, ravaging through the changeling ranks. And it was very colorful. “Ah, whoops. Guess that might’ve been a dead giveaway to where we are.” Rainbow Dash said, looking back as her Sonic Rainbow had an additional color added to its edge. Black. Back on the ground, three of the five elites lunged at Jotaro whilst the other two awkwardly pointed at him and said in disharmony, “Get him!” Jotaro took a moment of thought before swinging his left arm and with no other word for it, whacked the changelings back. With no damage seemingly taken. One of the changelings said what they all thought. “That didn’t hurt.” They could feel their smirks reach their cheeks as Chrysalis herself flew back that down, right behind Jotaro. Despite what her changelings thought, Chrysalis was in tremendous pain. She only decided against showing it. But before she could attack Jotaro, a strong voice resounded behind her once more. “I must apologize. But I’m your opponent for this brawl.” Jonathan said, readying himself as Chrysalis turned around. For Jotaro, this entire fight was relatively easy. And obviously a pain. Why? Even though his strike dealt no damage? It was because he simply thought one thing. He needed to hit harder. Jotaro, taking his own initiative, took a step straight into the space in front of one of the idiotic yelling generals before sending him straight into the ground with Star Platinum’s fist. With enough force to make a crater where one changeling named Boser Lug stood. It made a fitting grave. The other idiot changeling that decided to yell, this one actually named Dolu Yell, leaped at Jotaro’s head with a hoof, mouth agape to let out a menacing hiss. He was the only one quick enough to recover from the shock. Or perhaps too stupid to realize what happened, since it was definitely stupid. “Have a nice flight.” Jotaro said before Star Platinum’s fist collided with Dolu’s chin, shutting him up and sending him flying straight up and straight through Twilight’s barrier, leaving a changeling-sized hole in it. However, Dolu’s flight had not ended there! No! It was a connecting flight! Dolu, flight path readjusted by Twilight’s barrier was sent hurdling far into the distance, was being carried so quickly by momentum that if he had more color variety, he would have had his own Sonic *Insert Arbitrary Shortening of a Color Scheme Here*Boom! His body narrowly avoiding a direct collision with Rainbow Dash, causing her to yell down towards Jotaro angrily. “Hey, watch it!” “And don’t break my barrier!” Twilight yelled out, still fatigued from the recent reattachment of her horn. Spotting the twenty or so changelings that crowded around the hole for the opening, Twilight called out, “They’re breaking in!” The three smarter changelings, who for reminder are the elites, could only watch in fear and inwardly panic. And one of those unfortunate souls were grabbed by Star Platinum. But instead of getting punching him in the face as usual, Jotaro threw him straight towards the gap in the barrier, the elite changeling’s body carrying the other twenty along as they tried to join Dolu Yell’s flight themselves. “Heh, what a pain. He was such a weakling.” Jotaro stared towards his right, curious as he saw himself in a gloating posture, and delivered that crappy line you just read. And then he looked to his left, where another Jotaro Kujo stood. This one had the color of his shirt wrong. “Yare yare. Shapeshifting? Seriously? You’re both idiots if you think you can confuse Star Platinum with a stupid parlor trick.” “Star Finger!” Star Platinum’s fingers extended tremendously where Jotaro swung them as if they were a sword, launching the wrong color shirt Jotaro into a building. And out the other side. “Do you understand?” Jotaro slowly turned, his eyes shadowed over by his hat. Fake-Jotaro could feel sweat dripping down with droplets flying as he flinched back when Jotaro pointed towards him. “And if you really want to be Jotaro Kujo…” “Then try reincarnation.” “ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!” Star Platinum cried as it took its time rupturing Fake-Jotaro’s organs and causing massive internal bleeding. Being unable to maintain the form, the elite changeling was sent flying down the street, past a small door that Twilight made as to not feel her magical construct take damage again. Looking upwards, Jotaro could see a rainbow streak darting around the remaining changelings. Seeing that there was barely a few left, Jotaro picked up a small pebble at his feet. As Rainbow Dash approached the small hole in the magical barrier that he made, Jotaro took the effort to jump. Feeling wind behind her, Rainbow Dash turned to see Jotaro standing atop Twilight’s barrier. ‘Wait, did he just jump, like, four stories?!’ Incidentally, the number four is taboo in Korean. Why? Because it can also mean death. Jotaro, using Star Platinum’s strength, threw the pebble at the remaining changelings, who grouped up to feel the power with numbers. That pebble lodged itself into a skull of changeling, before bouncing off and knocking another one unconscious, their bodies slowly sliding down the spherical barrier. A single glare was all it took for the remaining number to flee. “You know, I totally had that covered right?” Rainbow Dash motioned with her hoof. Rather than answering, Jotaro jumped straight back down as the barrier began to dissolve. ‘Yup, still rude.’ Rainbow Dash thought before diving back towards the ground herself. “Jonathan Joestar.” “What?” Chrysalis spat. “It is mere courtesy to give one’s name before a duel such as this. But I suppose I am from a distant culture…” Jonathan said, mentally preparing himself for battle. “Oh, Jonathan! Do you need this? It was over here!” Twilight poked her head out of the sheriff’s building, levitating an artifact over her head. Jonathan, taking great care to not let Chrysalis gain an unexpected advantage, took a quick glance towards Twilight, not turning his head at all despite the fact that she was behind him. After his surprise wore down, Jonathan shot his arm out to motion throwing the sheathed item over. As the object flew over, Chrysalis decided to take action and intercept the sword with her own magic. Unfortunately, this meant that her focus was no longer on Jonathan for a few precious moments, and that Chrysalis was unaware at how much distance Jonathan gained. “Zoom Punch!” Jonathan shot out his arm, dislocating his own shoulder to let the attack gain distance. Chrysalis barely managed to get a shield covering her face before she was blown back by the Hamon-infused punch. As she regained her footing, Chrysalis watched as the scabbard she intercepted lost the magic surrounding it and Jonathan waited it to fall straight into his hand. Pulling the sword from its sheath, revealing a magnificent sheen, Jonathan thumbed over the handle where a word was engraved, with a single letter written across the handle in blood. 「The Sword of Luck and Pluck」 Holstering the scabbard at his waist, Jonathan pulled the sword towards his body, filling it with enough Hamon to produce an aura of fire around it, and silently charged towards Chrysalis. As Jonathan took a short hop to take a downward swing Chrysalis, his sword clashed with her horn, which was enveloped in her own magic to strengthen it. As they both held their ground, Jonathan began to realize that magic was coming from the horn, seemingly draining him of…something. Jumping back to quickly inspect himself, Jonathan thought to himself, ‘S-she drained something…is she a kind of vampire? No, my blood is still in circulation but I-I can still feel something missing.’ A bright light enveloped Chrysalis, and green fire appeared to block Jonathan’s vision even more so as he took a hand to cover his eyes from the glare. When Jonathan looked back, he could feel his grip on the sword waver. Because there stood Erina Pendleton. “E-Erina?!” Jonathan called out. But before he could say anything else, a purple beam shot over his shoulder before ‘Erina’ quickly swiped it aside. “Changelings can turn themselves into other ponies.” Twilight explained as she walked herself beside Jonathan. Trembling a little as a small group of changelings attacked the barrier, Twilight found herself being steadied by Jonathan. “In that case…” Jonathan readied「The Sword of Luck and Pluck」. Chrysalis could feel Jonathan’s cold gaze piercing through her. “Then I will not be fooled by a coward who hides behind another’s face.” “Tch, and here I was hoping you would hold back against the one you love. But those eyes tell me otherwise. So I suppose I must resort to killing you outright.” Chrysalis said as her figure began to become invisible. “Stay away, Twilight. Take caution.” Jonathan gestured a hand backwards as he began to make his walk towards to where Chrysalis previously stood. Suddenly, Jonathan could feel his shoulder being stabbed, blood spurting in front of him. Although he swung behind him immediately, Jonathan knew that he was merely swinging at air. After his whiffed attack, Jonathan felt himself blasted in the back with magic. Jonathan kneeled to the ground, hand supporting his weight as his weapon clanged to the ground beside him. Chrysalis was arrogant. She was already planning on her attempt to fight the other creature that seemed much stronger. Nothing this one did could amount to anything, even if she had to dispel with her magical protections in order to gain this invisibility. “A dead man has no right to call others cowards.” Taking her time to dash around Jonathan after revealing her location, Chrysalis stood at the direction where Jonathan was facing. It would all end with the next attack, and Chrysalis sent a spell right at Jonathan’s downwards head. “False!” Jonathan gripped 「The Sword of Luck and Pluck」and dodged around the spell. “I can feel your every movement!” When Jonathan had kneeled previously, he had done so on purpose! He sent his Hamon energy straight into the ground, using his own senses to detect Chrysalis’s every movement! And Jonathan knew exactly where Chrysalis stood. “Oryaa!” Using the flat edge of the blade, Jonathan sent Chrysalis’s head downward, dispelling her invisibility. Twisting the sword in his hand, Jonathan prepared the flat end of the blade to be used in the next attack. “My heart resonates…hot enough to burn! The beat of my blood is razor-sharp!” “Metal Silver Overdrive!” Jonathan assaulted Chrysalis with an absurd number of sword swipes. The last attack of his barrage sent Chrysalis flying away, dragging along the dirt in her path. Chrysalis could feel the Hamon reverberating around her body, and even in her pain, she felt something being cleansed. Chrysalis’s eyes darted open. She found herself in a pony town, and while she wondered exactly how she had gotten here, there was a more pressing concern. There was currently something holding out an appendage as if to help her up. “Have you regained your wits?” it said. “Perhaps we could try our introductions again?” “My name is Jonathan Joestar.” 「QUEEN CHRYSALIS」 「RETIRED…SORT OF.」 Author's Note My username is 「Clacker Volley」. My password is 「Not Going to be Mentioned Here」. I have a less popular story that I'm writing simultaneously called 「An Alternative Battle Tendency」, that I'm shamelessly promoting. Here you can copy and paste these things here if you don't already know how to get them on your own: 「」. I'm having 「Fun」, can you tell? Chapter 6: Smoke and Mirrors“Huh? What the heck are you talking about?!” Joseph stared at the bejeweled amulet that Cadence was currently levitating using her magic. The emerald embedded in its golden frame caught light from a lamp above a door frame, light reflecting in Joseph’s eye. “Wear it. It can turn you into a pony as long as I’m using the right magic to charge it.” Cadence explained, hoisting it more towards Joseph. In turn, Joseph flinched backwards at the sudden thrust. “W-why in hell would I want to turn into a pony?! Do you not see this sexy face?!” Joseph whacked the amulet away only for it to swing back and whack Joseph, successfully getting its revenge. “No, I don’t. Because there isn’t one.” Cadence stated, causing Joseph clutching at his chest as if he had been stabbed. “Anyways, we’re taking the street route. Alleys cut off around here, and the streets actually have some ponies that aren’t under the regime’s influence. But having somepony-“ “Ahem!” Joseph made several coughing noises in order to interrupt Cadence. “U-um… about that…” “Okay, fine. Someone…” Cadence trailed off to guarantee Joseph’s approval. After a quick ‘Hmm’ and a nod, Cadence continued, “Someone like you would just garner attention. And we don’t want anything of the sort. It’ll be awkward, but you can take it off when we’re not safe in a relatively public place.” ‘Thank Celestia that she made Manehattan so huge. Even the villains have trouble controlling the massive amount.’ Cadence thought her relief. “W-well, a p-public place…” “…Fine.” Joseph sighed before grabbing the amulet’s chain. Inspecting the back of it, Joseph could see Cadence’s symbol (He refused to call it a cutie mark. He wasn’t a girl, dammit! …At least, most of the time.)was engraved onto it. Taking a moment of thought, Joseph detached the chain from the amulet before putting the chain in his shirt pocket. “Um, why exactly-“ Cadence attempted a question before Joseph cut her off. “Something more important could use it.” Joseph quickly interjected. Holding out the amulet, emerald side facing upward in his palm, Joseph said, “You need to charge this thing, right?” Cadence blinked before getting out of her unexpected stupor. “Yeah, yeah. Right.” Cadence’s horn began to glow, pink magic enveloping the amulet. As he held onto the emerald, Joseph could feel himself change almost immediately. He expected it to be gradual, if he expected anything, at all. Magic as a concept just kind of seemed weird to him. After his height was shortened and his hand turned into a green hoof, Joseph could see the bottom half of his vision become blocked by what he assumed to be his muzzle. At the sudden change, Joseph almost dropped the amulet altogether. He would have as well, if Cadence’s magic hadn’t acted as an adhesive. Sighing, Joseph got over his surprise and put the amulet into his jacket pocket. ‘Wait a minute…’ Joseph thought, before taking a struggle to look at his torso before realizing he could just turn his head sideways. ‘Oh my god! M-my clothes can transform, too?! Although I lost my pants altogether somehow…wait, my boxers!’ “Where did my pants go?” Joseph asked Cadence, careful to not mention his missing boxers since it was clearly a more embarrassing subject. Looking over his shoulder, Cadence confirmed that he did in fact, lose his pants. “Uh…maybe they shrunk into your pockets or something?” Cadence offered an answer, unsure of the result herself. Digging through his left jacket pocket, pushing aside the amulet, Joseph felt nothing. After an awkward fall since he thought he could stand without his fore hooves for a moment, Joseph began searching his right jacket pocket. ‘W-why the hell are they there?!’ Joseph’s face clearly became crestfallen as he felt the shrunken fabric. ‘Screw you, magic!’ “U-um maybe we shouldn’t…” Cadence, realizing that Joseph found his missing garments, began to speak. “Are you ready, then? The street’s just around the corner. Just try and blend in.” Sighing once more, Joseph nodded. “W-what’s going on here?!” Cadence yelled. “Even if it’s not an intersection…!” “Oh no…” Joseph added. “I tried to say something…I’m sorry…” Fluttershy apologized, before joining Joseph and Cadence in their consecutive head turning to the right and left. The streets, as far as all three of them could see, were empty. ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ “W-where is everypony?!” Cadence began to let the panic settle in. “I have an idea.” Cadence and Fluttershy both looked at Joseph with questioning glances. “W-what is it?” “Maybe we should ask the two guys that have been trailing us since maybe half a mile ago.” “W-what?!” Cadence said, backing away in shock, and holding up a hoof on instinct. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she got closer to Cadence and took a look around. Just in time to witness two figures drop from the sky into our protagonists’ sights. One was a male unicorn that had a dull olive green coat and a dirty brown mane. The other was a slim griffon female with black feathers that only began to grey out as they approached her head. Her talons could be heard scratching against the street’s asphalt. “Guess your magic wasn’t so fancy after all, huh, Army Donovan.” The griffon teased as she shot a mocking look to her partner. “I’d suggest avoiding using my full name, Bridget.” The way Donovan addressed her name could almost be seen dripping with malice. “And my magic is flawless. I doubt even Twilight Sparkle could do better. Cadence here certainly didn’t care.” “Blah blah…are you two just going to keep talking? I’d rather know how you both cleared the streets when I know you’ve been tailing us.” Joseph awkwardly pointed the tip of his hoof towards the newcomers. “A teleport here, an illusion there. And a fear spell to make everypony run.” Donovan began to laugh quietly. “I believe one elderly pony even died of a heart attack. It was quite hilarious to see the other ponies trample over his dead body.” “Y-you creep!” Cadence accused, feeling Fluttershy tug at her side. Her ear flickered as she could hear metal clang to the floor behind her. Turning around, Cadence saw the amulet rolling on the street, with Joseph Joestar standing with rage clearly on his face. Cracking his knuckles, Joseph said, “And here I thought you might actually be the good guys. Too bad you’re just a bully that’s about to get his head pounded in.” It was then that Donovan’s laugh cracked against everyone’s eardrums. “You?! You think you can beat me?! With those paltry skills you showed against Cold Blood?!” Donovan’s laugh died down as quickly as it erupted. “Don’t make me laugh. It’s not proper etiquette.” “I call Princess!” Bridget cried as she took flight. Flying faster than Joseph could react, Bridget rushed down Cadence. Cadence was brought along with the tackle, back into the alley that they came from, barely managing to push Fluttershy away from the impact. “Cadence!” Joseph yelled as his shot towards the alleyway before something blasted him straight in the chest. Stumbling back and falling onto his posterior, Joseph looked to Donovan, horn still glowing. “Weren’t you going to pound my head in? Or were you talking of your own pathetic one?” Donovan taunted. “Fluttershy.” Joseph began to stand up, his voice sounding serious for a change. “Help Cadence out. I’ve got Army Douchebag over here.” Although Joseph wasn’t looking in her direction, Fluttershy nodded and flew away from the scene, to catch up with Cadence. “Oh, are you sure of that? You’re going to need all the help you can get.” “Nah, I’m more than enough for an egotistical asshole like you.” Joseph smirked, using a finger to point towards Donovan’s glowing horn. “Maybe you’ll reconsider.” Donovan’s voice came from his left. Darting his vision, Joseph could see that Donovan made a duplicate of himself. “When you realize my practiced technique.” Donovan’s voice came from behind him. Turning, Joseph saw another Donovan standing in the gap of the alleyway, between the massive line of stores of the commercial district. “Practiced technique, huh? You do realize that the way you worded that just sounds dumb, right?” Joseph said, watching as more Donovan’s popped up around him. As one circled towards his right, Joseph quickly kicked the copy's head in, causing it to dissipate. “And another thing...I’m not that bad at fighting groups, you know!” “You’re not? I doubt it matters.” Donovan said, as the entire street began to be covered in thick fog, tinted with the olive green color that accompanied his magic. “The whole smoke and mirrors gag, huh? Guess even with actual magic, ponies still resort to the normal crap. Originality goes a long way.” Joseph said, waiting to hear a response from a direction. “Smoke and mirrors? Far from it. Each of my copies possess my exact physical dexterity and skills…you won’t be able to sense a difference.” One of the Donovan copies came from the shroud only to speak those words and stand on a single spot. When Joseph tried to kick him, the copy quickly retracted and another blast hit him from behind making him fall onto the ground, off balance from lifting his leg to kick. ‘So…he likes attacking my back, huh?’ Joseph kicked himself off the ground, jumping over a Donovan that tried to take advantage of his collapse and lunge onto him. Rather than going where that Donovan was headed, Joseph headed in a direction that seemed completely random. ‘Is he that much of a fool?! I can see through my own fog!’ The real Donovan thought as he used one of his closest copies to send another bolt straight at his back. When it hit, Joseph was in mid-air and the momentum from the attack sent him crashing into one of the stores, glass flying inwards. ‘Into a bakery! Even he can’t find solace from the fog from inside a store!’ Using one of his copies to check, Donovan began inspecting the inside of the bakery from afar. However, he couldn’t see Joseph within. ‘Is he hiding behind the shelves? I can merely send in a few copies inside to horde around him.’ However! Once the Donovan clone began to approach the window, a crouching Joseph appeared that had been using the wall under the window as a visual obstacle! “You’re not the only one who can use smoke and mirrors! Idiot!” Joseph called out as he threw two broken bags of flour around. While polluting his own vision further, Joseph was aware that Donovan could see through his smoke and so he used an artificial means! “You are the idiot here!” Donovan yelled towards the mass of flour polluting the air. “I already know where you are!” Donovan advanced two of his copies to tackle the limited space that the flour provided. When the clones landed on solid ground, Donovan clicked his tongue. Deciding to take a more direct approach, Donovan used his fog magic to disperse itself along with the clouding flour. The air around the entrance of the bakery cleared. And this was when Donovan realized he had made a crucial mistake. His clones had full vision of the interior of the bakery and there were no other doors leading to a back room. And yet, Joseph Joestar had vanished!
Chapter 1: A Summoning Gone WrongRainbow Dash was called a lot of things. She was the embodiment of Loyalty, she was a hero to ponykind, and one of the dearest friends in the world. Rainbow Dash thought she was a lot of things. She was a coward, she let ponies die in the initial invasion and continued to let them die, and she had abandoned some of her friends, knowing that in doing so, they would likely die. But if there was one thing Rainbow Dash knew for sure, it was that she could at the very least protect Twilight Sparkle so that she would be able to fix things. She was always able to fix things, right? So maybe saving Equestria from its demise was another? These were never meant to be questions. But as Rainbow Dash flew back to the remnant of the sheriff’s building in Appleloosa, she could only think of them as questions. “I need to bring Celestia back.” Twilight immersed herself in an old spellbook that Spike had almost died for. “She’s the only one that can stop this.” As Rainbow Dash prepared to walk through the doors, she was prepared to drag Twilight Sparkle out, to keep her safe, and not let her do whatever stupid thing that she was about to do. The last time she tried to get Celestia involved, Princess Celestia died. Rainbow Dash bursted through the doors, but even when the wooden doors slammed into the walls, its noise causing a shockwave through the remains of the building, the one and only Twilight Sparkle was still in the center of the room, as if untouched by the sudden disturbance. All the chairs and broken furniture had been moved away, for Twilight was finishing drawing a circle with a five-pointed star in the center using the chalk dust that had been lying around the school building that Twilight and Rainbow had raided for supplies earlier that week. “I’m almost done.” Twilight responded to Rainbow before she could even get a word out. Rainbow Dash angrily stopped towards Twilight, who placed the spellbook on top of a makeshift table of rubble to make it easier to read the pages. “This spell can bring her back, Rainbow. She can fix this…” Rainbow Dash almost wanted to look away, listening to her the desperation in her friend’s voice. While Rainbow wasn’t much better off, Twilight’s ragged look only added to the scene. “Chrysalis is coming. We don’t have much time left. I’m getting you out. Now.” Rainbow could hear Twilight click her tongue in annoyance. Turning around, Twilight Sparkle held the book in front of Dash’s face. “Read it! It can