Chapters Twilight's Bizarre Adventure Shining Road
"A museum? Really?"
Rainbow Dash groaned as she and Rarity followed the almost bouncing Twilight Sparkle up the stairs to the Canterlot Museum. Twilight waited for her two new friends at the door, unable to stay still and having to push up her glasses almost every second.
"Hush, Rainbow Dash! We all decided to let Twilight pick where we hang out today, so no complaining," Rarity said to her tomboyish friend, patting away her sweat with a handkerchief.
"I'm happy to hang out with our world's Twilight but seriously, a museum? There's like nothing to do but look at old stuff at museums," Rainbow Dash argued. "And where's everyone else? It's just you and me, Rarity."
"Applejack is working on the farm, Sunset is at her part-time job, Fluttershy is volunteering at the animal shelter again, and Pinkie is babysitting the Cake twins," Rarity answered. "They all wished they could be here but they already made arrangements. It's just you and me who are free today, dear."
Rainbow Dash groaned again as she and Rarity finally reached the top of the stairs and the entrance to the Canterlot Museum.
"You sure took a long time," Twilight said. "Y-you're a bunch of s-slowpokes!"
The two stared at Twilight as she flashed them a nervous smile while she played with her fingers.
"W-was that alright? Friends talk to each other like that, right?"
"It was a nice try, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said patting Twilight on the head.
"Just be yourself, dear," Rarity told Twilight. "Here I'll help. What are we doing at the museum today, Twilight?"
Twilight's expression immediately brightened up. "There's this special exhibit at the museum for only this week and today's the last day they're having it," she answered losing her meekness in an instant. "It's a meteorite from a meteoroid that is supposed to have crashed on Earth thousands of years ago and we can touch it! Can you imagine it? Touching something that is thousands of years old and used to shoot through space until it crashed on our planet? I'm so excited to finally touch a meteorite. I just wish Spike was here with me so he can touch it too. He would love it, I'm sure, but mom wanted to bring him to the vet today and-"
Twilight stopped when she realized she was rambling. She smiled nervously at her friends, a blush soon appearing.
"That's our Twilight," Rarity said hugging the embarrassed young woman. "Dear, just open up and talk to us like that and everything'll be fine."
"Quit it with the mushy stuff," Rainbow Dash said. "Let's get this over quick so we can do what I want!"
"Don't mind that brute, dear," Rarity said. "She just doesn't get the value of age and such."
Twilight chuckled and afterwards, entered the museum with her two friends. Again, her expression brightened when in the presence of ancient artifacts. Rarity and Rainbow Dash watched as Twilight moved from exhibit to exhibit, listing off fact after fact that neither of them understood very well. They were just happy that Twilight was having fun. The two, however, quickly got impatient as they spent almost an hour listening to Twilight's trivia. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep while the three were in the Middle Ages section of the museum.
"So what about that meteorite, Twilight?" Rarity said elbowing Rainbow Dash in the side.
"Oh yeah," Twilight said realizing the reason they were at the museum. "It's over here, girls."
Rarity and Rainbow Dash followed Twilight to the most crowded part of the museum (compared to the rest) to see the exhibit Twilight was excited to finally see. She was jumping up and down with Pinkie Pie-like excitement when she saw how small the line to touch the meteorite was.
"It's not even going to take five minutes before we can touch it!" Twilight said.
"I'm going to have to past, dear," Rarity said. "There is no way I'm touching something that crashed God know where thousands of years ago-"
"The sign says it crashed in Greenland," Rainbow Dash pointed out.
"Not the point, Dash," Rarity responded. She held up her immaculate and trimmed fingernails. "I just got a manicure and I don't want to go back to the spa just because some meteorite dust got under my nails."
"And I don't want to," Rainbow Dash told Twilight, earning herself another elbow in the side from Rarity.
"Don't mind us, dear," Rarity said. "We're happy when you're happy. Isn't that right, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash nodded her head in response. Twilight wanted her friends to touch the meteorite too but decided it wouldn't be right to force them. She still gets to touch it anyways.
And so Twilight waited in the line and before long, it came to her turn to touch the meteorite. The curator, a middle-aged but still beautiful woman wearing a sweater and a long skirt, handed the meteorite to the overjoyed young woman. Twilight took the meteorite, amazed by its weight and feel in her hands. The curator, Twilight's friends, and another mysterious figure had their hands on the young bespectacled woman holding the meteorite in her hands.
"So this is what a meteorite feels like?" Twilight whispered to herself.
She could feel a kind of energy emanating from within the rock. It wasn't a normal meteorite, that's for sure. Twilight wanted to bring the meteorite to her lab at home and study it in depth.
Twilight's experience holding the meteorite, however, came to an abrupt end.
"OW!"
Twilight dropped the meteorite immediately and clutched her right hand to her chest. The curator and Twilight's friends immediately rushed to her side to see blood trickling out of the young woman's clutched hands.
"I'll get the first aid kit," the curator told Twilight and her friends before running off.
The world started to spin in Twilight's eyes soon after the curator left. Her friend's worried expressions burned into her eyes before everything became a swirling blur. She tried to reassure her friends that she'll be alright but no words came out of her mouth. The swirling blur soon turned into complete blackness as the young woman lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
A young man wearing a trench coat and a hat that hid his face watched the whole scene that unraveled in front of him. He clutched his breast tightly after witnessing Twilight faint.
"This young woman has the potential! The potential…"
"To wield a Stand!"
It wasn't long before Twilight regained consciousness. She woke up in a hospital bed in a small blue and white room but details escaped her as everything was still a blur. Her eyes instead focused the human-like figure sitting by her bed.
"You're finally awake, Twilight!"
Twilight felt relief upon hearing the sound of her big brother Shining Armor's voice. She watched as her big brother stood up.
"I bet you can't see anything without these glasses, Twily," he said picking up his sister's glasses.
Shining Armor gently placed his sister's glasses over her eyes, allowing her to finally see with clarity.
"Thank you, Shining," Twilight said with a smile. Her smile quickly disappeared. "What am I doing in the hospital?"
"You came down with a terrible fever, sis," Shining Armor answered. "You had Mom and Dad really worried. They left Spike at alone at home too."
Twilight felt terrible for making her parents worry and especially having forced her parents to leave Spike alone at home. Being a puppy, Spike hated to be alone.
"Mom and Dad are talking with the doctor right now," he told her. "Your fever disappeared as quickly as it appeared but they're going to keep you here overnight just in case."
"That makes sense," Twilight said.
"By the way, Twily, I didn't know you made so many friends," Shining Armor said with a smile. "They're all in the waiting room. I heard most of them left their responsibilities behind to visit you…"
"It makes me happy to know my little sister has so many good friends."
Twilight's expression brightened immediately. She wiped her eyes before the tears could come out.
"Can… can I see them?" Twilight asked. "They must be really worried."
Shining Armor smiled at his sister. "I'll ask the doctor for you but I see no reason they can't."
Twilight smiled back at her big brother as he left the room. A few minutes later, the door swung open and her Canterlot High friends came pouring through. Pinkie Pie bounced around the room, setting up balloons and yelling "Get Well Party!" while doing so. Applejack gave her an apple and Fluttershy peeled it for her while Rarity and Rainbow Dash were crying on her shoulders, telling her that that they were so scared. Sunset, meanwhile, wanted to know how touching the meteorite felt like, which Twilight happily explained.
They couldn't visit long. A nurse recognized Pinkie Pie, of whom she was later told wasn't allowed in the maternity ward due to trying throw birthday parties for the newly born babies, when she came to check on the noise coming out of her room. The nurse immediately tossed Pinkie Pie out and the rest of her friends left soon after, each telling her to get well soon so they can hang out.
Once the room was emptied, her parents came in, glad their daughter was alright. They told her that they'll take care of Spike for the night. Before they left, her parents gave Twilight her mp3 player and books from her personal library, knowing she'd get bored if she had nothing to read. After her parents left, visiting hours were over, leaving Twilight by herself with only her books for company. She didn't mind since she spent countless evenings the same way, reading until she fell asleep.
Twilight, however, noticed that she hadn't eaten the apple Applejack had given her and Fluttershy peeled. It still looked good. Wasn't turning brown from exposure to the air and still dripping with juice.
"I should eat it now, before it goes bad."
Twilight reached for the apple and it happened in an instant.
A strange arm covered in purple armor with stars resembling her hairpin covering its knuckles appeared out of thin air. Its hands grasped the apple before Twilight could grab it. Its grip, however, was far too strong for the soft apple, causing it to explode. Twilight let out a scream as apple bits and juices sprayed over her, her bed, and the hospital floor. She stared at the crushed apple core lying on her room's nightstand, confused as to what had happened.
"What… what was that?"
Several hours passed since Twilight saw that strange arm appear besides her own and crush her apple. She had no idea what it was but after hours of reading, it became a mere thought in the back of her head. It was a marvel of reading for Twilight. No matter what happens, as long as Twilight has a book to read, she can push anything aside.
Outside her window, the sun fell and the moon rose. Outside her window, the view turned near black. Any minute now, a nurse would enter the room and turn off the lights, forcing her to go to sleep. She continued reading her books, waiting for the sound of a turning door handle.
However, it didn't come. Twilight continued to lose herself in her books. Time passed by until the young woman finished her current book and took a glance at the clock.
"It's past midnight," Twilight said to herself while pulling out her headphones. "Isn't a nurse supposed to turn off all the lights?"
Curious, Twilight looked around the room before jumping out of her bed. Her eyes moved to the door. She tiptoed over to it and took a glance outside. She was surprised to see that there wasn't a single soul outside the door.
Maybe tonight's a quiet night, Twilight thought to herself as she took a step outside her room. Her curiosity pulled her towards investigating the reason why no nurse came to her room to shut off the lights. She walked down the hallways but still, nobody.
"Where is everybody?" she wondered. "It's like they suddenly disappeared…"
"KYAAAH!"
A woman's scream echoed from down the hallway. Twilight didn't know why but she found herself running towards the scream. It didn't take long for her to reach the source as she found herself at the reception desk at the hospital entrance. Twilight was more than surprised at what she saw.
It was like a hurricane had come through. Seats were ripped out of the floor, files tossed all around, and small craters in the floor like something hard and heavy had fallen. In the middle of all the mayhem, stood a single man. The man had a shaved head and wore a bright blue jacket with no shirt underneath, revealing his toned torso muscles, and a pair of ragged jeans. He paid no attention to Twilight as he pulled out a digital camera.
"Such a nice expression you have," he said taking pictures of the floor in front of him. "The right amount of terror mixed with despair. I love it…"
Twilight wondered what he was talking about until she took a closer look at the spot in front of the man.
She held in her gasp as she saw the body of a female nurse pasted onto the floor like art. Her face was twisted with terror, tears running down her cheeks. The man continued to take pictures of her with a wide, almost wild, grin on his face.
He stopped after a minute, putting the digital camera back in his pocket, and raised his head. Twilight dove behind a nearby pillar before the man saw her.
