My Little Pony: Phantom Shimmer

Trixie was stunned. Her life shattered all at once before her. Her pale complexion turned a ghostly white as she began to piece together a plan. She would have to leave everything to Dio now that all her efforts had been in vain.

A cold sweat trickled down her porcelain skin as Speedwagon reaffirmed his proclamation.

"That white hair, the sultry voice, and those frozen eyes! I recognize her from it all everyone! She is definitely the one who hired me and my gang to kill Ms. Sparkle!"

George's face darkened as JoJo stepped forward in utter disbelief.

"My dear, is this true?"

"Trixie... It couldn't be!"

Twilight however stared with stoic expression. She felt at ease, almost light inside, and yet joy was far from her mind. She sighed quietly.

"I can not even find it in myself to be upset. I only wish to know, why?"

Trixie had already began to form tears in her eyes. Frustration as she had to calm herself, only to grow evermore emotional at this abrupt failure, this plummet into despair as she opened her mouth.

"I... I... I... I-I-I-I-I...! Twi-Twilight... F-Father please I...! Jonathan...?"

She stepped back as the men drew close. George spoke stiffly.

"You know what must be done now... Please do not make this any harder."

Trixie shook her head at George.

"No...! Please...! Father you know I would never..."

Speedwagon scoffed as he gestured to Spike. The unconscious child rested in the bed with great discomfort.

"I take responsibility for my actions, milady! Perhaps you should take after a street dog's example, and just give it up!"

Trixie snarled at the thug with an accusing point.

"Y-You...! Who do you think you are, to accuse me of this?! This is MY family!"

She grew silent as her hand had been seized by a gentle hold. JoJo closed her hand with his own. She knew this face he had, she knew every facet of his being, and smiled at this face she knew.

"Jonathan...! JoJo! I-I don't know the meaning behind any of this, but you have to believe me! I-I love you! I do... Please... Believe me...?"

"Trixie."

Her eyes widened in joy, preemptively celebrating within, she had him wrapped around her finger for all these years. He'd never let her go. He needed her.

"You're coming with me to the police."

Her mind had drawn a blank from the shock. Her plan obliterated as she felt and heard the clink of handcuffs on her wrists. Bound by the man she toyed with for years, betrayed by him, she was utterly speechless.

"You'll be kept in our room for the time being. When the party is over, you'll then be transferred to jail until a trial can be scheduled to see if you're innocent or not. A fair trial."

"...! I...!"

He pulled her close and looked back at the others.

"Father, Twilight. Tell our guests that Trixie has fallen faint and I have retired to take care of her myself."

JoJo escorted Trixie down the hallway. George shook his head with a huff.

"How could this have happened... But! We can't let this get us down. People will talk, but we must end this banquet early. Sir Speedwagon?"

Speedwagon tensed and stood at attention.

"Yessir!"

He then yelped at another strike against his leg from the elder.

"Relax yourself! Do me a favor and escort my old carcass down the stairs! I need to tell our guests to leave immediately."

"Y-Yessir."

Speedwagon took George by the arm and left Spike to Twilight.

As the two men neared the stairway, George stopped.

"A minute, Speedwagon. I'd like to apologize. You're sharper than you let on... Sharper than even Twilight may have realized."

"Whaddya mean by that, sir?"

"You're not babbling a nervous storm and you've stopped sweating despite facing a number of high societal powers."

"They're just people to me, sir."

"That they are... You're welcome here, you and the boy. Don't be afraid to come for a chat when this all blows over!"

Speedwagon stammered some until as a response. Words could not be spoken from his gratitude and shock. He never met such a noble man before, someone so familiar with a lower class thug like himself, they were still mostly strangers yet George treated him as a friend of years past.

He composed himself with a studious nod and confidence radiating from him.

"Yes sir, Master Joestar, sir!"

The guests all mumble gossip among each other until one noble laughed loudly.

"Aha! If it isn't the old master of the house himself, George Joestar! We were all worried you had left us!"

George merely nodded. A plain faced as he bellowed out.