bring her back!” Rainbow Dash only read the title of the spell, ‘the Blood of the Sunstrikers Summon and Resurrection’, before she knocked it the ground. “Celestia is dead, Twilight. You can’t bring her back. But we can still run! Survive!” Twilight was unshaken by Rainbow’s loud yelling, and she proceeded to pick up the book while recited, “By performing this spell, one can summon and resurrect those that have the blood that can harness the energy of the sun. While this is a dark art that requires an immense amount of magic, this is a spell meant to bring those that can use the light in order to fight back against the darkness.” Twilight Sparkle stared Rainbow Dash down, “Celestia’s magic was the only thing that seemed to actually do anything to them. Magic of the Sun, Dash. Who else is this spellbook supposed to be talking about?! It was in their library, dammit!” Rainbow Dash didn’t back away from Twilight’s stare. She needed to get Twilight out. “And it said you needed a whole bunch of magic right?! And how are you gonna do that in your state!” “I have to.” “Twilight, you don’t even have your horn anymore.” Rainbow Dash looked sorrowfully at Twilight Sparkle. “You can’t create any magic, let alone a lot of it.” Twilight Sparkle held the book closely to her torso, unable to levitate it with her stump of a horn. Slowly backing away and treading very carefully and lightly around the arcane circle, Twilight only responded, “I still have some magic in me.” Rainbow Dash flew into a rage after that statement, not noticing that Twilight had a small smile when Dash started showing her sign of anger. “That’ll kill you, Twilight. Using any more of any magic still in you, pegasus, Earth pony, unicorn, alicorn, it’s going to kill you. Like hell if I’m going to let that happen!” Rainbow Dash started stomping towards Twilight Sparkle in anger. “I’m getting you out of here before Chrysalis can catch up to us. I’m not letting another friend die.” It was only after she finished the word ‘die’ that Dash noticed that the floor was heavily creaking under her. Suddenly, the weight of next stomp left her two left hooves into the floor. And before she could react to what was going on, Twilight Sparkle ran over to her, trapping Dash using a wooden arch that used to hang above the door. All of a sudden, Twilight Sparkle went into overdrive. She grabbed the spellbook, while explaining, “Recently, I noticed that you always stomp when you’re mad. Probably for intimidation or something.” Twilight grabbed pieces of cloth that she set aside and through it inside the star center of the arcane circle. “I knew that you would try and stop me from doing this, so I destroyed part of the floor that you were walking on in advance, and repaired it really badly.” Twilight met Rainbow Dash’s worried eyes. “I’m sorry for doing this.” “Twilight, wait! Don’t do this!” Rainbow struggled against the surprisingly sturdy prison that Twilight had made, guess she always was smart with just about everything. Hearing Twilight place down the book at a point that was almost right in front of her, Rainbow Dash stopped moving for only a moment. To beg. “Please…stop…” Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash, tears in her eyes, almost masking her fear of dying from doing so. “Goodbye.” Twilight look back towards the book and started reciting the words, while Rainbow broke her left forehoof to get it free from the hole in the floor. “Heed my words, Guardians to the Eyes of Heaven. I call upon your blessing to bring forth those with the destined blood to our world.” Rainbow Dash stiffens herself against the arch, pushing against it with all of her desperate might, cutting her wings in the process, to make more room for her to get out. “Those Phantoms that can conduct the Sunlight within their own Blood, who can use their Tendency to Battle against the forces of darkness and bring prosperity, who Stand Proud in the Platinum Stardust.” Rainbow Dash forces her broken hoof alongside the more stable floor and begins to scrape her way towards Twilight Sparkle, who was now glowing with purple magic throughout her body, creating sparks from the horn stump that was alighting the magic circle in fire. Rainbow could feel the energy that Twilight was using, her life energy. “I require that you bring forth the immortal bloodline that will save us, to bring light to the darkness! Heed me!” Just as Rainbow Dash finally got free, she stumbled towards Twilight. But at that point it was already too late, Dash realized as her vision had tinted everything in the room a shade of purple. The same shade as Twilight’s magic. And just like that, Rainbow Dash’s vision returned, as if nothing happened. At least, until Twilight Sparkle collapsed right in front of her. And she didn’t notice the look of devastation that was on Twilight’s face. “Twilight! No. No. No. No. No. No.” Rainbow Dash rushed over to Twilight’s side, immediately checking for a pulse. Dash could feel one initially but it had faded so quickly that what was happening was obvious. Twilight Sparkle was dying. And another friend was about to die and she didn’t do anything to stop it. Again. Rainbow Dash couldn’t speak, and felt as if she were drowning in her own tears, as she realized that now she was going to be all alone. “Is your friend dying?” Rainbow Dash immediately turned, ready to attack the intruder. But instead she found two of them, standing where the magic circle once was. And they were human, the same that Twilight Sparkle had showed her pictures of, in times past. One was wearing a fancy white dress shirt, with a tied red ribbon attached at the neck, and black dress pants. While the other had his back towards her, and was wearing a large jet black jacket, jet black pants, and slightly less jet black shoes, with the only distinguishing article of clothing would be his hat, which seemed to convert completely naturally into his hair. The fancily dressed one was pointing to Twilight, so Rainbow Dash could tell he had been the one to speak. While she was confronted with the fact that these humans, possibly hostile ones, were summoned instead of Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash only thought that Twilight might’ve died for nothing. With almost a willingness to die herself, Rainbow Dash nodded. The fancily-dressed human’s fists had tightened, to the point where it had been audible. “I may not know how I am not currently dead, and I do not know what exactly is going on.” The human started walking towards the two ponies. “But what I do know is that I’ll be damned before I let anyone die right in front of my eyes!” Rainbow Dash, although skeptical, looked up to the giant. “Can you really save her?” “I can at least try.” The human kneeled before Twilight’s dying body and breathed. “Koooooh.” As the human breathed, an aura appeared around his body, in a form similar to electricity through his limbs, and it almost felt as if he was on fire and yet there was nothing to indicate this being so. And for the first time, the capped human actually took interest in the people in his immediate surroundings. “So you’re just going to save the horse then? No questions?” The other human spoke without even turning to face the people in the room. “If I were to leave her to die, I could no longer call myself a gentleman. And that-” The fancily dressed human stopped talking as soon as he put his massive hand onto Twilight’s side and adopted a face of shock. “I can’t feel her heartbeat! What I planned to do requires her blood to be flowing! Dammit!” Before the human could begin trying to resuscitate Twilight, the sound of the coat swinging signifying the other human turning around caught their attention. As he stood towering over the fancily-dressed human, he asked, “Can you save it if its heart was still working?” “I could help her, at least I believe so, so if-“ The fancily-dressed human was interrupted as the other human shoved him aside. Before either Rainbow Dash or the human could protest, the capped human found himself kneeling before Twilight’s body. “Star Platinum.” Suddenly, from nowhere, every individual in the room saw a large purple-skinned human appear beside the capped human, and he was floating in mid-air. And in the next moment, ‘Star Platinum’ thrust his arm into Twilight’s body. But instead of punching a hole through her, the arm phased seamlessly into Twilight. “Yare yare daze.” The phasing arm moved quickly around, as if looking for something. Even the ex-self-proclaimed fastest mare in Equestria could barely keep up with its movements. And then it stopped. “Horse anatomy is damn difficult.” While no one in the room could see what was happening, Star Platinum’s arm was over Twilight’s heart, and was jolting it so that it would restart. As soon as the capped human got confirmation, he quickly looked over the still knocked over and confused human and yelled, “I got its heart working again, so hurry up and do what you were going to do.” The fancily-dressed human snapped out of his stupor and replaced the capped human’s place beside her body. “Hamon can travel throughout living things, and those that can conduct it can experience miraculous recovery.” The human stared at his pinky, and prayed, “Please help me, Mister Zeppeli.” In the next instant, the human jabbed his pinky straight into Twilight and breathed. “Kooooooh.” As the energy enveloped the two, the air in the room seemed to become pleasant, as if welcoming the return of life to the world. The energy surrounding the fancily-dressed human seemed to be transferring to Twilight in a manner similar to electrical current. And Twilight’s eyes darted open. As Twilight started coughing to regain her own breath, the fancily-dressed human stepped back and motioned to Rainbow Dash that she was okay. And he smiled as Rainbow Dash, for the first time in his eyes, seemed happy. Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to rush to hug Twilight Sparkle, who was starting to get herself standing again. “You’re okay…” Rainbow spoke through her tears. Twilight, despite being in a crushing hug, was too busy looking at her hooves in confusion before looking up to the human, a species she recognized. “You supplemented magic into me…” Twilight stated, feeling the energy course throughout her body, an energy that felt all too similar to Celestia’s own. “Who are you?” Twilight questioned the fancily-dressed giant. The human, in turned, smiled while he spoke, “First, it wasn’t magic, it was Hamon. A mere breathing technique. And I believe that you should probably rest before asking any more questions. But as for my name, it is Jonathan Joestar. Son of George Joestar.” Before Twilight could go against his advice of no more questions, the other human exclaimed, “What?!” Jonathan turned to the other human, asking, “Oh, have you of me or my family before? And what is your name as well?” “Hmph.” The other human clutched at the tip of his cap. “I guess I would be familiar with your family the most.” In one swift motion, the human turned towards the doors of the building and started walking. “As for my name, just call me Kujo.” And with that, Jotaro Kujo stepped into Equestrian soil. Author's Note Something I wrote kind of on a whim. I don't normally post the stuff I write, but some friends encouraged that I could at least give it a try. Wrote this during a mini-writing frenzy, with another Jojo Chapter 1 which can be found: Here. Tell me if there's one that you would rather me focus on.