"Back to the job," he said. He pulled out a note from his jacket pocket. "I'm looking for a… Twilight Sparkle? She's the new Stand User, huh?"
Twilight's heart skipped a beat upon hearing her name come out of the man's mouth. He was looking for her and caused this destruction in his search but why? Why did he want Twilight? She wasn't anything special. Her friends were the ones who can use magic, not her. She's just a normal high school girl.
And what did he mean by new Stand User?
Her questions weren't answered as the pillar she hid behind exploded above her. She couldn't help but scream at the sudden explosion.
"I knew somebody was there," the man said. "And another girl too. I'm sure lucky today."
Twilight tried to run but before she could, something grabbed her right wrist and forcefully pulled her back. She looked behind her, expecting to see the man but instead saw a far more terrifying sight.
The man himself wasn't grabbing her right wrist, instead it was some strange blue creature standing behind him that was. The creature looked as if it was a mix between a fish and a machine molded into the shape of an adult man. Its face was like a steel mask with a single hole, exposing the large fish-like eye underneath. One of its very long and gangly arms were wound tightly around her right hand like an octopus' tentacles.
Twilight couldn't help but scream at the sight of the monstrosity before her.
"What… what is that thing!?"
"Wait, you can see FLOW?" her attacker asked noticing Twilight's eyes were on the strange being instead of him. "That's impossible unless…"
The man grinned, causing a shiver to run up Twilight's spine.
"You're Twilight Sparkle, aren't you?"
"What do you want with me!?" Twilight yelled.
"Somebody very special wants to meet you, Twilight," the man said in a tone one would use to speak to a child. "You have an ability my client is very interested in."
The strange being pulled Twilight closer to the man. Twilight felt like her arm would be ripped off if it used any more force. The creature pulled, ignoring her pain, until Twilight was sitting in front of the man.
"But you have this look about you," the man said grabbing Twilight's chin and forcing her to look at him. "I wonder how you'll look with your face twisted with fear…"
Twilight felt another shiver run along her spine.
There was, however, another feeling coming from right hand but Twilight screamed again when she saw what the feeling was.
Her hand was shrinking! Like it was being deflated, her hand shrunk until it was about as thin as paper. The deflating moved onto her right forearm, causing it to become as thin as her hand.
What Twilight did next was what would be called the Fight-Flight Response. When a perceived threat to its survival appears, most life either choose between fighting the threat or flee from it. When the option to flee is no longer available, even the cornered mouse will fight back against the cat!
Twilight choose to fight for her survival and summoned by reflex the strange hand from before. She had no time to question how it appeared, only enough time to fight back against her attacker. The strange arm swung itself at the man, landing a clean punch on his cheek. The surprise attack caused the strange being behind him to loosen its grip on Twilight's paper-like arm. Twilight pulled away her affected arm and chose to flee instead of continuing to fight.
"Nowhere to run, Twilight!" her attacker laughed. "All the exits but the front door are blocked! You have no choice but to become my next subject!"
The man took a step forward but a powerful force exerted itself upon him. He tripped on nothing, landing on his face. Blood trickled out of his nose as he wondered why he tripped.
Unknown to the man, a mark shaped like Twilight's hairpin, a pink star, had imprinted itself onto the spot where Twilight had punched him. A faint word was spelled inside the mark, which disappeared with the mark a few seconds later.
Written inside the star mark was word 'TRIP'…
Twilight didn't know where to run but knew she had to keep running. This man must've had magic like her friends but it didn't feel like magic. Twilight knew first-hand what magic felt like. That strange being behind her attacker didn't feel like magic but only magic could explain the existence of such a monster with the power to turn her hand into something as thin as paper. Her curiosity demanded she research the being but her instincts ordered her to continue running.
If that man catches her, there would be no more research to satisfy her curiosity. Her curiosity will just have to wait.
Twilight ran around a corner but smashed into the chest of a much larger man. For a second, she thought her attacker had caught her but looking up, she saw a large muscular man with a head of grey hairs. His uniform suggested that he must be the hospital's janitor.
"What's the hurry, little girl," the man said to the fallen Twilight.
"You have to get out of here!" Twilight yelled jumping back to her feet. "There's this crazy guy chasing after me and…"
"Slow down," the janitor said. "There's a man chasing after you?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, leave it to me," he said pushing Twilight behind his back.
"But he's very dangerous! He can-"
"Little girl, I was in the military for twenty years before I retired and became a janitor," he told Twilight. "Even these old muscles can hold up against muscles a third of my age."
The janitor seemed very confident in his body but Twilight knew better. That strange being cannot be beaten by a single man. Maybe if they had a full platoon armed with the best weapons possible, they might stand a chance of winning, but a single man wouldn't make a difference.
Despite her protests, however, the old man was determined to protect Twilight from her attacker.
Once the attacker came into view of the two, the janitor rose his voice.
"Stay away, boy! This girl isn't interested!" he yelled.
Twilight's attacker ignored the janitor and continued to run towards his target.
"I'm warning you right now, I've killed a man before and I'm not afraid to do it again to protect an innocent woman!"
He ignored the janitor's threat, instead summoning the strange being from before again. Twilight expected the janitor to react to the strange being's appearance but from the look on his face, he couldn't see it. Only Twilight could see that monster.
"Get out of my way!" Twilight's attacker yelled. "I'm not interested in men expressions so I'll be quick!"
The strange being's tentacle-like arms wrapped around the man's head.
"Huh? Is there something grabbing me?" the janitor said unaware of the grip the strange being had on his head.
The janitor couldn't speak anymore as his large and muscular body deflated almost instantly. Twilight held in her scream as the once large man became as flat as paper in front of her.
"I hate using my ability on men," her attacker said grabbing the flattened man by the head.
Twilight's attacker tossed the paper-thin man onto the nearby wall. The man stuck to the wall as if he was glued on and soon, melded into the material of the wall. The man who bravely tried to protect Twilight was now a part of the wall her attacker stuck him on.
"Now it's your turn, Twilight Sparkle!"
The strange being grabbed onto her left leg and Twilight could feel it go limp as her leg became as thin as her right forearm.
Twilight tried to fight back, summoning the strange arm by reflex again. That strange arm appeared to protect her again. This time, however, her attacker was prepared. The being behind him grabbed the strange arm by the wrist before it could punch its face like before. Twilight winced, somehow feeling her own wrist being grasped by a powerful grip. The being tightened its grip on the strange arm, causing Twilight to somehow feel the pain as well.
"You won't take me by surprise anymore," her attacker said lifting his arm. The being behind him mirrored his movements. Twilight gasped as an invisible force lifted her up into the air by her left wrist. Her attacker wiped off the trail of blood falling from his nose before continuing. "Your Stand has quite the punch, girl. I've been punched in the face many times before but yours actually left me in a daze. I couldn't keep my balance."
Twilight's impressive intelligence immediately told her that she was being lifted into the air because the being behind her attacker was lifting the strange arm that came out of her. Somehow, she and that strange arm were connected. Whatever happened to that strange arm happened to her arm as well.
Maybe… maybe she can make the arm move…
"That means I can't let you figure out how to use a Stand," her attacker said. "It's just too risky! Sorry but you got to go to sleep! You would've have been a perfect subject!"
The being behind her attacker lifted its free arm, swinging it down with its full might at Twilight head.
Twilight flinched, closing her eyes. Waiting for the moment her consciousness is struck silent…
But the moment never came.
"What… what the hell is this!?"
Twilight opened her eyes and again, gasped.
Vines were wrapped all around her attacker's body as well as the being standing behind him. They struggled to move but the vines were too intertwined around them. Struggling only made their situation worse. Twilight took advantage of his situation and willed the strange arm to slip out of the being's grip, surprising herself when the arm responded exactly how she thought it would.
Twilight wondered where the vines were coming from and looked up at the ceiling. The vines, however didn't come from above the ceiling.
The vines were the ceiling!
Each tile directly above was partially transformed into the vines tangled around her attacker. Before Twilight could try and think of a scientific reason why the ceiling transformed into vines, the voice of a young man echoed throughout the building.
"I cannot stand by and watch as the weak and innocent are harmed," The young man's voice said. "Especially when it's a young woman who cannot yet defend herself…"
"Who the hell are you?"
Twilight and her attacker watched a young man wearing a trench coat and a hat that hid his face appear from a nearby window, which had been transformed into plants like the ceiling above to allow the young man access to the building. The young man turned to face the two, his hands placing themselves on the collar of his trench coat and the rim of his hat.
"A gangster is a man who fights to protect the weak, not prey upon them!" he said tossing off his trench coat, revealing the two-piece blue suit he wore underneath. "When I see the weak and innocent tortured for no reason, like these poor souls who posed no threat, by one who calls himself a gangster…"
With his free hand, the young man pointed at the wall where Twilight's attacker hung the flattened janitor.
"My anger cannot be contained! This injustice against my honor as a gangster must be corrected!"
The young man threw off his hat, revealing a head of brilliant gold hair styled into three distinctive swirls. Upon seeing his face, Twilight couldn't help but feel a powerful charismatic aura emanating from him. Men fall to their knees in his presence and follow him with all their being. This man was born to be a powerful leader and nothing else.
And his eyes… his eyes burned with righteous anger at Twilight's attacker.
The young man pointed at her attacker. Twilight's attacker felt fear rising from deep within his heart when his eyes met the young man's.
"Downstream, know you have incurred the wrath of the boss of the Passione…"
"Giorno Giovanna!"
Twilight's attacker's jaw dropped at the young man's words. He shook with terror as he realized exactly who the man in front of him was.
"Giorno Giovanna…" Twilight's attacker Downstream whispered. He raised his voice. "That's not possible! Why is the boss of the Passione here in America!? Passione only has territory in Italy, not the States!
The young man Giorno Giovanna smirked at the thug's reaction to him. He didn't bother to answer his questions, instead he simply began walking towards him. Giorno took his time walking, letting Downstream panic even more the closer the young man got to him.
"Damn it! Get me out of here! FLOW!"
Giorno reacted in a split-second. "Gold Experience!"
A slim and golden human-like being appeared from within Giorno's body, charging towards Downstream. The golden being launched a barrage of punches towards the man but not a single punch landed. With a sound like a balloon deflating, Downstream himself had transformed his own body to be as thin as paper. The force of the golden being's punches provided a gust of wind that allowed Downstream to escape his vine prison. Twilight and Giorno watched as Downstream's flattened paper-like body glided towards a nearby door, disappearing underneath the gap between the door and the floor.
Giorno ran past Twilight. He threw open the door to the room Downstream escaped into but he was too late. The room was empty with a single window left opened. Downstream had already escaped.
Twilight felt her right arm and left leg returning back to normal the moment Downstream had escaped. Unfortunately, the janitor Downstream pasted onto the wall didn't turn back to normal. Twilight assumed the rest of the hospital staff she saw was the same.
"Looks like if you leave his Stand's range, any flattened body parts return to normal," Giorno said appearing back into Twilight's sight. His eyes moved to the janitor on the wall. "But if you're completely flattened, you don't turn back. A dangerous ability but I've faced much deadlier Stands before."
