Care Root's Bizarre Adventure

Chapters

Welcome to the Human Race
Signed Sealed Delivered
This Is Spinal Tap
Destiny's Child
The Man Comes Around
Magical Mystery Tour
Trouble
Diamond in the Witch House
Midnight Rambler
The Weeknd
Have You Seen Me Lately?
The City Is At War
Harsh Lights
Little People Make Big Mistakes
How Far We've Come
The Romantics

Welcome to the Human Race

Another day, at CHS, a month since… whatever gave you these abilities. Over the last thirty days, it seems like everyone’s earned a latent superpower. Super strength, speed, flying… Even a couple of weird ones.

Not everyone reveals their powers. Some people are too cool. You… aren’t.

You are Care Root, walking the hallways between bells. You could pretend to get something out of your locker, but you carry everything in your backpack: the backup calculator, the lunch you’ve packed every day since sixth grade, the half-full notebook you only keep to practice your shorthand in… In general, you feel like you aren’t supposed to be in this building.

“Hey, Wiz Kid!” You hear the name and the greying face of Mr. Wizard fills your mind. Another person needs to tell you something; joy fills your every nerve.

It’s not someone in front of you, or you’d have seen their mouth moving. You wonder, can you consciously tell direction from acoustics alone, if you train yourself? Maybe. Human beings have very elastic capabilities, compared to other animals.

You turn around. It’s one of Sentry’s. The one with blue hair, whatshisname.

“Your shirt’s inside out, man!” he calls as he walks past you, slapping you on the shoulder. Other students notice, but before they can say anything you walk away.

You could cut this building in half, if you wanted.

You’d just have to kill yourself afterwards. If your powers let you.

Your “Stand” feels like it should be called ｢Timbuk Three｣. You don’t know why. Just like you don’t know why they’re called “Stands”. If it’s because they “Stand beside you” like everyone says, shouldn’t they be called “Floats”? Not to mention that you’ve seen a couple that can’t even stand in the first place.

Yours could, though, if it weren’t busy hovering with its crotch in orbit around your head. A lanky mouthless man in cowboy boots, body blue highlighted with gold. And those tubes of faint red, like a spent glowstick. You know what it can do, and why you can never use it: it brings the glow of the future into the present.

All the happy memories you haven’t had yet can be traded in like used books, for a few seconds of power at a time. You would never be stupid enough to use this power over nothing, but that wasn’t the worst of it. No, you’ve tried, just to test it out, and it won’t work for you.

After exerting enough effort, you were able to see your options, how much you had left to “trade in”. Your life from now until your dying day had about a dozen, all of them swollen with importance. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. You know you have power, raw power of some kind or another, but even you know technical info about a weapon can’t beat actual training with it.

You will never get to show off your Stand, or get to make a name for yourself with your cool superpowers, or live a normal, happy, slightly disappointing life. You will never really be happy.

If only you could take that more seriously. Not counting the high of friendship magic each time the Rainbooms win something, you don’t remember the last time you felt happy.

The bathroom is empty, but one stall is wet and the other’s been locked from the inside. You sigh at how human beings can manage to be creative in all the wrong ways. There’s nowhere clean to put your bag, so you settle for under the dryers. Then you take your shirt off, praying no one comes in.

The bell rings as soon as it’s halfway off, of course. Sigh.

It’s not that being late can really hurt you at this point. And, honestly, Cheerilee doesn’t really care about attendance either way. Being late just makes you feel bad.

At least it’s less likely someone will walk in on you.

This is the last time you’re wearing anything but the white dress shirt. You wanted to try on something plain, red, without the little pin on it, but it’s clearly too much trouble. Button-ups don’t lie.

You flip it so the tag’s on the inside and try to dress yourself. It takes a couple attempts to get it turned around the right way, but it falls to your intellect eventually.

In fact, you put it back on in time to hear the stall creak open. A girl comes out.

You do a quick double-take of the room while avoiding eye contact.

Yes, there are urinals here. And that stall was empty. It passed the foot check, at least. Was she holding her knees?

She seems nervous, too. You turn and look her in the eyes. They’re crossed, golden like her hair. You feel like you can almost remember her from somewhere.

“Do I know you?” Your voice is hoarse, and she jumps a bit before turning to face you.

”...Are you after the watch?”

“The what?” Man, that made you sound stupid. You try to salvage it. “Watch? No.”

Not much better.

”Oh. Then why are you in the girls’ bathroom?”

You triple-check because maybe you’re seeing things. No, you’re in the right place. Cynically you half-expect her to laugh at you for checking and then leave without an explanation. ...That might be easier to respond to, actually.

Her left eye is staring at you intently, waiting for her answer.

“Uh… actually, this is the boys’ bathroom.” You gesture weakly at the room.

She blanches. ”Oh, goodness, I’m so sorry! I’m always getting these things confused!” She runs outside. You move to follow her, and suddenly lose the desire to.

Did you know her? No. You hadn’t even seen her before, probably. Why were you so sure she was important?

Then she’s pushed back through the door by a buff grey-skinned guy. You think he might be a janitor, maybe with kids who go here. He definitely looks too old to be a student.

She’s so... familiar, though. You don’t know why you’re flip-flopping over this so much.

“--know you have it, you Downie bitch! Where’d you put it?”