"My soon to be daughter in law has unfortunately fallen faint. I fear my own disease may have afflicted her, so on behalf of myself I ask that all leave. We of the Joestar House are ever grateful unto you all!"

The nearest nobles withdrew from George. The elder chuckled as he watched his mansion empty with a shake of his head.

Speedwagon couldn't help stifle a laugh.

"S-Sir! Aren't you worried of being the talk of the town? What of your reputation?"

"Bah! The Joestar name has always been in and out of the mud of society."

"Hm? Sir, there's still one more!"

"No, that's my other son, Dio Brando... He came with Trixie, both from the slums like yourself."

"Is that right... You don't think that he-"

Speedwagon stopped himself as Dio approached them. The blonde intimidated Speedwagon, he felt as a prey caught in a trap, unable to move with blood frozen cold.

Dio ignored the thug as he spoke with concern to George.

"Sir Joestar, you shouldn't joke with your peers and partners about your condition."

George laughed into a coughing fit.

"If but one of them stayed behind I'd probably feel like I'd be offending my friends! The problem is, I only have so few friends. Come with me. We've much to discuss, you and I."

Dio felt a foreign sensation. No, he felt this before, but it was as new to him as it was that same day after so many years.

George glared at Dio the same way Jonathan had in their first fight...

Twilight carefully fed Spike another gem, tensing at his lightning reflexes as he inhaled one after another, yet still remained unconscious.

"How garish...! I do hope you'll wake up soon."

"... U-Uhn... Uh... M-Mama?"

"Dreaming about home... I wonder, if they're pleasant dreams."

She sighed and looked to the mirror as she thought back to her own home.

From George she was reminded of the prosperous radiance of Equestria, it's peace and lush life, even it's range of dangers gave her a sense of thrill.

Yet she only remembered small snippets. Tiny fragments of her life there, too little and too scattered to piece together anything coherent, no faces or voices to recognize. Only the nightmares of the man in the dark. The monster in black with hellfire in his sordid eyes.

The fires that burned away home her mind locked away deep inside...

"Uhhnn... Wh-Where am I?"

Twilight gasped as she looked down at Spike. His eyes opening at last, emerald orbs with sharp slit pupils, cracked open before flying wide as he scurried away from Twilight.

"U-Uwahh! Wh-Who are you?! Where's Speedwagon!?"

"Calm down, he's just outside, you're safe now. Try to take slow breaths. After me."

She began to breathe deeply with her hands gesturing at her own body for Spike to follow. He did so, much to her surprise, before he pulled the sheets of the bed up to his nose.

Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

She had heard so much of the raw power of the dragons that to think this small child was one, simply didn't seem right.

"Wh-What's so funny?! You think I'm funny!"

His attempts at being intimidating only made her laugh more.

"N-No, I'm sorry it's just...! I thought dragons were supposed to be large winged beasts. Yet you're so tiny!"

She reached out to ruffle his hair but reeled back with a yelp as Spike bit down at her hand. At that moment she had remembered his odd jaw structure.

Spike leapt from under the covers and onto his feet with a thumb to his chest and a proud sneer on his face.

"I'll have you know, I'm the leader of the biggest gang in Ogre Street, Speedwagon's my advisor! Don't think cause I'm small you can make fun of me!"

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but only smiled and laughed as Spike slipped off the edge of the bed, landing on his head with a pathetic pout.

"O-Ohoho!~ Do forgive me, it's just, you're still a child!"

"So?! I'm a dragon! Can't you tell by the horns and scales and eyes and teeth and-"

"Alright, alright, we do believe that much. You still need rest."

She lifted him up off the ground and back to the bed with her magic. His speechless shock was enough for her to smile brightly again.

"We're not too different, really. Why don't we become friends? I'm Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight offered her hand. Spike looked between her and the hand for some time before he shook it with beaming smile of his own.

"Spike! Just Spike! And uh, you got anymore of those rock candies? They're delicious!"

Twilight shook her head.

"Sadly that was the last within that safe...-"

She stumbled over her words at Spike's reaction. She hasn't expected him to suddenly start crying. He kept his mouth shut tight and hands clenched into fists.