Twilight looked up at the young man and tried to speak. No intelligible words left her mouth but Giorno seemed to understand what she was trying to ask.
"What you saw are called Stands, manifestations of psychic energy coming from its user," Giorno explained while holding his hand to Twilight. Twilight could see the being he called Gold Experience standing just a centimeter out of Giorno's body, stretching its hand out to her as well. "This is my Stand, Gold Experience. The fact that you can see him is proof that you have become a Stand User as well. Only Stand Users can see Stands."
"B-but how and why?" Twilight asked taking Giorno's hand.
Giorno pulled up the young woman off the floor and onto her feet. "You touched the meteorite and was cut by it," he answered. Before Twilight could speak, he continued. "The material that meteorite is made of can cause one's latent ability to be awakened. I had planned to take the meteorite before any Stand Users were born but as you can see, I've failed. The event happened much earlier than I was told and I allowed a young woman to become a Stand User..."
Giorno fell to a knee and bowed to the confused Twilight. Twilight blushed, unable to process the sight before her.
"I am truly sorry that my failure led to such a fate," Giorno told her. "As the boss of the Passione, I am fully prepared to compensate you for anything you ask for. All you have to do is ask and I shall do everything within my power and that of the Passione's to grant it."
Giorno seemed to feel very strong remorse for being unable to stop Twilight from becoming a Stand User, whatever that is. His offer to do anything Twilight sounded sincere as well. Going from her attacker's reaction, the Passione must be a very big organization with a lot of power. Twilight felt like she could really ask him for anything and he would provide...
Twilight, however, would not take advantage of the young man's kindness.
She placed a hand on Giorno's shoulder, causing the young man to raise his head expectantly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. Like you said, it was out of your control," Twilight said with a smile. "So… could you please get up? Your bowing down to me is making me a little uncomfortable."
Giorno bowing down to her made her feel like she was a Princess. She, or rather an alternate world version of herself, was a Princess in another world but here on Earth? She's just a normal high school girl… who can suddenly summon a powerful being called a Stand. Being bowed to still made her very uncomfortable.
"Of course," Giorno said complying to her request and standing back up. "But my offer still stands. Ask of me anything and I shall do all in my power to grant it. It's the least I can do for allowing such a situation to happen."
Twilight thought to herself about her request. It would be very unlikely Giorno would leave her alone until he granted her request. Just what should she asked for? Money? No, her family has enough money. Fame? No way! Twilight hated the thought of being better than others or others praising her for anything she didn't earn.
What would the other Twilight, the other her, ask for?
A light went off in her head. Twilight knew exactly what to request from Giorno Giovanna.
"Could… could you be my friend?" She asked, unable to hide her embarrassment from asking such a question.
Giorno stood confused by Twilight's question for about a few second before letting out an amused chuckle.
"You want to be friends with a gangster like me?"
"Y-yes!" Twilight answered. "Friends help each other, right? If we become friends, then you can help me learn how to use my Stand and protect myself. And as your friend, I'll help you too. Somehow..."
Giorno let out another amused chuckle. "Fine then, I shall grant your request. I, Giorno Giovanna, boss of the Passione, am now your friend!"
Twilight smiled with Giorno, despite being further embarrassed by the fact that the young man had announced he was now Twilight's friend.
The moment, however, abruptly ended as a bullet came out from an untouched wall, ripping off Giorno's left forearm.
"You got him, Summer! That bastard's arm is gone!"
A tall man with light yellow skin in a black skinsuit chuckled to himself while Downstream's voice came out of a radio, congratulating him. His long tongue slid out of his mouth and wrapped itself around one of his long blue bangs. His hands remained gripped tightly on his sniper rifle with his eye glued onto the rifle's scope. Despite the sight of the scope showing him only the wall of the hospital, the man knew exactly where Giorno and their target Twilight stood. He ejected the empty rifle round before getting ready to take another shot.
"You can't hide from me," the young man said to himself. "I don't care if you're the boss of the Passione or God himself, I won't let you stop us from completing our job."
The young man removed his eye from the scope, revealing a sheet of otherworldly metal surrounding his completely green eye patterned like a grid. A cord connected the metal around the man's eye to his Stand, a baby-sized creature made out of gears and coils with binocular-like eyes. The Stand focused its eyes on the spot where Giorno and Twilight stood, making clicking sounds as it sent information to the young man's optic nerve through the cord.
"There's nowhere to hide, Giorno Giovanna!" Summer Lie announced. "My Stand Baby Metal will find you, no matter where you are!"
Stand- FLOW
User- Downstream
Power- B
Speed- C
Range- D
Staying- D
Precision- C
Learning- D
Ability- Everything and anything touched by FLOW will be flattened to point of being paper-like. Larger objects take more time to flatten (a human being would take half a minute to fully flatten unless its Downstream himself or he grabs the head). Once an object is fully flattened, Downstream can then paste the affected to any surface, making it a part of the surface. Once pasted onto a surface, it is impossible to remove and breaking the surface will break the affected as well. Only Downstream can remove a flattened object from its surface.
Twilight's Bizarre Adventure Shining Road
Twilight screamed as Giorno's severed forearm fell onto the white floor, staining it with the young man's blood. Blood flowed out of Giorno's wound like a faucet until the young man tied tightly the remains of his suit's arm around his bicep. Twilight was too horrified by the severed arm to notice that Giorno wasn't at all affected by the loss of a limb. The pain radiating throughout his body didn't even change his determined expression.
"Another Stand User," Giorno said. "It must be Downstream's partner, Summer Lie."
"H-how are you so calm?" Twilight said finally noticing the young man's expression. "Your arm just got blown-"
"Get down!"
Giorno summoned Gold Experience and used his Stand to push Twilight out of the way of the next attack. Another rifle bullet came out of the strangely unaffected wall but this time, it barely grazed Giorno's cheek. He ignored the blood trickling out of his wound as he turned to the wall from where the bullet came from. The wall had absolutely no sign of damage despite a bullet having just been shot through it.
"A bullet that ignores obstacles…" Giorno faced Twilight. "It looks like Summer Lie is aiming to take me out first, Twilight Sparkle. Downstream is still a threat as well. He'll try and kidnap you while I'm occupied with his partner. Before he does, he'll do his best to hurt you as much as he can before he finishes the job. I know because I've faced scumbag sadists like him before."
"What should we do then?"
"We'll do what they want us to," Giorno answered. "We'll split up and take them one on one."
Twilight felt her legs start to give away. A bookworm who barely ever goes outside fighting against a disturbed man with a strange and powerful ability who was hired to kidnap her? There's just no contest. Twilight was going to lose.
"W-why should we split up? Aren't we stronger fighting together?" Twilight argued.
"Downstream will have the advantage if we fight him while Summer Lie is still around," Giorno explained. "I can't dodge bullets and Downstream's Stand at the same time. Splitting up and fighting them one on one will allow us both to focus on defeating our opponents without outside influence. They will believe they have the advantage and let their guards down."
"B-but…"
"I believe in you, Twilight Sparkle!" Giorno placed his hand on Twilight's shoulder and locked eyes with her. "I can see a light shining in your eyes! It is a light that shines like the North Star! You have the spirit that will fight for what you hold dear! As your friend, I know you will succeed!"
"Arrivederci!"
With that said, Giorno switched his attention towards his opponent Summer Lie and sprinted out of sight, distancing himself from Twilight while also thinking of a strategy.
Once he left, Twilight realized that she still had one question left. A question she should've asked long ago.
"W-wait! How do I use my Stand!"
Summer Lie saw that Giorno's signal distanced itself from Twilight's, leaving the young woman alone. He followed Giorno's figure with his scope before turning it back to the lonely Twilight. He picked up his radio and pressed down on its button.
"Get back in there, Downstream!" Summer Lie yelled. "Giorno Giovanna left Twilight Sparkle behind! Now's your chance to kidnap her!"
"Gotcha, Summer Lie!" Downstream's voice responded.
Summer Lie placed his radio back down on the grass. He turned the barrel of his rifle back to the sprinting figure of Giorno Giovanna.
"I'll make sure Giorno doesn't get in the way again…"
Twilight wandered around the deserted hospital hallways, coming across even more of Downstream's work. Doctors, nurses, other hospital employees, and even patients were pasted onto the walls or floors of the hospital. The janitor was lucky to have escaped the fate of everyone else until he met Twilight. Downstream was busy trying to get rid of anyone who might get in his way of kidnapping Twilight, only ignoring the patients who were unconscious. A few expressions she passed were ones of terror and upon seeing Downstream's reaction to one of his victims…
The young woman trembled at the thought. "There's no way I can beat him," Twilight whispered to herself. "I don't even know how to use my Stand."
Twilight lifted her arm and tried summoning the strange arm that protected her before. It appeared before her, to her surprise. She tried moving the fingers of the strange arm and let out an excited gasp as the strange arm did exactly what she thought. It was easier to move the arm if she moved her own arm with it but it could still move with just her thoughts. Twilight also found out that the arm couldn't move far from her body. It could only move about a meter away from her.
"But Giorno and that guy could summon whole bodies," Twilight said remembering Giorno's Gold Experience and Downstream's FLOW. "This arm is all I can bring out. How am I going to beat Downstream with just one arm?"
"You're not going to, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight jumped at the sound of Downstream's voice. She spun around to see the man standing just a few meters away from her, coming out of an unoccupied room Twilight had checked earlier. His Stand, FLOW, instantly appeared behind the man when he made eye contact with Twilight.
"You're starting to learn how to summon your Stand," he said witnessing Twilight's experiments with summoning the strange arm. "And you see, I just cannot allow that to happen right now. It would make my job far more troublesome."
Downstream's Stand flung one of its tentacle-like arms at Twilight. Its attempt to grab Twilight again failed as the young woman willed the strange arm to smack it aside.
"Let's see you handle this, kid!"
Downstream tossed a handful crumpled up pieces of paper at Twilight. Each one inflated in seconds, restoring them to their true shape. Twilight gasped as dumpsters, tires, and much more random junk came flying at her. The strange arm punched through what it could but Twilight was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer size and number of objects being tossed at it. She was forced to take cover behind one of the dumpsters her arm had punched and wait for the falling storm of junk to stop.
Twilight, however, noticed something strange about the dumpster she hid behind. Right in the middle of the dent caused by the arm's punch, there seemed to something stamped. It resembled the hairpin, a pink star, she always wore. Inspecting the pink star further revealed that a single word was written upon it.
"Protect…"
Twilight's thoughts were interrupted as Downstream came jumping over the dumpster she hid behind. His Stand's arms whipped towards her, clearly aiming to grab her again. Twilight jumped back with all her strength and watched as FLOW's arms smashed the floor. The moment Twilight's feet touched the floor, she begun sprinting.
Twilight, however, immediately winced as a sharp pain came from her unprotected foot. She was forced to stop and look down at her foot. Her balance shook when she saw the six-inch nail sticking out of her foot. She fought back a scream at the sight. A closer look showed Twilight that other than Downstream's past victims, the floor was covered with flattened paper-like objects like nails, knifes, and tiny toy blocks for some reason.