Chapter 2: On the City StreetsI can't keep still~ On the verge of something that no one has seen~ A dangerous nightmare is unfurling here, yeah~ “Weren’t you supposed to be with Spike? Why are you here?!” “I’m not just going to leave my wife to die here. You need to get out of here.” “I stayed to save you! You need to protect Twilight…” Her tears muffled her words. “And now I’m saving you.” The crashes were heard throughout the castle, as crystals started to fall from the walls due to the shockwaves. “Spike has what we went to get. He’s getting the book to Twilight. There’s a passage I made in the hallway behind you to get here. Close it when you pass through it.” “I’m not just going to leave you here!” She was starting to taste the salt from the tears falling from her mouth. She was pushed away towards the hallway doors. “I’m going to at least give you enough time to get away. Goodbye, Cadence.” “Shining, please!” She was stopped by his magic barrier, one of the strongest ones that she has ever felt in her life, showing his determination to do this. “Going by what that book said, don’t worry, this Tartarus isn’t going to last much longer…just wait until your next knight in shining armor appears.” Voices and steps could be hear coming towards the throne room. “Go! Don’t let everything we’ve worked for be in vain! Survive, Cadence!” The barrier exploded in her face, and she was thrown down the hallway. As she could hear Shining’s battlecry, she started running down the passage that Shining Armor had already made in the crystals, making sure to collapse it as she ran, ran from the love of her life. “Everything we worked for is already gone…” Cadence walked through the abandoned back streets of Manehattan. At this time of night, it was dead cold in the city, and the rags that Cadence was wearing did little to protect against the cold. And she had lost her crystal sheen a long time ago, with no way of getting it back as long as she had no control of the Crystal Empire. Ever since the day Shining had died, Cadence had been replaying her last moments with him in vivid detail, as the memory would never stop haunting her. Spotting a vending machine ahead of her, Cadence hoped that she could finally get her first clean drink in a few days. Unfortunately, the lack of glass in the machine had already notified her that the entire supply was likely gone at that point. However, there was something unnatural about the glass shards around. Too many of them were outside of the machine, and if it weren’t for the fact that there were still plenty inside the machine, it could’ve seemed like it was broken from the inside. The placement of the shards seemed almost like the glass had exploded in both directions. Despite the entire situation being odd, it was at this point Cadence realized how meaningless her thought process was, it’s not like the glass was anything important. When she woke from her thoughts however, was when Cadence could hear the distant sound of sobbing. While Cadence could easily go towards the source, it was likely that whoever was crying was likely already doomed. Cadence contemplated for a moment, and decided to at the very least fly over the rooftops towards the source to see if it was even possible for her to help. “Wait until your next knight in shining armor appears.” ‘There’s never going to be another, Shining…’ Cadence thought. As she flew, Cadence secretly hoped that she might at the very least, be able to become another’s. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” A mare approached, sporting a dark blue coat, and a lettuce purple mane. Her yellow pupils pierced through the darkness, to the point where it would intimidate her own subordinates. “Be careful, General Cold Blood! It may have sssome tricks up its sssleeves!” A changeling approached from behind his superior. We shall refer to him as Insignificant Changeling A. Cold Blood chuckled, “What could she do? Trapped like a rat?” Her chuckle quickly evolved into a hearty laugh. The daunting pony even pointed to the mare down the alley, as her eyes narrowed to slits. “The Element of Kindness is easily the least threatening! And I’m sure that the higher-ups wouldn’t mind a bruised product.” Fluttershy had nowhere else to go, she was caught. And that means her friends had saved her life to no avail. As Cold Blood approached, Fluttershy came to a realization. She didn’t want to fight anymore. “Oh, but I do love a two-for-one deal, wouldn’t you say?” Cold Blood asked, malice dripping from her voice. “Wouldn’t you say so, Princess Cadence?” Cold Blood shot a dark bolt straight into the sky, colliding with Cadence, who was flying down towards Cold Blood. As Cadence took the bolt, she crashed straight into the ground, narrowly missing a clothesline, between Cold Blood and Fluttershy, writhing in pain, both as the bolt quickly coursed throughout her body and from the hard impact onto concrete. “Oh I’m sorry, you aren’t exactly a princess anymore, are you? And aren’t you lucky, you didn’t hang on that clothesline like a sad piñata.” Cold Blood taunted. “Cadence?!” Fluttershy cried, as she rushed to her friend’s side. “What are you doing here?” Before Cadence could speak, Cold Blood answered, “Probably some stupid reason, like pony bonds of friendships and lovey-dovey crap.” Cold Blood smiled a grin so thick, her teeth could almost be pointed, and asked, “Oh, that reminds, where’s the mister, missus fallen princess?” “Bastard!” Cadence beamed in anger at the mention of her husband, and tried charging at Cold Blood. But instead, was knocked back to the ground with a heavy hoof. Cold Blood pouted, “How sad is it that a princess can be beaten so easily, why didn’t I decide to rebel sooner?” Cadence thought to herself, ‘You wouldn’t have done anything back then… but something changed… and I still don’t know what that is… and I don’t think I will.’ Cadence winced as Cold Blood kicked her again, causing her to cough out blood. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this. Do you fellas want in on this?” Cold Blood turned to call to her two changelings subordinates. When she finished speaking, Cold Blood noticed that the changelings’ ears twitched. Realizing what that meant, Cold Blood turned back but the only movements that her playthings took was Fluttershy trying to help Cadence back to her hooves. “Oh, ew! What the crap?! Giant bugs! Shoo!” A male voice came from behind her. Cold Blood turned her head, swearing she would a neck cramp at this rate, to see a massive creature standing at the entrance to the alley, his shadow against the street lamp engulfing her surbordinates. He stood upon two legs, with his spiky brown hair slightly parted towards his right. Concerning his apparel, his green and yellow scarf was tucked neatly over his olive green shirt and scarlet jacket. And his navy blue pants was covering most of his brown sneakers, with the tips of his jeans slightly coated in mud. “Ssstay where-“ Insignificant Changeling A stated. “Oh my god! It spoke! The bug spoke?! But why the heck are you hissing?! You’re not a snake! You’re a bug! Did you get you species mixed up? I don’t think bugs hiss.” The creature assaulted the poor Insignificant Changeling A with words. “The creature is annoying me. Hiss.” Insignificant Changeling B spoke, ending with a hiss. Yes, there are two of them. “I'm the creature?! Take a look in the mirror, moron. Oh, and you do hiss. Wait, I feel like you did that on purpose. Do you hiss?” The creature pointed an appendage at Insignificant Changeling A. “Hiss.” “Okay, I get that you hiss, Bug Number 1. But I was clearly pointing at Bug Number 2.” “Why am I Bug Number 2? I spoke to you firssst.” “Bug Number 1 is Bug Number 1 because he talked to me first. She?” The creature looked to Insignificant Changeling B for confirmation. Getting a nod, the creature continued, “She talked to me first, you just yelled at me.” “But-“ Insignificant Changeling A started. “Enough! Just attack him!” Cold Blood ordered. The duo of Insignificant Changelings looked at one another before preparing for battle. “Oh, but I felt like I actually bonded with bugs! And I really wouldn’t do that if I were you. I really wouldn’t.” The creature pointed an appendage next to his chest upwards as he talked. Ignoring the creature’s advice, both of the Insignificant Changelings lunged at him. “Rawr!” battle-cried Insignificant Changeling B as she pounced. “My name is Apollo!” said Insignificant Changeling A as he pounced. “Well, I did warn you.” The creature spoke, as Insignificant Changeling A and B both simultaneously hit something that seemed invisible. But instead of slumping to the ground, the changelings were entangle in mid-air. “Didn’t you see the string? It was there the entire time.” The creature’s smile turned into a more serious expression as he started audibly breathing. “Kooooh.” The creature then launched one of its legs straight into Insignificant Changeling B, angled so he would also carry Insignificant Changeling A with her. The force of the kick launched them straight across the Manehattan street, as they both hit a lamppost with enough force to bend it. “I’m still calling you Bug Number 2!” The creature called out as the two Insignificant Changelings flew. General Cold Blood sighed, “Can’t even handle a lower priority target…what’s the point in underlings?” The creature pointed straight at Cold Blood, “Did you seriously just call low priority? Seriously?!” The creature cracked his knuckles, trying to look menacingly as he proceeded to crack his wrists as well, “I’ll show you low priority, dammit!” “Oh, I was hoping-GAH!” Cold Blood flinched as a rubber band rebounded off of her face. “Did you just shoot a rubber band at me?!” “No.” The creature answered, although his hands were still in the position for doing just so. “I flung it at you. There’s a difference, Queen Horsington.” “What did you just call me.” Cold Blood’s eye twitched in anger. “Queen Horsington, y’know? Because you look like something a little girl would think up. But little girls would think of being princesses and you clearly seem a bit older so I went with queen. And the Horsington is just there to sound demeaning.” The creature rambled. Cold Blood could feel one of her veins pop at that absolutely pointless explanation. Cold Blood closed her eyes to use her hoof to pinch her forehead, before preparing to speak. “The next thing you’re going to say is, “This is exactly why you’re low priority.” Isn’t that right?” “This is exactly why you’re low priority. Huh?!” Cold Blood’s eyes shot open, just to see a metal trash can flying towards her, with the inside hole facing towards her. When the trash can covered her head, Cold Blood could feel the creature knocking on both sides of the container. Oddly enough, as he did so, the interior of the trash can seemed to light up for whatever reason. “Ding Dong, Low Priority is at the door! Shall we open the royal gates for him, Queen Horsington?!” Cold Blood had never been quite so mocked in her life, so naturally, this caused her to fly into a rage. She levitated the trash can using her magic, smirking as the creature jumped back with two of his hand plastered on his face in surprise. “Oh, you’ve never seen magic before? I guess this will be your first and last!” Cold Blood threw the trash can back at the creature. Unfortunately for her, the creature smiled back, and quickly uppercutted the trash can straight upwards. “You know, I just realized how oddly devoid of trash that thing was, do you horsies not have any trash around?” “We’re ponies.” Cold Blood simply stated before throwing out several arcs of dark magic bolts. The creature couldn’t move quick enough to dodge all of them, and grunted as he took the impact from one of the bolts he couldn’t dodge. Yet, he still stood perfectly fine as if the direct hit was merely a graze. “So ponies are really clean or something? So why do you have clothesline around? Not only can I not picture you in clothes but someone, like you, might really get hurt.” Cold Blood looked upwards to see what he meant, guarding her front in case it was a feint. That guard was quickly gone as her jaw dropped as the trash can from earlier completed its final rotation around the clothesline, losing the last bit of energy it had. And it plopped its interior right onto Cold Blood. Cold Blood could feel the creature knocking at both sides of the trash can again, creating the curious lighting phenomenon again. “Ding Dong! Have you ever had that sense of de ja vu?” As Cold Blood enveloped the trash can with magic again, the instant she did so, the creature said, “And Queen Horsington, when you take out the trash…” Cold Blood lifted the trash can off her head again, only to see the creature holding a trash can lid. That was coming straight for her face. “…you need to put a lid on it!” The collision from the lid knocked back Cold Blood. However, the rate at which she regained her stance astounded even the creature. And in his surprise, Cold Blood lunged and knocked him to the ground. Cold Blood hit him twice in his smug face, while taunting, “Not so smart when you’re on the floor, huh?!” But the creature stopped the third strike, and held the pony street fighter’s hoof from coming down again using his left hand. The creature proceeded to point his right hand’s wrist towards Cold Blood’s face. “Not to mention, I’ve always got an ace up my sleeve!” Cold Blood quickly took a hold of the creature’s arm and pointed it straight to his giant chest. “The