"O-Oh! I'm sure there's more! We can look together! What do you say?"

She stood up and offered her hand again. Spike nodded and took it without a word as they left the room for the hallway.

JoJo and Trixie sat on their bed, the two on opposite sides of the edge. Trixie had been silent the entire time. JoJo grew unnerved by the stillness and finally spoke up.

"Was it you? Truly?"

"..."

"We've known each other for so long... Did you still hate her after so many years?"

"..."

"Why? On this night of all nights, why?"

"..."

"Trixie, please answer me. Say something."

"... It was going so perfect. I had everything planned out..."

He turned around at the low statement. Her clear voice now hushed and raspy with a choked breath.

"I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, was going to rule the country with the Joestar wealth. Weeding out any potential obstacles by any means. Twilight, George, even Dio... Even you."

JoJo was astonished. He knew had kept on a façade for as long as he could remember, for her sake, but to now learn of her own brought chills to skin. He waited for her to continue.

"I started it all planning each day, each step, every hour I made a move that would bring me closer. I pretended to be dumb, I masked away the ugly inside, played the part of a cowardly child..."

She hadn't even glanced his way. Her voice grew deeper, hollow, darker.

"I turned the town against Twilight, I had George pity and spoil me, and even Dio acted as my bodyguard before all of this. There was only you I had to deal with. It was all too easy when I saw you lose against him in boxing."

She giggled and began to hug herself tightly.

"I would use you, that when it came time for your inheritance, it would be our inheritance. A trophy husband. You were appealing enough back then... But then it happened. You changed. You ruined everything."

She sighed slowly shaking her head with an annoyed tone.

"Don't think I did not see the rope bruises around Twilight's neck that night. She tried to hide it for a week from George, but we all saw it. If it weren't for you, my biggest threat to my goal would have been eliminated... If it weren't for you, Dio wouldn't have grown so cold and distant. If it weren't for you, George would have kept his attention on me..."

At last she turned with a petrified smile. Heavy tears staining her stretched cheeks. Terrifying eyes that shook JoJo's very being. Even her empty voice felt as ice despite the low tone.

"If it werent for you, on that night, I never would have fallen in love with Jonathan Joestar... You were all I had in mind after that night. All I could think about. All I ever wanted... Like a Prince from a Faerytale. A real dream come true."

Trixie began to crawl over the bed towards him. Her stance low, movements subtle and sensual, her crazed eyes locked on his own. He hadn't moved an inch.

"When you held me so close. Whenever we studied or played alone. I was in a Heaven of my own... I only wanted to be with you."

"..."

"When we shared that night together in this room... And announced our engagement that morning... How can I say this?"

She brought her cuffed hands up there face with a pleasure filled moan. Shuddering in delight as she began to drool slightly with a blushing face.

"I was melting inside...!~ It felt so sublime."

"..."

She drew closer. Finally placing her hands on his arm.

"I have to thank Dio! This, powerful body, would be but a dream... Than there's that smile you have, whenever you were with Twilight. Oohhh... How I love that smile. But you'd only ever show it around her.For her."

Her smile faded into a desperate frown. Her grip loosened and fell to the sheets as she leaned her head into his chest.

"I gave you everything I had... My time. My attention. My body, my love! I only ever wanted to see you look at me like you did her. Was that so much, too much, to ask for?! I gave up my dream for you!"

She seized him by his collar as she leaned back from him. To pull him down to her level.

"Why don't you love me?! What is it she has that I don't!? Why... Her...?"

Trixie found herself breaking apart. Once again leaning into him as she cried.

"Why is she so much more than I...?! I tried... I worked so hard... I just wanted you to love me..."

Trixie sobbed between choked breaths unable to truly cope with her situation. She had found herself shattered, broken, and lost.

JoJo wrapped his arms around her and shushed her, cradling her calmly in his arms as he hushed her. Not a word spoken still. She gasped at the action and grew a sick smile.

"... I knew it... I still have you... I still have you... Wrapped around my finger... Heh-hehe-h-hehe..."

JoJo merely held her as her sobbing turned to quiet mad laughter.