"The floor's a minefield, girl," Downstream chuckled. He grinned at the sight of Twilight's pained expression. "I was told to cripple you in the case you fought back but I wasn't told to make it quick."
Twilight forced herself to run away before his Stand could grab her leg. She limped away, not paying any attention to the floor.
Downstream let out another laugh as Twilight screamed once again. Another nail had pierced the same foot as before.
"Look where you're going, Twilight Sparkle! You're just making my job easier!" Downstream laughed as he made his way towards his target.
Twilight summoned the strange arm again, swinging it at her attacker the moment he stepped into her range. Downstream took a step back, letting the fist graze the tip of his chin. Before he could regain his balance, Twilight took a step forward as well and pushed Downstream back with her own arms. The man lost his balance and fell onto his back. His grin immediately disappeared as he felt several objects pierce his back.
"What… the hell?" Downstream stood up and pulled out several nails and small knifes out of his back. He stared at the bloody nails and knifes in his hands.
"I-I was looking where I walked," Twilight told him. "You set it up so the traps activated the moment I touched them, didn't you?"
Downstream begun grinding his teeth as he dropped the nails and knifes. "Did you… did you just use my own trick against me?"
Twilight smiled and bluntly said "Yes."
Downstream struck Twilight with the back of his hand, knocking her glasses away and causing her long hair to break loose. She landed on several more of Downstream's flattened traps, stabbing her side with several nails. Tears trickled down Twilight's cheek as her hospital gown was stained with her blood.
"That's it," Downstream growled. "I'm all out of patience now."
Downstream placed the sole of his shoe on Twilight's side and began to lightly push down. Twilight cried out as the nails in her sides dug even deeper inside. One of the nails was scraping her rib cage, causing her pain as she breathed. The tears came out faster as Downstream continued pushing down on Twilight's body.
"This was supposed to be an easy job," Downstream told Twilight, kicking her in the gut. "Kidnap one girl and get paid. That was all I was supposed to do but you just had to fight back! I hate it when women like you fight back!"
Downstream stopped pushing down on the young woman's side. He lifted Twilight by her loose hair and pulled her up to his face. His expression was blurry to Twilight's eyes but she could still see and feel the increasing irritation building up.
"What should I do to make your expression change to one I like?" he said examining Twilight's face. It was full of pain but it wasn't quite the expression he was looking for. "There's just not enough fear and despair yet…"
Twilight summoned her Stand's arm but the moment it appeared, Downstream's FLOW grabbed it before it could help her escape. Twilight winced as FLOW tightened its grip on her Stand's arm to the point it felt like her own arm was breaking.
"Maybe torture one of your parents in front of you?" he continued ignoring Twilight's last attempt to escape his grip on her.
Twilight couldn't save herself with just one arm of her Stand. She needed the whole body, like Giorno's Gold Experience and Downstream's FLOW. She tried summoning more of her Stand but nothing appeared.
"One of your friends? All of them? Should I torture them too?"
Twilight shut her eyes as she tried harder to summon her full Stand. Nothing happened yet again.
Giorno believed she could win on her own but Twilight didn't. She wanted somebody, anybody, to save her. She was too weak to save herself. She needed and wanted her friends by her side. She couldn't do anything by herself.
"Do you have a pet? A dog?"
Twilight's ear twitched.
"Bingo," Downstream said noticing Twilight's reaction. "You do have a dog and I guess you love it-"
"Don't call Spike 'it'. He's a boy."
"Sorry, you love him very much," he said mockingly. "I'm sure you'll give me the expression I want if I throw your precious Spike into a furnace and force you to watch him burn."
Twilight's eyes sprung open, a fire igniting in them.
"What did you just say?"
Downstream was taken aback upon seeing Twilight's glare but quickly dismissed it. He had her at his mercy. There was nothing to be scared of from a scrawny girl like her.
"I said I'm going to take your stupid dog, throw him into a furnace, and force you to watch him-"
Twilight snapped.
The other arm of Twilight's stand appeared in an instant, smashing its fist into Downstream's face. The force of the blow caused him to lose his grip on Twilight's hair with the same happening to his FLOW's grip on Twilight's Stand. Once freed, Twilight's Stand used its other arm to punch Downstream again, this time in his chest. The man was sent flying through the hallway, crashing into a pile of tires he threw earlier.
Downstream had recovered quickly from Twilight's attack. He stood up on his weakened legs and turned back to face his target, getting to watch as the rest of Twilight's Stand took shape.
The body of a full-grown adult woman, with skin like a starry night sky, appeared behind Twilight. Violet armor with star-like patterns appeared around its chest, shoulders, and lower body. A helmet obscured the facial features above its mouth while hair resembling Twilight's flowing hair popped out from underneath it. A crescent moon then formed on the helmet. Once fully formed, the Stand shined with a radiant light much like a full moon's.
Twilight paid no attention to her Stand's shining appearance as it pulled out the nails and knifes lodged in her body. Blood gushed out of the wounds for a second before pink stars appeared on her gown where the holes were. On the pink stars, the word 'BLOCK' was written. The moment the pink stars appeared over the wounds, the blood flow immediately stopped.
Once her wounds stopped bleeding, Twilight's Stand picked up her glasses and handed them back to their owner. Twilight threw her glasses back on before she and her Stand glared down at her shocked opponent.
"No one threatens my Spike!"
Giorno grabbed several small objects as he ran through the hallway, dodging every bullet that came passing through the walls. He didn't care what he picked up as the objects were slowly transforming and fusing together with his injured arm, recreating the forearm severed by Summer Lie. The process of recreating his forearm was certainly painful as he had to repair damaged nerves and reconnect them but the pain took a seat next to his current predicament.
He had to find out how to get close to Summer Lie or at least, find out how he knows Giorno's location.
He would have transformed the bullets he fired into flies, which would fly back to where they came from, but none of the bullets could be recovered as they all passed through the walls after missing their target. The Stand had to have an effective range for the bullets but Giorno didn't have the time to search for them in this huge building. Giorno only had about half a minute to think after twelve rounds were fired, which he assumed was because Summer Lie was reloading.
"How does he know where I am?" Giorno wondered. "Does he have a radar similar to Narancia's Aerosmith? Can he detect the CO2 I'm breathing out?"
No, that was wrong. He couldn't possibly be this accurate with that kind of radar. It had to be something that allowed him to see through walls.
Giorno had no more time to think as the next barrage began. Another rifle bullet came at him, passing harmlessly through the wall as it shot to its target.
"Gold Experience!"
Giorno's Stand Gold Experience appeared instantly. One of its hands shot towards the bullet, aiming to punch it. It was exceedingly hard but if he focused, Gold Experience was capable of punching at least one bullet away. The moment Gold Experience's fist touched the bullet, however, it exploded. Giorno's only functioning hand gushed out blood, the wounds on Gold Experience's hand appearing on his own.
"The bullet exploded!?"
Yet another bullet forced Giorno to flee into a room, preventing him from healing his hand. Upon entering, he saw that the room was occupied by six comatose men and women, each linked up to life support. He didn't want them to get injured because of him and so moved to leave the room.
Giorno, however, stopped once he realized that the barrage of bullets had stopped after only two shots. From his calculations, there should still be ten bullets left before he reloaded. What was stopping him from shooting Giorno now? It can't be the patients. From his investigations, somebody like Summer Lie would have shot an innocent bystander without a second thought if it helped him accomplish his goal.
Unless…
Giorno had a theory now. In order to test that theory he ran out of the room and back into the hallway. The barrage of bullets soon started up again but Giorno did his best to ignore them as he searched for what he needed to test his theory.
Meanwhile, Summer Lie laughed to himself as he kept shooting at Giorno. His Stand Baby Metal continued to make clicking sounds, sending information to its user, while Summer Lie chewed on his bang.
"Keep running, Giorno," Summer Lie said. "With you out of the way, Downstream can kidnap Twilight Sparkle with no problems…" Summer Lie stopped firing and looked at his radio. "When is that idiot going to call back?"
Summer Lie turned back to aim at his target Giorno. His target's signal was standing still near the entrance of the hospital. A strange sight but Summer Lie wasn't going to let an easy shot pass him by.
"Goodbye, Giorno."
Summer Lie pulled the trigger and grinned. There was zero chance of the bullet missing…
And yet, Giorno remained standing despite the bullet hitting exactly where he stood.
"I-Impossible!" Summer Lie stood up and focused his eye on the spot where Giorno stood. The bullet should have hit him and yet Giorno was still alive. No matter what he thought, he couldn't find out the reason why Giorno didn't die.
Giorno, meanwhile, smiled as his theory was proven. He figured out why Summer Lie could target him and only him through solid walls… solid non-living walls.
Summer Lie was tracking him by detecting signals of life within the building. The signals of the comatose patients were messing with Summer Lie's ability to track him and that's why he stopped shooting. It looked as if Giorno had disappeared. It explained why Summer Lie missed killing Giorno when he was with Twilight. Her signal was messing with his aim as well, making it so he could only shoot off Giorno's arm instead of a sure kill. Downstream's part was most likely to get rid of life signals to allow Summer Lie the shot he needs.
Now, how did Giorno protect himself from the bullets that can pass through non-living matter?
Guarding Giorno from repeated shots fired by Summer Lie stood a pillar that the young man had given life to, transforming it into a thick tree trunk. It was still mostly a pillar and therefore, wouldn't send out any signals of life that could tip off Summer Lie to what Giorno was planning.
Its bark stopped every rifle bullet that was fired by Summer Lie until the man ran out of bullets and had to reload, giving Giorno more time to think of his counterattack. Before Summer Lie could reload, Giorno returned the pillar back to normal and using his Gold Experience, dug out the bullets.
Giorno smiled as he transformed one of the bullets into a dragonfly. The dragonfly instantly left him to go back to its source while carrying another bullet.
Summer Lie, meanwhile, continued to shoot at Giorno's position, unaware of the dragonfly buzzing over to his side. He was too focused on Giorno and why the man didn't fall to notice the dragonfly landing on the man's shoulder. The buzzing of the dragonfly, however, caught his attention. He turned his head to see the bug sitting on his shoulder.
"Stupid bug! Get off!"
Summer Lie swung his hand at the dragonfly, smashing the dragonfly underneath his palm.
Or so he thought.
To his surprise, the man was sent flying onto his back by an invisible force smashing into his face. While the man was recoiling from the shock, the dragonfly flew over his face and dropped the bullet it was carrying. The bullet fell into his open mouth and made the man cough but instead of the cold feel of lead, Summer Lie felt the warm and slimy body of a living creature. His hand immediately shoved itself into his mouth to pull the creature that fell in.
With the creature in his fingers, Summer Lie jumped up and looked at his hand.
A brightly colored orange and black frog stared back at him. Summer Lie screamed, dropping the creature, the moment he realized just what kind of frog it was.
It was a Poison Dart Frog.
One of Earth's most poisonous species.