next thing you’re going to say is, “Go ahead and try it, idiot!” “Go ahead and try it, idiot! WHAT?!” Cold Blood exclaimed as she got read again. “I wasn’t talking about that sleeve, dumbass! Classic misdirect!” The creature pointed his left wrist at Cold Blood’s face, putting the mare off-balance as he was still holding her right hoof. In the next moment, a bunch of cards sprouted from his wrists with enough force to knock away Cold Blood. Before she could retaliate, the creature quickly grabbed a card out of the air, and somehow connected it to three other cards in the air he touched with the initial card, creating a small stick with the four cards. As Cold Blood leaped to knock him back to the ground, the creature swung the card-sword at her. Since Cold Blood thought the playing cards couldn’t do enough to stop her, despite her street-fighting prowess, she only minimally braced for impact. Which turned out to be a mistake. The charged cards slammed straight into her side, launching her straight into the wall of the narrow alleyway. Before she lost consciousness, the creature kneeled in front of her to show the four cards that he used to hit her. Which pissed her off even more. There were four damn aces. “In fact, I’ve got four!” The creature remarked before Cold Blood lost all consciousness. “Jeez, what an idiot. How hot-blooded can you be? I'm glad I had put those cards in earlier, but there goes the anniversary surprise.” The creature sighed as he stood back up. All of a sudden, a look of realization came upon is face. He quickly looked back to the bent lamppost, only to find that the two Insignificant Changelings had already retreated. “Oh no! I forgot to ask for directions!” Looking around, so that he didn’t seem like a completely oblivious protagonist, the creature noticed Cadence and Fluttershy, hurt but somewhat enjoying the spectacle. Like how it feels good when the bullies get in trouble for bullying. “Umm, do you know where I am? It looks like New York, but all the doors are too damn small, and all the taxis look like carriages.” The creature approached the mares, clearly knowing that the two weren’t with Bug Numbers 1 and 2 or Queen Horseything…or was it Van Horsing? Crap, he didn’t remember his demeaning nickname. Thinking that Cadence wasn’t in much condition to be talking, Fluttershy attempted to say something to their savior, emphasis on attempted. “Uhhhh….M-m-m-m” “Manehattan, Fourth District.” Cadence coughed out. “Manehattan? Don’t you mean Manhattan?” Looking at the confused faces of Cadence and Fluttershy, the creature held his hands against the sides of his head in exasperation. “What the heck then?! Wait… oh goddammit! It’s a stupid horse pun! Did the people who come up with it too lazy to think of something original?!” The creature blinked twice. “I just realized you two were here the entire time…” He looked back towards the unconscious body of ~~Queen Horsington~~ Cold Blood, and looked back at the injured forms of Cadence and Fluttershy. “Is this like colorist attacks or something? I don’t really get what’s going here. But…uhh…oh, I got these drinks in a vending machine that I bro- bought from!” The creature took out a couple of canned sodas, before saying, “I think it’s soda, but they’re in cans instead of bottles…which is unfortunate for my bottlecap collection, I bet they can become worth a lot in the future!” Handing over two sodas to the ponies, the creature was about to open his before stating, “I really wish I knew what the hell was going right about-GRBRLGRBRL!” He was interrupted as the soda sprayed all over his face and chest, soaking his clothes. “Ohh, that’s cold!” Taking precautions with their own, Cadence and Fluttershy opened the sodas, and began drinking, relaxing at one of the few breaks they’ve had over the past couple of days. “Uhh, I’ll just wait over there…I want to do something.” Taking out a permanent marker, the creature walked over the unconscious body of Cold Blood. He then proceeded to draw all over her face. “Oh, my name is Cadence, by the way, and this is-“ Cadence stopped before realizing it might be kind of rude to give somepony else’s name to a mysterious stranger. Fluttershy smiled and quietly continued the introductions, “Fluttershy.” “My name is Joseph Joestar. But my friends call me Jojo. And I think we’re friends now, I think.” Joseph scratched the back of his head in confusion, before cracking a toothy grin towards the two mares. The lamppost at the other end of the street started flickering, prompting Joseph to turn and look, and as the light bounced off of his wet clothing, Cadence noticed something. His clothes were shining.
Chapter 3: The Manehattan ScenesJoseph was looking around the café, waiting for Suzie Q to come back to the bathroom so that they could call a waitress over for their order. Suzie would probably pester him to get some breakfast in the morning but all he really needed some coffee in his system, today being a tiny bit special as he normally prefers cola. Sighing, he took out an old photo showing Caesar, Lisa Lisa, and himself posing over a ridge right before they were about to take their final Hamon test. ‘Those were good times…even if training was annoying as crap.’ Joseph thought to himself. Looking outside the café window to the busy streets of New York, Joseph took a moment to breathe in the less polluted air of the small corner café. ‘I wonder why no one even cares about that whole tommy gun incident a while back…I doubt I can go back to that cafe ever again…if they ever fixed the exploded mess I left it in.’ Joseph thought to himself. And then Joseph noticed someone that he thought he shouldn’t ever be able to see again on the other side of the street. Walking around with blond hair with his damn wingtips and blue clothes. Joseph quickly got up, garnering the attention of the people in the café, before he rushed out the door. “Jojo?” He could hear Suzie Q call him right before he walked out. “Uhh…I’ll just be a quick minute! I think I saw someone I owe a favor to.” Joseph turned to explain to Suzie Q, before he started running after the impossible phantom. As he rushed across the street, against the horde of people, Joseph spot the silver wingtips of his old friend duck into the alley ahead of him. Running past more bystanders, some crying out in annoyance or anger, Joseph reached the barren alleyway, walking until he stopped in the cross intersection within. ‘Was this always here? Why would there be space here? The buildings should be taking up as the very space I'm standing in.' Jojo thought as he made a turn down the mystifying empty space. “Bubble Cutter!” Joseph heard from behind him. Turning around, he sees an onslaught of bubbles coming towards him. “Bubble Barrier!” Joseph heard from behind him again. Turning around to see a giant bubble coming towards him, Joseph holds up his guard and closes his eyes. And he could’ve sworn he saw purple for some reason. “CAESAR!” Joseph yells, waiting for the bubbles to hit him. But they never do. Eventually, Joseph opens his eyes to find himself in the same alley, with no addition of Hamon-charged bubbles. “What the hell?” Joseph looks around to his new surroundings, with the only noticeable landmark being a vending machine to his immediate left. But what concerned Jojo the most was how breakfast morning became the dead of night. “Where am I?” “I need coffee.” Joseph yawned, as he walked down the empty back streets of Manehattan. “Were you even listening to what I was saying, Jojo?!” Cadence asked annoyingly, as she trotted beside him. “I’m sure he was, Cadence…right Mister Jojo?” Fluttershy asked in such a sweet voice that Joseph had no choice but to cringe. “Uhh…no.” Joseph looked down towards the ground, kicking away a small pebble as he walked. Fluttershy looked away in disappointment, and Cadence just proceeded to glare at him, prompting Jojo to at lest try and say something. “Uhh…basically, heroes beat the bad guys. Bad guys come back with more strength and seem almost invincible. They kill a whole bunch of peop- ponies including the godly one that moves the sun around. Moon one is who knows where. Bad guys take over your kingdom, and Flutter’s town. And everything goes to shit. Right? Yeah? Yeah.” Cadence sighed, “…Close enough. Say, what magic did you use earlier anyways?” “I just stuffed cards in my sleeve. It's not too hard to shoot them out, especially with practice." Jojo explained holding up his index finger, assuming Cadence had meant the sleight-of-hand he showed earlier. Cadence rolled her eyes in annoyance. “No, I mean the electricity stuff that let that trash bin fly!” “What? Alright, first, it wasn’t flying, it was only revolving around the clothesline. And it stopped moving because there wasn’t any Hamon left in it since I didn’t keep in contact.” “Hamon? What’s that supposed to be?” Cadence questioned. “Oh, well… basically, it’s breathing. In like, a weird way. It can interact with stuff in weird ways, but it’s mainly an anti-vampire technique.” Joseph explained. “It lets me do things like this.” Joseph stepped onto a puddle, and walked on the water’s surface. As Cadence marveled at what she still believed to be magic, Fluttershy asked, “Vampires? You mean, like the foals’ tales? Or the really mean way of saying bat-ponies?” “Wait, there are bat-ponies, too? And not the masked and caped detective kind?” Joseph blinked rapidly as he processed the new information. Before continuing his explanation and after his recovery, Joseph looked around the next corner, primarily to see if he could find any coffee shops. “Anyway, vampires as in the evil bastards that like killing people and sucking their blood.” “Oh…so you're somepony actually fight those, huh?” Cadence took a moment to process the new information. “So, how does Hamon hurt them?” “Well, it burns their insides and they essentially disintegrate. That’s because the whole sunlight weakness of vampires, Hamon emits the same waves as waves of sunlight, and some other nonsense that I didn’t pay attention to during training.” Joseph explained, stopping his strut as he looked back to Cadence who had taken a moment to ponder his words. Looking up, Cadence began speaking, “Wait, did you say sunlight?” “Yeah, why? Hey, hey!” Joseph cried as Cadence used her magic to hold his arm and pull him with her. “I’m not a pony by the way! Don’t call me a somepony! Where are we going?” Joseph looked to Fluttershy, who seemed similarly confused. Sighing, Joseph looks back at Cadence for her answer. “We were going to get out of the city. But now, I think we're gonna try and take it back.” Joseph and Fluttershy exchanged glances before continuing walking. As Cadence dragged Joseph further down, she didn’t notice the presence the ones following them on the rooftops. “Oh ho? Princess Cadence got herself new friend, did she?” A small rat wiggled its way onto the rooftop, presumably to look for any food, as it spotted one of those that stood upon the roof. As ponies had often granted the rat food earlier, the rat approached them, hopeful for a meal. “But even her new pet could never see us coming…” But as the air around the rat attained a new aura that induced fear into it, the rat hesitated. The small rat then witnessed the two beings vanish within an instant, scurrying away partially in sadness, but mostly in fear. Cold Blood was getting more progressively annoyed, as the darkness continued to giggle at her. At one point, her frustration got the better of her and she spoke out of turn, “This really isn’t a laughing matter.” Cold Blood scowled. The darkness’s laugh became roaring loud in response, as its voice echoed, “While I apologize for being unable to control my vessel…” Noises of steps being taken towards Cold Blood caused her to freeze in absolute fright. “This most certainly is a laughing matter.” As breath trickled onto the top of Cold Blood’s head, she dared not to look up, and continued to focus her gaze straight down into the ground. Cold Blood felt fear run throughout her body as a hoof touched the side of her face to reveal Cold Blood’s cheeks to be clearer for the hoof’s owner. Cold Blood could hear snickering, as the other party proceeded to turn Cold Blood’s head so the other cheek was facing them. And then they repeated the words that were humiliatingly written on Cold Blood’s face in permanent marker. “’I am a pony, fear me’. And ‘I like pretty flowers.’” The other party traced with their hoof over the crudely drawn picture of a sunflower, one that looks like it could’ve been drawn by a very young foal. Cold Blood could almost see Death himself as the other party leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You disappoint me.” Before Cold Blood could try and argue, the other party’s presence quickly retreated and their voice continued, “But I suppose I am curious about the creature for now…” Cold Blood could feel relief rushing through her. “And I do want a new test subject.” Cold Blood finally took a moment to look straight into the darkness, catching a glint of something. “Test subject? For what?” A very simple bow clattered onto the floor. However, what drew Cold Blood’s attention was the ornamented arrow that fell alongside it. Looking back into the darkness, the voice asked, “Miss Cold Blood, would you like to have a Stand?” Author's Note Shorter chapter this time around. I've got a whole bunch of finals right 'bout now, and I've been procrastinating college applications... Need to get on that. Anyways, enjoy, if you want to anyway.