Dio stood before George in the main hall with Speedwagon at George's side. The street thug kept a solid face, but his nose was burning with an awful stench, an evil reeking of the strongest miasma.

George nodded as he began to pace around Dio.

"You see... Tonight has opened my eyes to something awful my boy. I'm dying. Nothing is going to stop that-"

Dio spoke up with concern.

"Master Joestar, please! The medicine will-"

George continued interrupting his foster son.

"-but that is not what I awoke to tonight. When I learned of Trixie's plight against Twilight, a memory resurfaced, a memory of a rather special note."

George dug into his robes and pulled out a note that drew breath from Dio. His eyes flared and he grew visibly tense.

"This note holds Dario Brando's last words. Incriminating really... Twilight found this while studying with Jonathan."

"...!"

Dio furrowed his brows. That, witch, was to be the end of him?! No... George was a fool and himself an opportunist. He would achieve his goals. He calmed down and listened.

"Rather than showing it to Jonathan, she hid it from him and came to me, hoping that the two of you wouldn't come to blows again. I told her that one day I'd deal with this myself. Dio."

George walked over to the fireplace. Staring into the flames as he held up the paper.

"Though you are not, I love and hold you as a son, I trust you now with this knowledge. What will you do? Still seek the Joestar wealth? Or something beyond mere greed?"

"... Father..."

Dio lowered his head visibly shaken. Face hidden away as he clenched his fists.

"I... I have learned so much from you... From my life here, from Twilight and JoJo...! I will do everything I can from here out, to show the world that I, Dio Brando will rise above the rest!"

George nodded, and threw the note into the fire, surprising both Dio and Speedwagon.

"?!"

"M-Master Joestar!"

George smiled brightly at them both as he began to walk away.

"It can't be helped where we come from! It is only where we go that we decide. Take care,Sir Brando."

Dio smiled gleefully, devilishly, leaving with a great stride to his step.

"I will go check on Twilight! She'll be relieved to hear of this!"

As he walked away, George began to enter a terrible coughing fit. Speedwagon held the elder gentleman up as Dio ran back to his foster father's side.

"Master Joestar!? What's wrong, sir!"

"It's his medicine. I nearly forgot to deliver it to him! I just received it upon the doctor's leave at the party."

Dio pulled out a small folded paper from his coat pocket and handed it to Speedwagon.

"A glass of water with this and he should be right as rain. Be careful, sir."

The rise in hostility in such an abrupt moment left Speedwagon in a daze. Unable to reply fast enough to catch Dio as the blonde marched off.

"Arrogant- Master Joestar. Are you alright!?"

George glanced up and nodded as he saw Dio vanish to the second floor.

"Yes. Heartbroken, but I lived a life with a shattered heart, what's but a few more pieces?"

George smiled grimly as he looked to the medicine with a sigh.

"So it's come to this... Sir Speedwagon, I ask for your aid."

"Anything, sir!"

"Trace that medicine back. Take it to a doctor, and if my suspicions are correct, help me investigate the matter further... I pray that dust, is nothing more than medicine, or sugar..."

"Sir...?! Yo-You... You believe it to be poison!"

"Please... Put this old man's soul at ease... This family has been broken enough..."

Speedwagon nodded with a mad dash to the door. Leaving George alone in the hall.

"... Joestar..."

George grew a foul scowl as he turned to the flames. Those eyes that burned a pit in his soul appeared once more.

"Your time is coming. Soon, the princess will be mine. I can feel it... The hour of your death arrives, TONIGHT!"

The grandfather clock rung it's bell as the monster's laughter bellowed in George's ears. Silent as he watched the flames. All of it ringing at a deafening volume in his ears.

"Careful Spike, don't run around so recklessly!"

Twilight huffed as she chased after Spike who ran carefree with his arms in the air. A mischievous smile on as he looked back.

"Yeah, yeah! I know where I'm-Uhf!"

Spike fell back as he bumped into a leg. Twilight gasped as she grew fearful. Spike looked up at the figure with a snarl.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

His snarl quieted to a near silent whine as he shrank back. Dio glared down at Spike with great disgust in his eyes.