Stand- Baby Metal
User- Summer Lie (Deceased)
It was as if she had become a different person. Twilight Sparkle had a fire in her eyes similar to Giorno's. Her fighting spirit had been kindled to the point her Stand became fully formed.
"I don't care if you can use your Stand now," Downstream said dodging the Stand attempt to punch him. "I got more experience using mine. I'm still going to kidnap you and have my fun. Nothing has changed!"
"Are you sure? I'd take a look at your nose if I were you."
Downstream looked around for any reflective surface until he saw a polished steel rim that he had thrown at Twilight earlier. He stared at his reflection and saw the pink star stamped on his face.
"What is this!?" he yelled trying to peel the pink star off his face.
Downstream was already under the power of Twilight's Stand. He had no idea what her Stand could do. The thought made his legs start to tremble.
"FLOW!"
Downstream's Stand FLOW appeared but the moment it did; Twilight ran towards the man. The moment he was in the range of her Stand, Twilight's Stand let out a battle cry as it fired a barrage of punches at Downstream. FLOW tried to protect its user with its arms but Twilight's Stand easily broke through the defense.
Downstream was forced to use his last resort. His body deflated instantly, allowing him to dodge each punch thrown at him. His flattened body floated away and was going to run away to get Summer Lie's help but Twilight had other plans.
"You're not getting away this time!"
Pink stars appeared all around Downstream on the floors, walls, and ceiling. Every single pink star had the word "BLOW" written on them. A moment later and a powerful gust blew around the flattened Downstream. A tornado of wind formed the man and spun him around violently, forcing him to re-inflate himself or be ripped to pieces by the wind. When he re-inflated, the wind immediately stopped but the man was too dizzy to realize that Twilight and her Stand were standing right next to him.
Twilight's Stand swung its fist into Downstream's side, causing the man to spit out blood. The blow lifted the man's body off the ground. Twilight's Stand then fired off another barrage of punches at the man. In seconds, Downstream was reduced to a broken and bloody mess.
"P-please… no more…" Downstream groaned, spitting out several broken teeth along with a mouthful of blood. "If you let me go… I'll turn everyone back to normal! I can do it right now, in fact!"
"Are you telling the truth?"
Downstream nodded like a mad man. "Yes, I'm telling the truth! See, watch!"
Downstream's Stand FLOW appeared but didn't make any movements to attack Twilight. Instead, it let out a pulse of energy that reverberated throughout the whole hospital. Twilight watched as Downstream's past victims popped off the floor and begun re-inflating.
"There! Everyone's fine now!" Downstream cried. He clasped his bloody hands together and held them up to Twilight. "I'm really sorry for what I did! Just let me go and I'll never do anything like this anymore! Please, forgive me!"
Twilight glared down at the pathetic shell of a man begging at her feet.
"If you asked me before, I would have forgiven you and let you go…"
Pink stars appeared on the front of Downstream's body. Every single one of the stars on his body had the word 'PUNCH' written on them. Downstream let out a loud cry, tears and mucus pouring out of his eyes and nose, when he saw the stars covering every inch of the front of his body and what was written on them.
"Never again threaten a girl's best friend, Downstream! Remember that while you're drinking your meals through a straw!"
In an instant, Downstream was sent crashing into floor after being punched over and over again by an invisible force. Twilight turned her back and fixed her loose back into a bun as the man was smashed deeper and deeper into the ground by invisible punches. Downstream's screams stopped but the punching continued. When the punches finally ended, Downstream laid unconscious in the crater Twilight had made, his body unimaginably broken.
Stand- FLOW
User- Downstream (Hospitalized indefinitely due to severe physical and psychological trauma)
Stand- Baby Metal
User- Summer Lie
Power- C
Speed- E
Range- B
Precision- A
Staying- E
Learning- E
Ability- Any bullet fired by Summer Lie while Baby Metal is active makes it so that the bullet passes through any non-living matter. When the bullet touches living matter, it explodes. Baby Metal can also detect signals of life (Heartrate, heat, etc.) past any obstacle but cannot differentiate them if there are more than one within close proximity to each other. As such, Summer Lie relies on his partner Downstream to get rid of any interfering signals with his close-range Stand while he takes advantage of the panic to go after their target.
Twilight's Bizarre Adventure Shining Road
"Twilight! Earth to Twilight!"
Twilight's thoughts were elsewhere. She didn't notice that she was being called by Pinkie Pie, who floated through the gymnasium by the balloons tied to her ankles. Seeing the young woman off in her own world, Pinkie floated over to Twilight and with a grin, swiped her glasses. Twilight snapped back to reality and looked up at the floating Pinkie holding her glasses. It was blurry to her eyes but there was only one girl with such a large mass of curly pink hair. Pinkie let out a giggle before she placed Twilight's glass back where they belonged.
"Can you hand me those streamers, Twilight?" Pinkie said. "Hurry! Before I float away!"
Twilight picked up the streamers and tossed them into the floating Pinkie Pie's hands. Twilight watched as the perpetually excited Pinkie Pie floated across the gymnasium to hang up more streamers.
Twilight had long gotten used to being around Pinkie Pie ever since meeting her at the Friendship Games. Pinkie still did things that left her puzzled, like how she can float through the gymnasium with only normal balloons and with enough control to reach her destination, but she learned to simply go along with the antics of her new friend. Questioning how she did things only led to pain and exhaustion, which Twilight learned first-hand when she tried to research her friend's "Pinkie-Sense". Long story short, it ended being sent to the nurse after a blond student fell on her after falling down the stairs.
A shiver went up Pinkie's spine. "My Pinkie-Sense is tingling. Something bad is going to happen."
The sound of a balloon popping caught Twilight's attention. As she looked up to see that one of the balloons tied around Pinkie, which somehow moved to being tied around her waist, had popped. Pinkie watched as her balloons popped one by one.
"Uh-oh," Pinkie said when her last balloon popped.
Twilight jumped the moment Pinkie begun plummeting towards the floor. The moment she got within two meters of the falling Pinkie, her Stand appeared in a flash of light.
"Shining Star!"
Twilight's Stand swung her fist at Pinkie Pie. The tip of her knuckle brushed against the young woman's skirt. A pink star appeared where it made contact, the word 'FLOAT' written upon it. An invisible force pushed up the young woman's body, slowing down her fall. Twilight leapt, capturing her friend before she touched the hard wooden floor.
"Wow, Twilight, that was close," Pinkie said flashing a set of white teeth at her friend. "Thank goodness I got you here helping me out."
"You put too much air in the balloons, Pinkie. They couldn't handle the pressure," Twilight told her friend after letting her down. "What would you have done if I wasn't here?"
"I don't know but hey, I'm A-OK thanks to you, Twilight!"
Twilight sighed.
After what Giorno told her last night, she'd rather deal with trying to figure Pinkie Pie out than this Stand business.
Last night…
Giorno returned to Twilight after killing Summer Lie with a Poison Dart Frog and smiled when he saw doctors and nurses taking a severely injured and hysteric Downstream into the emergency room. His faith in Twilight paid off. She succeeded in defeating Downstream and even forced him to restore his victims back to normal. Curious about how Twilight defeated Downstream and somewhat worried about her current condition, Giorno searched for the young woman. He found the young woman lying down on her bed in her room while the rest of the hospital was in a panic.
The moment Giorno entered the room, however, Twilight's Stand appeared. Giorno was struck speechless by the beauty of the Stand. He was if he was staring the night sky in the wilderness with none of the lights of the city hiding the brilliance of the starry sky. He didn't bother to block the fist of Twilight's Stand either, choosing to bask in the Stand's radiance for a while longer.
Twilight realized that Giorno had entered her room and immediately, her Stand's fist stopped a mere centimeter away from Giorno's temple.
"Looks like I was correct in saying that the light in your eyes was like a star's," Giorno said while Twilight's Stand disappeared back into the young woman's body. "You have done an impressive job dispatching Downstream, Twilight Sparkle. Judging from his injuries, he won't leave a hospital bed for months, maybe even years."
Twilight didn't respond to Giorno. Instead, her arms wrapped themselves around her legs. Tears stained the sheets.
"Why is this happening to me?" Twilight turned to face Giorno, her tears building up before trickling out. "I blacked out, Giorno. When he threatened Spike, I lost it. I couldn't control myself…"
Memories of when magic corrupted her and turned her into a maniac filled Twilight's head. She couldn't control herself then. So much power coursed through her body. A single flick of her hand could shatter the fabric of reality. It almost led to her entire world being destroyed. She'd hated losing control of her emotions ever since.
"Why do I have this… this Stand? Why does somebody want to kidnap me? I'm not better than anybody else. I just… just want to learn about friendship and be a normal girl."
"I cannot tell you why you have a Stand, Twilight," Giorno honestly told Twilight. "Some have the potential to be Stand Users while others don't. It is as simple as that. I never questioned why I have Gold Experience. I simply saw it as a part of myself and as a tool to help me achieve my dream of becoming a gangster."
Giorno walked over to the crying young woman's side. A large breath of air entered his mouth as he continued.
"Like I said, Twilight, you will be the star that those who've lost their way will follow! Defeating Downstream and saving his victims is merely the first step you have taken! Continue walking on the shining road toward the future, Twilight! One day, you find your answers!"
Twilight looked up at Giorno. Her hands wiped away the tears. "You aren't going to ditch me again?"
The question confused Giorno. "No, of course not. Why do you think that?"
"Because you ditched me the last time you made a dramatic speech," Twilight answered. The corners of her lips moved up a tiny bit. "I'm just making sure because I still have a lot of other questions you have to answer this time."
"I was a little too hasty, wasn't I?" Giorno chuckled. "In my defense, I had no doubt you would defeat Downstream and fully awaken your Stand…"
The young man stopped, causing Twilight to tilt her head.
"You haven't named your Stand yet, have you?"
"Uh, no, I haven't. Why?"
"If you haven't decided on a name, then would you allow me the honor?"
"G-go ahead."
Twilight saw no harm in allowing Giorno to name her Stand. It would save her time to name it herself.
"Then I, Giorno Giovanna of the Passione, shall christen the Stand of Twilight Sparkle…"
To Twilight's surprise, Giorno struck a pose in a way that showed off his lean yet muscular figure. Twilight's cheeks turned hot red at the sight and looked away when the young man announced the name of her Stand.
"For its body that shines like the night sky of my homeland Italy, your Stand shall be named… SHINING STAR!"
Twilight wasn't sure of it at first but the more she thought about it, the more the name grew on her.
"Shining Star… I like it."
Giorno smiled with his friend.
"I'm glad you like it. Now… how about we talk about our plan to steal the meteorite and prevent any more Stand Users from being born?"
Despite hearing what he said, Twilight realized something about Giorno that overrode any other question she had.
Her finger pointed at Giorno's sleeveless arm.
"Um, Giorno, I saw your arm get blown off. So… how is that possible?"
Twilight listened to Giorno for the rest of the night. He explained that it was because of his Stand's ability to give life to the lifeless that he could give himself a new arm. He demonstrated the ability by healing all the wounds Twilight got from fighting Downstream.