Chapter 4: A Summoning and a ResurrectionIt has been three months since the defeat of DIO. Holly Joestar is completely fine and is now back to pestering Jotaro once again. Life has gone back to normal, and Jotaro is once again attending two or three classes each week. As one of the days he actually participates in school, teachers being unable to reject him due to the influence of the Speedwagon Foundation, Jotaro is currently walking down the same stairs where he had his first encounter with an enemy-turned-friend, Noriaki Kakyoin. And he’s not alone…much to his annoyance. “Jojo, you have to be careful! Why don’t you hold onto my arm for safe keeping?” said Annoying Girl. As usual, Jotaro completely ignores the question and continues walking, letting the argument unfold behind him. “Hold your arm?! Why would Jojo need to do that?! He’s perfectly fine on his own! And if anything it should be my arm!” yelled Bothersome Girl to Annoying Girl. “Ugh, what?! No! Don’t you remember when Jojo fell down the stairs a while ago! It’s like right before he stopped showing up to school at all!” Annoying Girl annoyingly explained loudly. “Oh, when we met that Kakyoin guy, right! I saw him earlier today! I guess he transferred pretty-“ Bothersome Girl was unable to continue as Jojo immediately grabbed her shoulder, much to the surprise and chagrin to the other six or so girls that were following him. “Where.” Jotaro asked, his tone sounding more serious than any of the girls had ever heard him speak in before. And they would know, they stalked him. “B-back at the park! Cherry Tree!” Jotaro broke into a run, climbing the stairs, skipping five steps with each individual stride. ‘Is it a Stand?’ Jotaro thought to himself. As Jotaro ran, everyone, and even everything, seemed to reel back away from Jotaro as he ran on the sidewalk. Jotaro did have an infamous reputation around the town, but most people still knew that he didn’t bother anyone that don’t piss him off. Even a delinquent with a very bad haircut tried to run away, scared Jotaro was coming for him since he had been just harassing a girl from his school, left behind from the stalker train. (Note: she followed the stalker train not because she wanted to know Jotaro, but it was surprisingly a very good defense from any harassment.) Although Jotaro could care less at the moment, he quickly clocked the delinquent since he was almost at the park anyway, much to the relief of the unfortunate girl. As he came upon Cherry Tree Park, Jotaro slowed his pace. Using Star Platinum’s enhanced senses, Jotaro carefully swept the area. As he strode into the middle of the park, empty save for a few squirrels darting up a nearby tree trunk, Jotaro thought to himself, ‘Did he move on? Or was he not even here in the first place.’ But then Jotaro could feel a presence behind him. One that felt like the moment he turned around, Jotaro would be attacked with an intention to kill. In the next second, Jotaro took initiative and called out Star Platinum. When he turned around however, there was nothing but heavy mist that quickly surrounded his immediate area, tinting his vision in purple. Unsure of what was happening, Jotaro could only prepare for any possible attacks from any direction, ready to drive Star Platinum’s fists into whatever appeared. But as the mist settled, Jotaro’s fists clenched as the small park he was just in transformed into a rustic building, doors crumbled at the feet of the opening. And then he heard a voice. “Is your friend dying?” ‘Yare yare daze.’ Jotaro thought as he took in the scenery. An old western town that was seemingly destroyed by something or possibly someone was all Jotaro could see with all signs pointing to any life that may have previously been here had abandoned it. Jotaro could hear Jonathan and the purple horse talking behind him, and while he was curious, Jotaro couldn’t bother himself enough to ask and instead decided rely on his own instincts for answers. However, not everyone agreed with that same sentiment as Jotaro could hear a voice that was slightly elevated to his head and beside him ask, “So where’d that purple guy go?” Jotaro shifted his eyes, not bothering to turn his neck to see the rainbow-haired horse from earlier flying beside him. ‘So it can fly, huh? And speak perfect English...it's gonna be a pain not to speak Japanese then. Great, guess I somehow managed to get myself into more trouble…’ “Why do I need to tell you anything?” Jotaro replied. “Wow, rude much?” Rainbow Dash said, taken aback to the brashness of his answer. “Your friend over there’s being more open, you know? But he’s got Twilight in geek mode since he said he was studying to become an archeologist or somethin’. I came over here since I didn’t really get what they were saying after they started interpreting the spell or whatever.” “You talk a lot.” Jotaro stated. “And what would make you assume I’m even friends with the other guy?” Rainbow Dash blinked before taking a quick glance back at Jonathan. He was currently engaging in answering Twilight’s boundless questions about how Hamon energy works, while exchanging questions as to how Equestria as a whole operates. “Well, you look alike, I guess. And you guys came together, right?” “Are you an idiot?” Jotaro said with the same monotone voice, making it feel more like a statement. “Since when does looking alike mean friendship? Ever. I haven’t even met him before in my life, either.” ‘Wow this Kujo guy is an ass. But I guess I still owe him for helping out Twilight…’ Rainbow Dash thought as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “What?!” Jotaro and Rainbow Dash turned back only to see Twilight wide-mouthed. And then proceed to poke Jonathan. “Are you really dead?” Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash, curious about the conversation started to make her way over. Jotaro, however, could already infer what happened to Jonathan and instead decided to take a walk around the town, for no particular reason other than to get away from any bothersome questions that may later be directed at him. “Well, the last memories I have are of my death, so I believe so.” “You seem calm about that.” Rainbow Dash said. Jonathan let out a small chuckle, “Yes, I suppose so. But when you’re about to die, I guess you come to terms with everything that has happened in your life. I’m more curious as to how I’m not dead right now.” Jonathan clutched his hand, feeling the circulation of blood through his entire arm. Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged disbelieving glances. They both thought that Jonathan almost radiated life itself, not death. They wouldn’t even be surprised if flowers sprung up along where he walked, despite the fact that they only just met the man. “But I suppose that would be why the spell mentioned a resurrection. But I am assuming from our reactions that I wasn’t exactly the one you were hoping for, correct?” Jonathan asked. Twilight couldn’t help but be caught off-guard. She messed up Jonathan’s life, or rather, death, and it wasn’t even planned. “Uhh, that’s right.” Twilight confessed. “But if Hamon is the same energy that you describe than you could still help us!” Twilight blinked before realizing that she was already assuming that Jonathan was going to help them at all. Jonathan didn’t need to do anything, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he would rather enjoy being alive once more. “I was planning to do so from the start, you needn’t worry.” Jonathan smiled, noticing the look of worry that was on her face. “Although I must admit, it feels odd to talk to a species that I’ve never heard talk before. And if you wouldn’t mind my asking, is the small appendage on your forehead meant to be in that state?” “Err, no. It isn’t, I lost it a while ago…” Jonathan sighed, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do anything for it, in any case. From what I’ve heard, Hamon is able to recover gangrenous limbs but I supposed removed ones altogether may be too much.” Twilight couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed in herself. She, in essence, had sacrificed herself somewhat thoughtlessly, and brought Jonathan back to life when he seems as if he was at peace with his death. While she couldn’t help but be elated at a new ally, asking him to fight felt wrong even if Jonathan was ready and willing to do so. And the moment where Jonathan had to fight was also right around the corner. “Oi, we have company. You know them?” Jotaro called out from outside. Standing in the center of the dusty street, Jotaro could see small black specks in the distance. “Oh, crap. I forgot all about them. We need to go, come on!” Rainbow Dash yelled out, already starting to pack up the spare belongings. “I must apologize, but I will not run.” Jonathan said. “If they are responsible for the suffering done to this world, I cannot forgive them.” “And besides, I was starting to get pissed off.” Jotaro added. “But-“ Rainbow Dash started before Jonathan looked back at her. His fiercely determined eyes immediately silenced her resistance. Rainbow Dash sighed, “Well, alright, but I’m helping.” But instead of joining Jonathan and Kujo, Dash flew over to Twilight, “And I think you might want to as well. I hope that Hamon stuff is still in you.” “Well, yes, but why?” Twilight asked. Instead of saying anything, Rainbow Dash instead took out something from her bag and showed it to Twilight. “I kinda kept it just in case. Although I’m not sure this is gonna work.” Rainbow Dash, in her hoof, held Twilight’s horn. Author's Note Sorry for the lack of updates recently, as I mentioned I've been mainly working on college applications for a while. However, the deadlines are coming up and they should clear up around Jan 15. Again, the chapter is kinda slow right now, but I'm planning back-to-back fight chapters for a bit from here on.