"So, he's feeling better, good I suppose... Ah, Twilight. I've been looking for you."

He smiled that awful sly smile, a smug smirk that irritated her to no end, how long has it been since she saw it last?

She didn't respond, gesturing for Spike to come back to her, he scrambled to his feet over to her side. This gave Dio a light feeling inside. A chuckle from the blonde escaped him as he drew close.

"I merely wanted to thank you, for having so much faith in me. You see, Father has burned that devious letter away, and I'm sure you're aware of which one."

Her eyes widened as her body fell still. Breathing ceased as he drew his lips to her ear in a soft whisper of a most gentle tone.

"I personally want to thank you... For reaffirming my place at the top..."

Dio drew back fully satisfied with his victory over her. Relishing in her dismay, he walked past the two, his head held high as he chuckled again.

Spike poked his head from behind Twilight with a glare and bared his fangs in Duo's direction.

"Blegh! What pisshead! I can't stand types like him! What was he even going on about?"

"... I-I... We have to speak with Master Joestar. Now!"

She seized Spike by the wrist and pulled him along the hallway of the second floor.

Dio knocked on the door to his destination.

"It is I, Dio. JoJo, Trixie, may I come in?"

There was a pause. An awkward prolonged moment before the click sounded and JoJo opened the door with a weary face.

"Dio... Did you hear?"

"... I did. It is, unfathomable... I wish to speak with Trixie privately."

JoJo nodded and opened the door further as he made his way down the hall.

"I'm sorry... I need air..."

Dio raised a brow. It was on instinct to lie, and was he ever good at it, better now than ever before. Trixie had messed up somehow and now would learn.

He entered the room and closed it behind him.

"Trixie. What's going on? Father dearest and Twilight have been at my throat, I just managed to pull a fast one by chance, yet everyone is so... Oh."

He saw the dreaded sight that was Trixie. In all their years together, even when they were street urchins, never had he seen her in such distress.

She laid on her side atop the bed with her hands cuffed and face a stained mess.

"Dio...? I... I was too hasty... I hired the thug you saw to get his gang to kill Twilight... Whore must have used her damned spells to find out about that boy... She won him over and he ratted me out... I'm not done yet... I have, a final plan..."

She sat up and smiled as she stood to her feet. Making her way to the dresser as she pulled out the Stone Mask.

"A final magic trick. A real show stopper...!"

Speedwagon arrived back at the manor with the police by his side and an Asian man of short stature in cuffs. JoJo, Twilight, Spike and George all stood to the side as they watched Dio come down the stairs with Trixie who had her head hung low. Face hidden behind the snow white mane.

Dio handed over his closest friend before he found himself in the hands of the policemen.

"?! What is the meaning of this!?"

"Dio. I'm sorry, but it seems I was wrong after all..."

George said as he lowered his head, his voice filled with shame and disappointment. Speedwagon thumbed to himself.

"We never really introduced each other, have we? I'm the Interfering Speedwagon, and we have evidence of your attempted assassination on Master Joestar!"

A detective held up the foreign man.

"As well as where and who you received the poison from the act. He confessed to it all, Brando."

Dio could not believe this. Now?! Of all times!? This was not part of the plan, they did not factor such a card being played, but Trixie remained calm and spoke first.

"D-Daddy... If I may still call you that... I have something I must confess before I go... May I?"

George looked to the officers and nodded.

"Of course, my dear."

She shuddered and huffed.

"I have thought about this for a long time... My hatred for Twilight has been misplaced all this time. We're actually more alike than you ever thought possible. No one could have known the secrets of our true relationship."

Twilight grew nervous as Trixie drew closer to her. She stopped at a safe distance as Twilight shook her head.

"I...! Trixie, what are you saying?"

The crazed woman lifted her head, revealing the malevolent distortion that was her smile.

"I, AM AN EQUESTRIAN, JUST LIKE YOU!"

With a bright flash of ethereal light, Trixie not only destroyed her cuffs, but knocked everyone off their feet. Taking advantage of the situation, she raised her hand and used her magic to take hold of the chandelier above, and bring it down on top of Twilight.