He then explained to her everything he knew about Stands. Stands were shaped by the user's fighting spirit with powers akin to psychic abilities. Stands can only be hurt by other Stands. The more powerful the Stand, the shorter its range with the only exception being automatic Stands, Stands that fight according to a set program. The most important fact about Stands Giorno told her was that no matter how weak a Stand seems to be, never underestimate it. An experienced Stand User will find some way to kill you, no matter useless their Stand ability might sound.
After explaining Stands to Twilight, Giorno moved on to his plans to steal the meteorite and prevent any more Stands Users from being born. Since Twilight became a Stand User, he would need her help just in case there's trouble.
Trouble being another Stand User aiming to prevent Giorno from stealing the meteorite.
The day past with no event as Twilight finished helping Pinkie setting up decorations in the gymnasium for a school event. Once she finished that, Twilight spent some time with her new Canterlot High friends since Spike was forced to stay home after her mom found Twilight trying to sneak him into school with her bag. They were especially paying more attention to Twilight after her brief stay at the hospital. It was as if they thought Twilight would collapse again but she assured them that it wasn't anything dangerous.
Twilight couldn't tell them that she collapsed because the meteorite gave the power to use a Stand. They already have to deal the magic inside their own bodies to worry about. Twilight can't give her new friends another reason to worry about her.
The sky turned red and the girls waved at each other as they left to return home. Twilight needed to go to the museum, where Giorno told her to meet him at, but her path was blocked by a young woman with a head of red and yellow hair that resembled flames.
"What's going on, Twilight," Sunset asked.
Twilight felt her heart stop. She turned around to face Sunset but was unable to hide the nervousness in her expression. "W-what do you mean, Sunset?"
Sunset walked up to her friend. Her stare burned through Twilight, making her more nervous than before.
"You were acting weird earlier," Sunset told her. "Nobody else noticed but I did, Twilight. You're hiding something from us." Sunset took Twilight's hands and held them tightly. Her expression changed to one of worry. "We're friends, aren't we, Twilight? You don't have to hide anything from us."
A sigh escaped Twilight's lips.
Out of all her new friends, Sunset was the one she was closest to. Sunset was the one who saved her when magic corrupted her and offered to teach Twilight the magic of friendship. She looked up to Sunset because she had what she lacked. Sunset was confident in herself and her talents while Twilight always doubted herself. She could even use magic too while Twilight had to steal it and couldn't even use it without corrupting herself. Sunset Shimmer was everything she wanted to be.
"I… I can't tell you, Sunset," Twilight said looking away. "I wish I could tell you but I can't."
"Why? Why can't you tell me? Are you in danger, Twilight!?"
Twilight summoned her Stand. Sunset couldn't see her Stand and where Twilight was going, that could mean the end of her friend's life. Telling Sunset about Stands would put her life at risk. Sunset wouldn't let Twilight go to the museum without her. That was a risk Twilight would not take.
"I'm sorry, Sunset," Twilight said looking down, hiding the tears falling from her eyes.
"Sorry for what-"
Shining Star tapped Sunset's forehead with the tip of her knuckles. A pink star with the word 'SLEEP' written on it appeared. Sunset's eyelids immediately became heavy. Her eyelids opened and closed over and over. Sunset tripped forward and leaned on Twilight.
"So sleepy…T-Twilight… did you… use magic on me? But you can't use magic…"
Sunset didn't collapse. It took more than ten more pink stars to be stamped on her forehead for the star's word to finally take effect.
"I'm so sorry, Sunset, but I can't let you get involved in this."
Sunset fainted into Twilight's arms. The young woman placed her friend against the wall of the school building and sprinted away, tears falling while she ran.
Twilight wiped her red and puffy eyes when she reached the museum. The lights inside were turned off and not a single could be seen inside.
Giorno had told Twilight before he left her that he would be in a car that had five ladybug resting where a hood ornament would be and sure enough, Twilight found the young man laying down in the reclined driver seat of a jet-black car with the tinted window rolled down. When Twilight appeared, Giorno opened his eyes.
"Are you ready, Twilight?" Giorno asked.
"I-I'm ready," Twilight answered.
"You look like you've been crying again," Giorno said noticing Twilight's red and puffy eyes. "What happened? A friend figured out you were hiding something?"
"H-How did you know!?"
"You aren't very good at hiding your emotions," Giorno answered. "You lose every time you play Poker, don't you?"
Twilight frowned. He didn't need to know that she never won a game of Poker in her life. Even when she played against Spike, both when he could and couldn't talk.
Giorno didn't pry any further. He got out of the car and walked to the museum's front door with Twilight following behind her. He jiggled the door handle and found out that it was locked.
"It's past closing time, of course the doors are locked," Twilight informed him. "Here, let me open it."
Shining Star appeared behind Twilight and tapped the lock of the door with her knuckle. A pink star with the word 'Unlock' appeared on it. The two heard a clicking sound echo from within the lock. Twilight turned the door handle, showing Giorno that the door had been unlocked.
"That's a useful ability," Giorno said after witnessing the power of Twilight's Stand first-hand. "Can you make any word appear?"
"Shining Star can only make verbs appear. I tried to write sentences with it but only verbs appeared and only two different verbs at a time."
Giorno and Twilight stopped talking the moment they entered the building. Giorno used his experience as a gangster as well as Gold Experience to search the building for any sign of life. Twilight simply followed the young man's lead as they moved through the exhibits.
"The meteorite should be in the back by now," Giorno told Twilight as they passed the Middle Age exhibits. "The event may have ended yesterday but the meteorite should still be here."
Twilight looked up at the set of knight armor wielding a claymore looming over her. It was only yesterday that she was here with Rainbow Dash and Rarity before all the Stand madness began. She still remembered rambling on about the origins of knights and events that happened during the Middle ages to her two friends.
Giorno moved on to the prehistoric exhibits and Twilight moved on to follow him.
A loud creaking, however, echoed from behind Twilight. The young woman turned back to the set of armor. A glint of light come from the slit in the armor's helmet.
The set of armor's arms then swung its claymore over its head and brought it down on the young woman.
"Shining Star!"
Twilight's Stand appeared in an instant and swung its fist at the flat side of the claymore. The claymore, however, turned at the incoming fist. Shining Star couldn't pull back its fist fast enough and ended up with Twilight's Stand punching the blade of the sword. Twilight winced in pain as a cut appeared on her left hand's knuckle. Blood gushed out of the wound. She jumped back when the set of armor swung at her a second time.
The finger of its gauntlet pointed at Twilight. "Thou art the enemy! Prepare yourself for the Lord's Judgement!" it announced.
The suit of armor swung its claymore once again. Twilight leapt out of the way of the attempt to slice her in two.
"Giorno! It's a Stand! We're being attacked by an enemy Stand User!"
Giorno, however, didn't answer. Twilight turned her gaze towards the prehistoric exhibits. Giorno was being attacked as well but not by a set of armor like her. But Twilight couldn't believe her eyes when she saw just what was attacking Giorno.
A living and breathing velociraptor had its knife-like teeth lodged in Giorno's shoulder. The dinosaur would have torn the young man's torso in two had Gold Experience not appeared to keep its jaw from biting down further.
A voice boomed at the two from all around while the two dealt with the velociraptor and the living set of armor wielding a huge claymore.
"My Stand Back-On will stop all attempts to steal the meteorite! History itself is my weapon! Give yourself up, Twilight Sparkle, and we'll let you live. Giorno Giovanna, however, will die!"
Stand- Shining Star
User- Twilight Sparkle
Power- B
Speed- A
Range- D
Durability- C
Precision- A
Potential- A
Ability- Star's shaped like Princess Twilight's Cutie Mark will be stamped on wherever Shining Star's fists have made contact and will 'enchant' anything to either follow or produce the verb written on the star. For example, stamping a broom with the word 'CLEAN' will cause the broom to move on its own and clean. Stamping a pot with the word 'CLEAN', however, will simply cause the pot to become clean. The effects of the stars can be resisted by those with stronger wills than Twilight.
Twilight's Bizarre Adventure Shining Road
Twenty years ago in the deep forests of northern Alaska, there lived a young boy.
He and his father didn't have money or much of anything, however they hardly ever went without food. They accomplished this by living off the bountiful wildlife of the untamed wilderness. From the salmon that swam in the streams to the large moose's that walked the woods, the young boy and his father hunted every day from morning to sunset. The boy's father would often disappear every now and then for several days, leaving his son in their cabin alone. But when he came back, he came back with a backpack full of essentials like vegetables, oil, ammo, and toilet paper. The boy looked forward to the day when he came back not only because his father returned but also because he brought back a book or two with some candy for him to enjoy. He often spent the time he had free at nights devouring the words printed on the books, learning more and more about the world outside the forest.
One day, after the father and his son had taken the life of a moose, a question formed in the young boy's mind. A question that had formed following the book he had read last night.
"Why do we have to kill, father?"
"So we can eat, son."
"But doesn't all living things have the right to live? What right do we have to take it away?"
"Son, you have your mother's kind heart but this is simply how the world works. If we want to live, we must take the lives of others."
The young boy, however, still didn't feel right taking the lives of the wildlife just so he could keep living. When his father passed away twenty years later from illness, the young boy decided to stop killing. He tried to live off the plant life, but it wasn't enough to sustain him. No matter how much he wasted away inside the cabin, he refused to take away the lives of any more animals. Then one day, he found that he did not have the strength to leave the cabin.
That day was the day that that man opened his door and appeared before him. His sight failing him, he could not see the man who had entered his home without permission but he could hear his raspy and old voice as if he was speaking right next to his ears.
"An experienced hunter wasting away in his cabin because he refuses to take a life. How pathetic…"
He couldn't argue. A hunter who refused to kill his prey was certainly a pathetic and contradictory existence.
"I should put you out of your misery right here and now but I'm feeling especially merciful today. I'll give you a test. Nature itself will be the judge of you, boy. If you survive, nature has given you permission to take the lives of its children. If you don't…"
A chuckle echoed throughout the cabin.
"Then this will have been a huge waste of time!"
A meteorite pierced through the young man's chest and the test began.
"Nature tested me that day and it deemed me worthy to take the lives of its children to sustain my own! I understand now what father was trying to teach me! Survival of the fittest is nature's way!"
The young man turned off the speaker and moved his gaze towards the two security guards he had tied up in the corner. They watched as the dark red-skinned, heavily scarred man wearing clothes made out of pelts pulled out a long machete. As they struggled to get out of their bindings, the young man inched ever closer towards them, lifting the blade over his head.
A humanoid beast invisible to the security guards phased into existence behind the young man. The beast had a body covered with fur, decorated with animal bones. Its gleaming eyes stared down at the two guards through the sockets of the moose skull it wore. It moved its arm to mirror the young man's, its hand disappearing into the hand that held the machete.
"For on that day I was given the power to take and give back life…"
The young man swung the machete down, the blade chopping off half of a security guard's head while lodging itself deep in the skull of the second. Even with the blood spraying onto his clothes, the man's expression remained the same. Filled with determination to complete his goal.