Chapter 5: Stacked OddsHer vision was blurred. She could feel Hamon rippling (heh) throughout her whole body. The bright lights that blanketed her limited vision was quickly dashed away as a figure blocked out the sunlight. Dizzy with the thought that these may be her final moments, she felt as her life quickly flashed before her. She couldn’t help but wonder… how did she get here? And then Chrysalis realized that she knew absolutely nothing. That’s why as your faithful narrator, I will tell you what happened before these not-so-precious moments! Starting from the end of the last chapter… “Oh? What’s this? Did you two transmogrify yourselves into a different species? With those stupid princess amulets? You’re fools if you didn’t realize we can sense the magic that they soak up, Twilight.” Chrysalis stated, facing the space between Jonathan and Jotaro. ‘Wait, does she believe us to be the two ponies? I suppose the rules of magic can be quite flexible…’ Jonathan thought to himself before his musings were interrupted. “Really? Well, I suppose you are a fool, considering you’re addressing Twilight and looking at the space between the two of us. What? Or can’t you tell the kind of magic we’re using?” Jotaro stated. “Yare yare daze, I shouldn’t a bug like you to be that smart, I guess.” “I agree. My friend here does raise a valid point that makes me personally wonder where your head has gone.” Jonathan added. Chrysalis, while enraged, decided not to lower herself into the obvious provocation. Instead, she held herself with a cool exterior. “Can you both honestly be so bold? I’ve brought almost half of my hive with me, ready to extinguish both of your lives!” When she talked about half of her hive, Chrysalis was already aware of how massive it was. At least two hundred of her soldier blanketed the skies above Appleloosa, and five of her trusted elites stood behind her, their black chitin scratching the dust beneath them. “What a f*cking pain. Then try it.” Jotaro met Chrysalis’s gaze with his own penetrating steel eyes. One instant happened. Two things happened. First, Chrysalis had been building up her magical reserves and let loose a shining green magical beam straight at Jotaro. However, it was the second thing that held the interest of Chrysalis. One of the elites behind her voiced his confusion and posed a thought. “Wait, didn’t Nightmare send a report that she broke Twilight’s horn?” Chrysalis’s eyes widened in the next instant. She held in her thoughts as two things happened. First, she recognized that the beings in front of her were likely not Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Second, she stood, bewildered as Jotaro vanished. If perhaps, the beam was aimed at his feet and kicked up dust, then the capped human might be dead. But she aimed straight at his chest, but with no traces, her target just vanished. Where could he have gone? I’m sure all of you readers already know. “I was right. You really are stupid, aren’t you?” In the next instant, Chrysalis could feel the shock hit her all at once. Somehow, between two instants, Jotaro was behind her. However, that sudden realization wasn’t the shock. The shock was the twenty or so impacts that were currently on her torso and abdomen. She barely had time to register her pain before she could turn her head to see the back of one Jotaro Kujo. And then she was sent flying. And not of her own accord. And it was in that instant, that the fight was no longer in instants. “Queen!” The elites all yelled as Chrysalis crashed into a purple barrier, the same that around twenty of her changelings were blocked by to try and catch their queen. The impact let her see one smug-looking Twilight Sparkle walk out of a building with her horn emblazoned with her accompanying purple-colored magic. Her damn horn. Now, another question that may arise is that why were only twenty changelings ready to help Chrysalis and were attacking the barrier when the fact was there were two hundred or so flying above Twilight’s barrier. That answer is simple. There was currently a phenomena cutting through them, ravaging through the changeling ranks. And it was very colorful. “Ah, whoops. Guess that might’ve been a dead giveaway to where we are.” Rainbow Dash said, looking back as her Sonic Rainbow had an additional color added to its edge. Black. Back on the ground, three of the five elites lunged at Jotaro whilst the other two awkwardly pointed at him and said in disharmony, “Get him!” Jotaro took a moment of thought before swinging his left arm and with no other word for it, whacked the changelings back. With no damage seemingly taken. One of the changelings said what they all thought. “That didn’t hurt.” They could feel their smirks reach their cheeks as Chrysalis herself flew back that down, right behind Jotaro. Despite what her changelings thought, Chrysalis was in tremendous pain. She only decided against showing it. But before she could attack Jotaro, a strong voice resounded behind her once more. “I must apologize. But I’m your opponent for this brawl.” Jonathan said, readying himself as Chrysalis turned around. For Jotaro, this entire fight was relatively easy. And obviously a pain. Why? Even though his strike dealt no damage? It was because he simply thought one thing. He needed to hit harder. Jotaro, taking his own initiative, took a step straight into the space in front of one of the idiotic yelling generals before sending him straight into the ground with Star Platinum’s fist. With enough force to make a crater where one changeling named Boser Lug stood. It made a fitting grave. The other idiot changeling that decided to yell, this one actually named Dolu Yell, leaped at Jotaro’s head with a hoof, mouth agape to let out a menacing hiss. He was the only one quick enough to recover from the shock. Or perhaps too stupid to realize what happened, since it was definitely stupid. “Have a nice flight.” Jotaro said before Star Platinum’s fist collided with Dolu’s chin, shutting him up and sending him flying straight up and straight through Twilight’s barrier, leaving a changeling-sized hole in it. However, Dolu’s flight had not ended there! No! It was a connecting flight! Dolu, flight path readjusted by Twilight’s barrier was sent hurdling far into the distance, was being carried so quickly by momentum that if he had more color variety, he would have had his own Sonic *Insert Arbitrary Shortening of a Color Scheme Here*Boom! His body narrowly avoiding a direct collision with Rainbow Dash, causing her to yell down towards Jotaro angrily. “Hey, watch it!” “And don’t break my barrier!” Twilight yelled out, still fatigued from the recent reattachment of her horn. Spotting the twenty or so changelings that crowded around the hole for the opening, Twilight called out, “They’re breaking in!” The three smarter changelings, who for reminder are the elites, could only watch in fear and inwardly panic. And one of those unfortunate souls were grabbed by Star Platinum. But instead of getting punching him in the face as usual, Jotaro threw him straight towards the gap in the barrier, the elite changeling’s body carrying the other twenty along as they tried to join Dolu Yell’s flight themselves. “Heh, what a pain. He was such a weakling.” Jotaro stared towards his right, curious as he saw himself in a gloating posture, and delivered that crappy line you just read. And then he looked to his left, where another Jotaro Kujo stood. This one had the color of his shirt wrong. “Yare yare. Shapeshifting? Seriously? You’re both idiots if you think you can confuse Star Platinum with a stupid parlor trick.” “Star Finger!” Star Platinum’s fingers extended tremendously where Jotaro swung them as if they were a sword, launching the wrong color shirt Jotaro into a building. And out the other side. “Do you understand?” Jotaro slowly turned, his eyes shadowed over by his hat. Fake-Jotaro could feel sweat dripping down with droplets flying as he flinched back when Jotaro pointed towards him. “And if you really want to be Jotaro Kujo…” “Then try reincarnation.” “ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!” Star Platinum cried as it took its time rupturing Fake-Jotaro’s organs and causing massive internal bleeding. Being unable to maintain the form, the elite changeling was sent flying down the street, past a small door that Twilight made as to not feel her magical construct take damage again. Looking upwards, Jotaro could see a rainbow streak darting around the remaining changelings. Seeing that there was barely a few left, Jotaro picked up a small pebble at his feet. As Rainbow Dash approached the small hole in the magical barrier that he made, Jotaro took the effort to jump. Feeling wind behind her, Rainbow Dash turned to see Jotaro standing atop Twilight’s barrier. ‘Wait, did he just jump, like, four stories?!’ Incidentally, the number four is taboo in Korean. Why? Because it can also mean death. Jotaro, using Star Platinum’s strength, threw the pebble at the remaining changelings, who grouped up to feel the power with numbers. That pebble lodged itself into a skull of changeling, before bouncing off and knocking another one unconscious, their bodies slowly sliding down the spherical barrier. A single glare was all it took for the remaining number to flee. “You know, I totally had that covered right?” Rainbow Dash motioned with her hoof. Rather than answering, Jotaro jumped straight back down as the barrier began to dissolve. ‘Yup, still rude.’ Rainbow Dash thought before diving back towards the ground herself. “Jonathan Joestar.” “What?” Chrysalis spat. “It is mere courtesy to give one’s name before a duel such as this. But I suppose I am from a distant culture…” Jonathan said, mentally preparing himself for battle. “Oh, Jonathan! Do you need this? It was over here!” Twilight poked her head out of the sheriff’s building, levitating an artifact over her head. Jonathan, taking great care to not let Chrysalis gain an unexpected advantage, took a quick glance towards Twilight, not turning his head at all despite the fact that she was behind him. After his surprise wore down, Jonathan shot his arm out to motion throwing the sheathed item over. As the object flew over, Chrysalis decided to take action and intercept the sword with her own magic. Unfortunately, this meant that her focus was no longer on Jonathan for a few precious moments, and that Chrysalis was unaware at how much distance Jonathan gained. “Zoom Punch!” Jonathan shot out his arm, dislocating his own shoulder to let the attack gain distance. Chrysalis barely managed to get a shield covering her face before she was blown back by the Hamon-infused punch. As she regained her footing, Chrysalis watched as the scabbard she intercepted lost the magic surrounding it and Jonathan waited it to fall straight into his hand. Pulling the sword from its sheath, revealing a magnificent sheen, Jonathan thumbed over the handle where a word was engraved, with a single letter written across the handle in blood. 「The Sword of Luck and Pluck」 Holstering the scabbard at his waist, Jonathan pulled the sword towards his body, filling it with enough Hamon to produce an aura of fire around it, and silently charged towards Chrysalis. As Jonathan took a short hop to take a downward swing Chrysalis, his sword clashed with her horn, which was enveloped in her own magic to strengthen it. As they both held their ground, Jonathan began to realize that magic was coming from the horn, seemingly draining him of…something. Jumping back to quickly inspect himself, Jonathan thought to himself, ‘S-she drained something…is she a kind of vampire? No, my blood is still in circulation but I-I can still feel something missing.’ A bright light enveloped Chrysalis, and green fire appeared to block Jonathan’s vision even more so as he took a hand to cover his eyes from the glare. When Jonathan looked back, he could feel his grip on the sword waver. Because there stood Erina Pendleton. “E-Erina?!” Jonathan called out. But before he could say anything else, a purple beam shot over his shoulder before ‘Erina’ quickly swiped it aside. “Changelings can turn themselves into other ponies.” Twilight explained as she walked herself beside Jonathan. Trembling a little as a small group of changelings attacked the barrier, Twilight found herself being steadied by Jonathan. “In that case…” Jonathan readied「The Sword of Luck and Pluck」. Chrysalis could feel Jonathan’s cold gaze piercing through her. “Then I will not be fooled by a coward who hides behind another’s face.” “Tch, and here I was hoping you would hold back against the one you love. But those eyes tell me otherwise. So I suppose I must resort to killing you outright.” Chrysalis said as her figure began to become invisible. “Stay away, Twilight. Take caution.” Jonathan gestured a hand backwards as he began to make his walk towards to where Chrysalis previously stood. Suddenly, Jonathan could feel his shoulder being stabbed, blood spurting in front of him. Although he swung behind him immediately, Jonathan knew that he was merely swinging at air. After his whiffed attack, Jonathan felt himself blasted in the back with magic. Jonathan kneeled to the ground, hand supporting his weight as his weapon clanged to the ground beside him. Chrysalis was arrogant. She was already planning on her attempt to fight the other creature that seemed much stronger. Nothing this one did could amount to anything, even if she had to dispel with her magical protections in order to gain this invisibility. “A dead man has no right to call others cowards.” Taking her time to dash around Jonathan after revealing her location, Chrysalis stood at the direction where Jonathan was facing. It would all end with the next attack, and Chrysalis sent a spell right at Jonathan’s downwards head. “False!” Jonathan gripped 「The Sword of Luck and Pluck」and dodged around the spell. “I can feel your every movement!” When Jonathan had kneeled previously, he had done so on purpose! He sent his Hamon energy straight into the ground, using his own senses to detect Chrysalis’s every movement! And Jonathan knew exactly where Chrysalis stood. “Oryaa!” Using the flat edge of the blade, Jonathan sent Chrysalis’s head downward, dispelling her invisibility. Twisting the sword in his hand, Jonathan prepared the flat end of the blade to be used in the next attack. “My heart resonates…hot enough to burn! The beat of my blood is razor-sharp!” “Metal Silver Overdrive!” Jonathan assaulted Chrysalis with an absurd number of sword swipes. The last attack of his barrage sent Chrysalis flying away, dragging along the dirt in her path. Chrysalis could feel the Hamon reverberating around her body, and even in her pain, she felt something being cleansed. Chrysalis’s eyes darted open. She found herself in a pony town, and while she wondered exactly how she had gotten here, there was a more pressing concern. There was currently something holding out an appendage as if to help her up. “Have you regained your wits?” it said. “Perhaps we could try our introductions again?” “My name is Jonathan Joestar.” 「QUEEN CHRYSALIS」 「RETIRED…SORT OF.」 Author's Note My username is 「Clacker Volley」. My password is 「Not Going to be Mentioned Here」. I have a less popular story that I'm writing simultaneously called 「An Alternative Battle Tendency」, that I'm shamelessly promoting. Here you can copy and paste these things here if you don't already know how to get them on your own: 「」. I'm having 「Fun」, can you tell?