Dislodging the blade from the second guard and slicing again to remove the blood from the blade, he turned his attention to the security screens. From there he watched as his targets, Giorno and Twilight, were attacked by a velociraptor and a moving suit of armor.
"My Stand Back-On gives back life to that which once held it! Using my Back-On, I will repay my debt to the one who saved my life by protecting the meteorite from you thieves!"
A third figure appeared on the monitor showing the museum's entrance, catching the attention of the hunter. He stared at the young woman with flaming red and yellow hair on the screen but couldn't recognize her.
"More thieves? Fine, one more prey won't make a difference!"
The claymore sliced through the air on its way to cleave the young woman in two. Shining Star however swung its fist at its left foot, crushing the metal and smashing the floor underneath it. As the armor lost its balance, the claymore swung above Twilight's head and cut a few loose hairs from her bun.
"The ground under my feet hath given way! Art thou a witch!?"
The armor tried to lift its foot out of the hole in the floor but couldn't. So concerned with dislodging itself, it didn't notice that a pink star with the word 'LOCK' written on it. It kept pulling and pulling until eventually the left leg detached from the rest of the armor with an audible 'pop'. Without its left leg to stand on, the suit of armor fell forward, creating a loud crash as metal collided with the stone floor. As the knight collided, its pieces broke apart further until eventually the glow faded from the knight's helmet.
Giorno, meanwhile, kicked the velociraptor's underside with both his and Gold Experience's legs. The reanimated dinosaur let out a cry of pain and released its tight grip on the young man's shoulder. Free from the dinosaur's jaw, Giorno's Gold Experience then unleashed a barrage of punches onto the velociraptor, both he and his Stand yelling "Muda" with each punch thrown. With one final 'Muda' the dinosaur soared through the room and crashed into the wall, unconscious.
"That thing's alive," Giorno said holding onto his injured shoulder. "Gold Experience can't change it into anything else, which means that thing is alive as much as you or I."
Twilight gestured towards the pieces of armor laying in front of her. "And there's no one inside this armor," she told him. "But it was moving and talking like there really was someone inside it."
"This Stand, this Back-On he called it, must have an ability similar to my Gold Experience's," Giorno said. "We have to wary of any other exhibit-"
Giorno broke off suddenly as he held up a hand to his ear. "Do you hear that?"
Twilight did the same as Giorno and remained as quiet as possible and sure enough, she heard a sound. To the two of them it sounded like flapping wings that were getting louder by the second…
The room was then invaded by flocks of different birds as they flew into the room. Parrots, ravens, seagulls, and many other types of avian species flooded the area the two stand users found themselves in. Each one swarmed around Twilight and Giorno; pecking, scraping, and clawing at every inch of their bodies. As the two of them flailed both their arms and their Stands at the birds around them, their efforts proved fruitless as there were just too many of them. Forced to flee, the birds however followed them throughout the museum, cawing as they chased after their prey.
Twilight and Giorno, however, managed to stick with each other as they leapt through the nearest door and slammed it behind them; several of the bird's wings trapped in the door and more pecking and clawing to reach them.
The two found themselves inside a storage slash break room for employees. There were only two exits and one of them was the door they just came in from.
"Are they going to get in?" Twilight asked with worry in her voice as she gazed at the door the birds were desperately trying to get through to them.
"That door's made of metal," Giorno pointed out. "Even if they do get through, it'll take them a while before they can even make a dent in it. We should use this time to rest and plan our-"
The two had no time to rest, however, as the door they came through was torn off its hinges and flung against the back wall. Twilight and Giorno leapt out of the way as the door was flung across the room by the animal that charged into the room with a loud cry.
"Is that a bison!?" Giorno yelled.
The break room was flooded by the birds and once again, Twilight and Giorno were swarmed by the vicious creatures. The now added bison attacked along with the birds as well, charging at Twilight with a loud roar.
"Shining Star!"
Twilight's Stand appeared and swung a fist through the wall of birds at the incoming bison. The fist struck the bison's side but a combination of fat and muscle led to the punch having almost no effect on the charging beast. A pink star, however, with the word 'TRIP' appeared on the beast's side as an invisible force struck the beast's legs, causing it to fall. Twilight jumped to the side as it slid by her, crashing into the wall. The bison let out a cry as it tried to get back on its feet but vines created by Gold Experience wrapped around the bison forced the beast to remain on the floor. While the bison struggled to get back up, Twilight and Giorno fled out of the break room through the other door.
Twilight slammed the door behind her and stamped a pink star with the word 'Protect' on the metal.
"That should stop another surprise," Twilight said relieved.
"I wouldn't bet on that, Twilight. Look."
Twilight turned around and immediately, covered her mouth as she fought back a scream. They were in the backroom where they had planned to find and steal the meteorite but there was just one very huge obstacle between them and searching for the meteorite. An obstacle where even Stands would prove almost useless against.
There was a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the wrecked backroom.
"What is a Tyrannosaurus Rex doing here!?" Giorno yelled. "Just how powerful is this Stand's ability!?"
The T-rex turned its massive head towards the two intruders, its eyes slitting as it focused in on its prey. Lifting its foot, it brought it down on a wooden crate, smashing it and the contents underneath its foot, and let out an ear-shattering roar aimed at the frozen Twilight and Giorno.
"RUN!"
Twilight sprinted in one direction while Giorno sprinted in the other, the T-rex chasing after Giorno, which it viewed as the bigger prey. The young man ran faster than he ever did in his life with the T-rex following right behind him, Giorno occasionally looking behind him and seeing the dinosaur catching up. Giorno turned around a corner but stopped the moment his foot stepped on the stone floor.
A sharp pain shot throughout his body as he felt something clamp down on his leg with dull metal teeth. Looking down, he saw that his leg was trapped between the jaws of a bear trap, blood already starting to seep through his pants legs from the powerful trap.
"What is… a bear trap doing here?"
The T-rex crashed into the wall like Giorno planned but it didn't matter as the young man was stuck with his leg trapped inside a bear trap. He could only watch in dread as the huge dinosaur got back up and turned its attention back on its prey.
"There's no way out of my trap, Giorno!"
Giorno looked behind him to see a dark red-skinned young man wearing animal pelts walk out of his hiding place behind a wooden crate. His cold eyes stared at Giorno, similar to the eyes of a hunter looking at his captured prey.
"I hold no grudge towards you or Twilight Sparkle, Giorno. This is simply survival of the strongest," the young man told Giorno. "Once I take your life, Twilight Sparkle will surrender, I can see it in her eyes. She isn't a fighter or a hunter, Giorno. She doesn't have what it takes to steal a life like us and thus she will surrender to the strongest."
To the man's surprise, Giorno chuckled.
"You must be blind! Her eyes are shining like the North Star! Now, Twilight!"
"Alright, Giorno!"
The young man spun around in shock to see Twilight and her Stand appear several meters behind him. The Stand Shining Star let out a battle cry as it threw several rocks at the T-rex standing in front of the three. The rocks transformed mid-air into stag beetles. On the backs of the beetles was a pink star with the word 'PIERCE' written on it. The young man watched as the beetles pierced through the thick skin of the T-rex and its skull, rummaging around under the ferocious creature's skin. The dinosaur let out another roar, this time in pain, as it stumbled around the room, smashing its head against the walls in a desperate attempt to destroy the beetles inside of it. Its rampage ended abruptly as the tyrannosaurus rex let out one last cry before it fell.
"Looks like your biggest weapon fell," Giorno said.
"And we have you surrounded," Twilight added. "There's no way out of this."
Back-On's user gritted his teeth. "That's what you think."
The hunter pulled out a rifle from within his clothes and swung its barrel towards Twilight. Fire exploded from the barrel as a bullet shot towards the young woman. Before it could hit its target, Shining Star appeared and punched away the bullet, however the hunter used this as a distraction and ran past Twilight and her Stand afterwards.
"Chase after him, Twilight! He must have the meteorite on him!"
Trusting Giorno and following his order, she chased after the young hunter. Seeing her chase after him, he shot at her several more times, each time Shining Star blocked the bullets before they could hit their mark. The young woman followed the hunter out of the back room and back into the museum.
She kept running until the hunter turned around a corner. As she followed him, she felt something crash into her skull, momentarily discombobulating her and causing her a good amount of pain.
"OW!" the voices of both young women yelled.
Twilight looked up to see that it was Sunset before her, her friend rubbing her bleeding nose, wincing from the pain of crashing into Twilight.
"Look where you're going, Twilight," Sunset said pulling Twilight back onto her feet.
"Sunset? Y-you can't be here!"
What was Sunset doing here? Twilight thought with worry. She had put her to sleep using Shining Star's ability and yet here her friend stood, wide awake and obviously angry at her friend's actions.
"And why not? I'm worried about my friend," Sunset said pointing at her friend with a bandaged finger. "You put me to sleep when I thought you couldn't even use magic, Twilight. How could you use magic on me, Twilight? Why didn't you even tell us you can use magic too? I thought we were friends, Twilight!"
"Sunset, you have to leave right now!"
"Not until you tell me what's going on, Twilight!"
"P-please Sunset! You can't be here! It's too danger-"
BANG!
The world became silent after the sound of a rifle firing echoed throughout the whole museum. Twilight looked down and saw a hole in her uniform above her right breast. There was blood flowing out of the hole, however, no pain could be felt by the young woman because of what she saw when she looked up at Sunset.
A hole the size of a baseball had appeared on the left side of her friend's chest, the parted skin revealing the smoking barrel of the hunter's rifle. "Always strike when the prey lets down their guard," the hunter said definitively as he gazed at his handiwork.
Sunset spat out blood with wide eyes, unable to process what had just happened to her, as she collapsed into Twilight's arms like a puppet without strings.
"SUNSET!"
Stand- Back-On
User- Wild Heart
Power- C
Speed- C
Range- C
Durability- B
Precision- C
Potential- C
Ability- Back-on can give back life to that which once had it. Bones will regrow muscle and skin and the lifeless will move once again. Even clothes or armor someone died in will move as if the wearer was brought back to life (The souls of the departed, however, will not come back. It will merely be a shadow of the deceased). Everything brought back to life by Back-On's power will be under Wild Heart's control unless he releases it, at which the point the affected will lose the life it was given and return to what it used to be.
Twilight's Bizarre Adventure Shining Road
The world became pitch-black around Sunset Shimmer. The young woman wandered through the darkness, unable to find her way out. She called out to her friends. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and even Spike. She yelled the names into the expanding darkness and only received silence. She wandered for what felt like hours but darkness still surrounded her.
Tired, Sunset sat down and hugged her legs.
"So cold," Sunset whispered rubbing her arms.
She gazed around at the darkness. Last she remembered, she was probing Twilight for answers and in an instant, she was here. A place full of cold darkness. The only sensation she felt was the heat leaving her body and the throbbing pain coming from her cut finger.
The longer she stayed in that darkness, the more she realized what had happened to her.
"I… I died."
Sunset hugged her legs tighter. Her life seemingly played in front of her. She hated seeing how she used to be before meeting Princess Twilight. Like she deserved everything. She wanted to be a Princess more than anything and being told she wasn't ready to become a Princess broke her heart and led to her leaving to another universe. Her dream of becoming a Princess led to her making many decisions she now regretted. She ruined so many friendships and lives for a stupid crown she only wore on one night.
It took Princess Twilight and her seeing how evil she could possibly be for Sunset to realize how stupid she's been. The Princess showed her the magic of friendship and gave her a chance to redeem herself.
Memories of her friends then swarmed her thoughts. Playing soccer with Rainbow Dash. Trying out the dresses Rarity sown. Picking apples with Applejack. Petting animals with Fluttershy. Laughing with Pinkie Pie. Having academic discussions with the human Twilight while playing with Spike at the same time.
"I… I don't want to leave my friends."
A strange warmth appeared. It was small at first but the cold was being driven away by the growing warmth surrounding Sunset. The young woman stood up and looked down at where the warmth was coming from.
She saw a flame burning at her feet. It was small, about the size of her thumb, but the fire drove away the darkness and filled Sunset with warmth. Her hand moved closer to the flame until her fingers were being licked by the embers.
A pair of eyes identical to Sunset's own appeared within the flame. From within the flame, a hand clothed with a sleeve of bright red and yellow feathers formed, its fingertips touching Sunset's own.
Sunset's own voice spoke to her from within the flame.
"It's not over… there's still a fire in this heart of yours…"
"Who are you?" Sunset asked.
"Who am I? I'm your Stand. You can call me Blaze."
Twilight fell to her knees from the weight of Sunset's limp body in her arms, her sight becoming blurry even though she was still wearing her glasses. The pain coming from the left side of her chest grew as she felt the heat from Sunset leave. She didn't even pay attention to the hunter, who walked over to her and placed the still burning barrel of his rifle against her back.
"I've been told to keep you alive, Twilight Sparkle," the hunter told the young woman. "He wishes to meet you but he did inform me that if you continued to fight back, then you are a threat and threats must be eliminated."
Twilight turned her head to face the hunter, her expression twisted with a burning fury aimed at the man who took her friend.
"Shining Star!" she screamed.
Twilight's Stand appeared, screaming along with her user as she swung her fists at the hunter. The fists, however, failed to hit their target as a blur of silver belonging to the claymore of another animated suit of armor slashed through Shining Star's wrists. Twilight screamed as her Stand's and her own hands were cleanly sliced off her arms. Her screams echoed throughout the museum but no blood flowed out as two pink stars with the word 'BLOCK' appeared over her wounds. Nonetheless, the pain was mind-numbing to the point the young woman could not stop screaming.
Despite her pain, Twilight kept hugging the body of her friend tightly against her own while she screamed.
The hunter lifted the barrel of his rifle, poking Twilight's hair bun with the weapon. He waved his hand at the suit of armor, making it take the claymore it used to slice off Twilight's hands and walk away.
"Last chance to surrender," he said. "I'm warning you, Twilight Sparkle. I will not hesitate to pull this trigger. Surrender and you will live long enough to meet the one who owns the meteorite."
"Y-you… killed my… f-friend…" Twilight answered. She turned to look the hunter in the eyes. The hunter was taken aback by the look in her eyes. It was as if there was a black fire hatred burning with seething hatred in her glare. "I'll… never surrender! I will never join you or your boss so go ahead and kill me!"
"Alright."
The hunter pulled the trigger but to his surprise a hand shot up and slapped the barrel of his rifle away, making the bullet he fired miss and pierce the stone floor. The hunter stared at the one who slapped his rifle away, shocked silent at the sight of the unbelievable.
Sunset Shimmer, the young woman he was sure he shot in the heart, had saved her friend.
"That's not possible, I killed you!" he yelled. The hunter swung the barrel of his gun back at Sunset's head. "I have to finish the job then!"
The hunter tried to pull the trigger of his rifle but shouted out with pain as his hand was burned by a powerful heat. He looked down to see a finger of a hand clothed with a sleeve made out of red and yellow feathers touching the thumb that held the rifle's trigger. He could see the flesh of his thumb bubble and smoke where the tips of the talons touched his skin but strangely, felt no pain.
He dropped the rifle and jumped away from the feathered hand, his instincts screaming at him to get away from it.
"That's… that's a Stand!" the man yelled. "But how!? I wasn't told of a third Stand User!"
Twilight felt the heat return to her friend's body when she saw an arm clothed with feathers pop out of Sunset's back. She released her grip on Sunset and watched as a feathered hand touched the hole in Sunset's chest. Flames blazed to life out of the wound the hunter gave her while muscle, veins, organ tissue, and skin grew, leaving it as if the injury never happened.
A smile appeared when the young woman her friend groan.
"Twilight?" Sunset whispered.
Twilight let out a cry of relief as she embraced her friend. "I-I thought you were gone, Sunset!" she told her. "I'm so glad you're still alive!"
"I got so many questions, Twilight," Sunset said leaving her friend's embrace and getting back onto her friend. She saw the wounds Twilight sustained while she was unconscious and glared at the hunter, knowing he was responsible for hurting her friend. Her glare made the man take a step back.
"But first… Blaze! Help me teach this guy a lesson!"
Sunset's Stand appeared behind the young woman in a whirlwind of flames and let out a cry that sounded like between a woman's and bird's voice. The Stand had the upper body of an adult woman clothed in a dress made out of bright red and yellow feather while its lower body was that of a bird's with sharp talons for feet. Her face was hidden behind a veil but her eyes were clearly visible underneath it, surprising Twilight when she saw that they were identical to Sunset's own.
The hunter spun around and fled towards the exit. Blaze, however, touched the man's boot, causing bubbles to form out of the rubber as it begun to melt. The young man let out a shout of pain as his boot burned his foot, forcing him to ditch it as he fled.
"Protect me, Back-On!" the hunter yelled.
Almost immediately, the suit of armor that sliced off Twilight's hands came sprinting back into the room. It ran in between Sunset and the young man, preventing her from chasing him. Twilight could hear the flock of birds that chased her and Giorno nearby, no doubt responding to their master's call. The other animals, such as the bison from before, mustn't be far behind.
"Sunset! Watch out! His Stand is bringing the exhibits to life!" Twilight warned her friend.
Sunset was calm even at the sight of the suit of armor swinging its claymore at random nearby exhibits, crushing or cutting whatever it hit. After its display of strength, the armor swung its blade at the young woman, aiming to separate her head from her body. Before the blade could harm Sunset, her Stand Blaze punched the armor's helmet, launching the suit of armor into the air. The girls watched the suit of armor soar through the room until it crashed into the room's wall and fell onto the stone floor.
A cry escaped from the suit afterwards. Its hands shot up to its helmet and clawed at the metal. Looking closer, Twilight saw that the armor's helmet was turning red hot and begun melting where Blaze had punched it. Its cry rose as the metal of the helmet begun to collapse, turning the helmet into a pool of molten iron.
"It's strange, you know," Sunset said to Twilight while the suit of armor cries slowly died down. The young woman continued talking while she picked up Twilight's hands. "Somehow, I knew that punching that thing's face would have that effect. Just like how I know I can do this…"
Sunset kneeled in front of her friend and placed the severed hands back where they used to be. Blaze appeared and held the hands in place while Twilight felt a very warm heat radiate from her arms. She watched as nerves, bones, and muscles reattached her hands and in seconds, her hands were completely healed. She moved her fingers, surprised at how responsive they were. It was if the injury hadn't happened.
Sunset's eyes moved to Twilight's chest where she had been shot. "Unfortunately, Blaze is telling me that she can't heal that wound because it's not life-threatening," Sunset told her friend.
"That's okay," Twilight replied. She moved her fingers for Sunset and gave her friend a tiny smile. "This is good enough for now."
Sunset returned her friend's smile. "I'm glad, Twilight…"
To Twilight's surprise, Sunset slapped her. The force of the slap made Twilight take a step back. Twilight rubbed the spot Sunset slapped her, her skin beginning to sting and turn red.
"How could you keep something like this a secret from us, Twilight!?"
"I… I didn't want to get my friends involved in something life-threatening like Stands," Twilight answered. "I only fought one Stand User before and even I could tell just how dangerous Stands could be after that one fight. Nobody but other Stand Users have a chance surviving against other Stands, Sunset. But… but more than that, I-I'm afraid of what my friends will think of me if you found out that I'm a Stand User."
"Twilight…"
Tears begun trickling down Twilight's cheeks. "I-I don't want to lose my friends because I'm different!" Twilight cried. "I'm afraid if you and everyone else knew that I'm a Stand User, you'd leave me because I'm different. We haven't spent much time together but I look forward to every minute I can spend with you Sunset and everyone else. I don't want to go back to my old life, Sunset."
Sunset embraced Twilight, surprising her.
"You're so smart, Twilight, but you can really be a huge idiot, you know?"
"Huh?"
"We're never going to leave you, Twilight. You never have to worry about that. We're friends, Twilight, that means that no matter what happens, we will always be by your side," Sunset said hugging her friend tighter. "Besides, how can you be more different than me? I'm secretly a unicorn pony walking around in a human body, Twilight. I can use magic and give myself pony ears too. Face it, Twilight, I got you beat."
Twilight let out a small chuckle and wiped away her tears. "You win," she said with a tiny smile. "I promise not to let something like this happen again. No matter what, I'll at least tell you Sunset…"
The sound of flapping wings got the attention of the young women.
"We're out of time, Sunset," Twilight said escaping from Sunset's embrace. "That guy's Stand is going to attack us again."
Sunset took a look at the suit of armor her Stand punched. Its helmet had completely melted into a pool of molten iron and the suit of armor remained motionless. "If it's more moving suits of armor, I think I can handle it," Sunset said.
"His Stand can do more than animate suits of armor, Sunset," Twilight said. "I was attacked by a flock of birds, a bison, and even dinosaurs!"
"Oh. That… sounds a bit harder."
Twilight smiled. "Don't worry, now that we're together, we're definitely going to win. Besides, I have a plan to defeat him…"
Stand- Blaze
User- Sunset Shimmer
Power- B
Speed- B
Range- D
Precision- C
Durability- C
Potential- B
Ability- Blaze was born from Sunset's will to live and desire not to leave her friends and likewise, has an ability formed from Sunset's attitude towards her friends and enemies. Anything touched by Blaze will be super-heated and set ablaze. Any flames created by Blaze's ability cannot harm Sunset Shimmer or anyone she doesn't want to harm. Blaze can also heal wounds that would be life-threatening but only life-threatening wounds. Wounds that aren't lethal cannot be healed and must heal on its own. Brain injuries as well cannot be healed without unforeseen mental side effects. Perhaps the greatest power Blaze has is its ability to bring Sunset back to life as long as her brain remains intact. No matter how great the injury, so long as the brain remains undamaged, Blaze can bring Sunset back to life countless amounts of times.
Despite already being a very powerful Stand, Blaze still has an ability hidden away even from its user. An ability related to the magic Sunset holds within her body…