Chapter 6: Smoke and Mirrors“Huh? What the heck are you talking about?!” Joseph stared at the bejeweled amulet that Cadence was currently levitating using her magic. The emerald embedded in its golden frame caught light from a lamp above a door frame, light reflecting in Joseph’s eye. “Wear it. It can turn you into a pony as long as I’m using the right magic to charge it.” Cadence explained, hoisting it more towards Joseph. In turn, Joseph flinched backwards at the sudden thrust. “W-why in hell would I want to turn into a pony?! Do you not see this sexy face?!” Joseph whacked the amulet away only for it to swing back and whack Joseph, successfully getting its revenge. “No, I don’t. Because there isn’t one.” Cadence stated, causing Joseph clutching at his chest as if he had been stabbed. “Anyways, we’re taking the street route. Alleys cut off around here, and the streets actually have some ponies that aren’t under the regime’s influence. But having somepony-“ “Ahem!” Joseph made several coughing noises in order to interrupt Cadence. “U-um… about that…” “Okay, fine. Someone…” Cadence trailed off to guarantee Joseph’s approval. After a quick ‘Hmm’ and a nod, Cadence continued, “Someone like you would just garner attention. And we don’t want anything of the sort. It’ll be awkward, but you can take it off when we’re not safe in a relatively public place.” ‘Thank Celestia that she made Manehattan so huge. Even the villains have trouble controlling the massive amount.’ Cadence thought her relief. “W-well, a p-public place…” “…Fine.” Joseph sighed before grabbing the amulet’s chain. Inspecting the back of it, Joseph could see Cadence’s symbol (He refused to call it a cutie mark. He wasn’t a girl, dammit! …At least, most of the time.)was engraved onto it. Taking a moment of thought, Joseph detached the chain from the amulet before putting the chain in his shirt pocket. “Um, why exactly-“ Cadence attempted a question before Joseph cut her off. “Something more important could use it.” Joseph quickly interjected. Holding out the amulet, emerald side facing upward in his palm, Joseph said, “You need to charge this thing, right?” Cadence blinked before getting out of her unexpected stupor. “Yeah, yeah. Right.” Cadence’s horn began to glow, pink magic enveloping the amulet. As he held onto the emerald, Joseph could feel himself change almost immediately. He expected it to be gradual, if he expected anything, at all. Magic as a concept just kind of seemed weird to him. After his height was shortened and his hand turned into a green hoof, Joseph could see the bottom half of his vision become blocked by what he assumed to be his muzzle. At the sudden change, Joseph almost dropped the amulet altogether. He would have as well, if Cadence’s magic hadn’t acted as an adhesive. Sighing, Joseph got over his surprise and put the amulet into his jacket pocket. ‘Wait a minute…’ Joseph thought, before taking a struggle to look at his torso before realizing he could just turn his head sideways. ‘Oh my god! M-my clothes can transform, too?! Although I lost my pants altogether somehow…wait, my boxers!’ “Where did my pants go?” Joseph asked Cadence, careful to not mention his missing boxers since it was clearly a more embarrassing subject. Looking over his shoulder, Cadence confirmed that he did in fact, lose his pants. “Uh…maybe they shrunk into your pockets or something?” Cadence offered an answer, unsure of the result herself. Digging through his left jacket pocket, pushing aside the amulet, Joseph felt nothing. After an awkward fall since he thought he could stand without his fore hooves for a moment, Joseph began searching his right jacket pocket. ‘W-why the hell are they there?!’ Joseph’s face clearly became crestfallen as he felt the shrunken fabric. ‘Screw you, magic!’ “U-um maybe we shouldn’t…” Cadence, realizing that Joseph found his missing garments, began to speak. “Are you ready, then? The street’s just around the corner. Just try and blend in.” Sighing once more, Joseph nodded. “W-what’s going on here?!” Cadence yelled. “Even if it’s not an intersection…!” “Oh no…” Joseph added. “I tried to say something…I’m sorry…” Fluttershy apologized, before joining Joseph and Cadence in their consecutive head turning to the right and left. The streets, as far as all three of them could see, were empty. ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ “W-where is everypony?!” Cadence began to let the panic settle in. “I have an idea.” Cadence and Fluttershy both looked at Joseph with questioning glances. “W-what is it?” “Maybe we should ask the two guys that have been trailing us since maybe half a mile ago.” “W-what?!” Cadence said, backing away in shock, and holding up a hoof on instinct. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she got closer to Cadence and took a look around. Just in time to witness two figures drop from the sky into our protagonists’ sights. One was a male unicorn that had a dull olive green coat and a dirty brown mane. The other was a slim griffon female with black feathers that only began to grey out as they approached her head. Her talons could be heard scratching against the street’s asphalt. “Guess your magic wasn’t so fancy after all, huh, Army Donovan.” The griffon teased as she shot a mocking look to her partner. “I’d suggest avoiding using my full name, Bridget.” The way Donovan addressed her name could almost be seen dripping with malice. “And my magic is flawless. I doubt even Twilight Sparkle could do better. Cadence here certainly didn’t care.” “Blah blah…are you two just going to keep talking? I’d rather know how you both cleared the streets when I know you’ve been tailing us.” Joseph awkwardly pointed the tip of his hoof towards the newcomers. “A teleport here, an illusion there. And a fear spell to make everypony run.” Donovan began to laugh quietly. “I believe one elderly pony even died of a heart attack. It was quite hilarious to see the other ponies trample over his dead body.” “Y-you creep!” Cadence accused, feeling Fluttershy tug at her side. Her ear flickered as she could hear metal clang to the floor behind her. Turning around, Cadence saw the amulet rolling on the street, with Joseph Joestar standing with rage clearly on his face. Cracking his knuckles, Joseph said, “And here I thought you might actually be the good guys. Too bad you’re just a bully that’s about to get his head pounded in.” It was then that Donovan’s laugh cracked against everyone’s eardrums. “You?! You think you can beat me?! With those paltry skills you showed against Cold Blood?!” Donovan’s laugh died down as quickly as it erupted. “Don’t make me laugh. It’s not proper etiquette.” “I call Princess!” Bridget cried as she took flight. Flying faster than Joseph could react, Bridget rushed down Cadence. Cadence was brought along with the tackle, back into the alley that they came from, barely managing to push Fluttershy away from the impact. “Cadence!” Joseph yelled as his shot towards the alleyway before something blasted him straight in the chest. Stumbling back and falling onto his posterior, Joseph looked to Donovan, horn still glowing. “Weren’t you going to pound my head in? Or were you talking of your own pathetic one?” Donovan taunted. “Fluttershy.” Joseph began to stand up, his voice sounding serious for a change. “Help Cadence out. I’ve got Army Douchebag over here.” Although Joseph wasn’t looking in her direction, Fluttershy nodded and flew away from the scene, to catch up with Cadence. “Oh, are you sure of that? You’re going to need all the help you can get.” “Nah, I’m more than enough for an egotistical asshole like you.” Joseph smirked, using a finger to point towards Donovan’s glowing horn. “Maybe you’ll reconsider.” Donovan’s voice came from his left. Darting his vision, Joseph could see that Donovan made a duplicate of himself. “When you realize my practiced technique.” Donovan’s voice came from behind him. Turning, Joseph saw another Donovan standing in the gap of the alleyway, between the massive line of stores of the commercial district. “Practiced technique, huh? You do realize that the way you worded that just sounds dumb, right?” Joseph said, watching as more Donovan’s popped up around him. As one circled towards his right, Joseph quickly kicked the copy's head in, causing it to dissipate. “And another thing...I’m not that bad at fighting groups, you know!” “You’re not? I doubt it matters.” Donovan said, as the entire street began to be covered in thick fog, tinted with the olive green color that accompanied his magic. “The whole smoke and mirrors gag, huh? Guess even with actual magic, ponies still resort to the normal crap. Originality goes a long way.” Joseph said, waiting to hear a response from a direction. “Smoke and mirrors? Far from it. Each of my copies possess my exact physical dexterity and skills…you won’t be able to sense a difference.” One of the Donovan copies came from the shroud only to speak those words and stand on a single spot. When Joseph tried to kick him, the copy quickly retracted and another blast hit him from behind making him fall onto the ground, off balance from lifting his leg to kick. ‘So…he likes attacking my back, huh?’ Joseph kicked himself off the ground, jumping over a Donovan that tried to take advantage of his collapse and lunge onto him. Rather than going where that Donovan was headed, Joseph headed in a direction that seemed completely random. ‘Is he that much of a fool?! I can see through my own fog!’ The real Donovan thought as he used one of his closest copies to send another bolt straight at his back. When it hit, Joseph was in mid-air and the momentum from the attack sent him crashing into one of the stores, glass flying inwards. ‘Into a bakery! Even he can’t find solace from the fog from inside a store!’ Using one of his copies to check, Donovan began inspecting the inside of the bakery from afar. However, he couldn’t see Joseph within. ‘Is he hiding behind the shelves? I can merely send in a few copies inside to horde around him.’ However! Once the Donovan clone began to approach the window, a crouching Joseph appeared that had been using the wall under the window as a visual obstacle! “You’re not the only one who can use smoke and mirrors! Idiot!” Joseph called out as he threw two broken bags of flour around. While polluting his own vision further, Joseph was aware that Donovan could see through his smoke and so he used an artificial means! “You are the idiot here!” Donovan yelled towards the mass of flour polluting the air. “I already know where you are!” Donovan advanced two of his copies to tackle the limited space that the flour provided. When the clones landed on solid ground, Donovan clicked his tongue. Deciding to take a more direct approach, Donovan used his fog magic to disperse itself along with the clouding flour. The air around the entrance of the bakery cleared. And this was when Donovan realized he had made a crucial mistake. His clones had full vision of the interior of the bakery and there were no other doors leading to a back room. And yet, Joseph Joestar had vanished!