”I don’t have anything!” Her lying face is terrible.

”If you won’t tell me, I can bring out my Stand.” Standard threat.

Wait. Stand. That’s what the feeling is. Your Stand is tugging at your mind.

You draw your attention to「Timbuk Three」

...It’s grown. Your list of happy moments. Your fuel. It’s... huge. Did it take a long time to load, or something?

”It’s not yours anyway! You only took it from Photo!” She’s not backing down from this guy. He could probably get her suspended or expelled, if he were smart. As it stands, he can at least beat her up over it.

Looking at her face, you realize that your list shrank when she left and grew when she came back in. In fact, you realize that she’s actually rather pretty, standing there defiantly.

“Alright, you asked for it...” The janitor turns to you and points a thumb at the door. ”Get lost, squirt.”

You consider what you’re about to do. Then you do it anyway.

“No.”

He looks at you, open-mouthed. ”What’d you say?”

Good question. “I said no. You leave her alone.” Yeah… you did say that, didn’t you? Well. Better to die now than drip-feed happiness for the next sixty years, you guess.

You try to shake your apathy. This is your own life you’re standing up for! If you had this much happiness in it already, you wouldn’t trade it for anything. You need to muster some energy over it!

The giant isn’t having this problem. As a matter of fact, he’s grinning ear to ear. God, he’s got a chin that goes on for miles.

”Fuckin’ the school ‘tard, son? Ain’t that sweet. I’ll have to make her watch what I do to you.”

Okay, when did your heartbeat become noticeable? The world feels clearer now. You feel your Stand pushing at you from… well, from a direction that doesn’t exist. From inside the coils of your spirit, if you wanted to be poetic.

”If she’s given you any little presents from my family, you’re gonna regret it. ｢Sweet Thing｣!” He summons his Stand. It looks like a full-body plaster of Hulk Hogan, except for the coloring. It’s blood red, and it’s eyes are eternally staring with uncomfortable intensity. It poses, too, arms crossed and back to back with your enemy.

Okay. The girl’s looking at you. She seems kind of stunned - you hope. You’re not gonna fuck this up.

“｢Timbuk Three｣!” It bursts out of your body, and you feel a slight emptiness where it used to be. Its fists are clenched and put up for combat. The red tubing around the arms and through the chest is bright now.

The yellow-haired girl shields her eyes. You reach out with your mind and grab for something happy as this human wall walks towards you.

You find a few small moments in the near future and grab them without examining them. Your Stand points a finger at its counterpart and a series of pinpoint lasers shoot out like Morse. It crosses its arms and blocks, but it’s enough to singe the guy.

Fuck, this thing seems pretty tough.

”That all you got? Let me show you my power!” His Stand bears down on you, arm raised for a left hook.

Shit! Jump! Get out of the way, you deer!

You do a shaky sidestep. ｢Timbuk Three｣ grabs an arm and yanks you off-balance, sendin you stumbling further backwards.

The fist collides with the driers, crumpling them on impact. That would pulverize your skull in a single hit. He steps in now that you’re inside the bathroom proper. You can’t see the entrance any longer, and he’s moving toward the sinks - in other words, you’re blocked in.

That’s fine, you can just find something...

You realize you can’t feel your Stand’s energy any longer. The light’s gone from it.

You can’t see her, and maybe she ran away. And you only have twelve moments to use, again.

Okay, not the time to panic, you’ve got to stall this guy. “Is that all your Stand can do? Too lazy to go to the gym and fight your own battles?”

He laughs. It’s a mean laugh. ”Come over here and find out.”

Wherever she is, you need to find her. Your chance to save her can’t be gone yet! Or maybe she’s just not in your range, you can’t tell what that even feels like.

You have to get past this fuckwit.

“Alright, I’ll show you my true power! ｢Timbuk Three｣!”

You can see the moment as you burn it: it’s your Nobel. Forty years of thankless work, for that one simple prize. That moment of recognition. Gone forever, now.

You feel like you’re cutting off your own body parts.

He grins again as your Stand lights up and his own punches a sink in half. Water spills everywhere. You focus all the power through your Stand’s chest, and project a fist of hard light. You’d always wanted to do that.

Then you give him a right hook of your own! The room explodes with brightness, and for a moment all you can see is white. You feel the exhiliration of knowing that’s not even all your power! You could keep this up for a few more minutes if you had to!

But then the white fades, and apart from the specks in your eyes, you can make out the room again. And... he’s still standing there.

He laughs. ”You should see the look on your face!”

“H… how? How are you still fine?” Then you notice the marks on the wall around him where the tile’s been bleached white again.

”It’s all in my Stand, kid. Even when I miss, whatever ｢Sweet Thing｣ touches hates you!” He waves a meaty hand at the sink as it spits up a thick jet of water between the two of you. ”I knew you were doing something with light, and I knew water could move it out of the way.”

...Did this guy just kick your ass with refraction?

Wait. “How did you know what my Stand did?” It wasn’t that obvious, was it?

He laughs again. ”Someone keeps tabs on Stand users, kid. They want armies. I’d’ve beaten you into shape and put you in mine, but that’s not my style. And your girl’s got something I want.” Then, at last, he realizes it’s just the two of you in the room. ”Speaking of that, I’d better go deal with her. Have fun until I get back.”

His Stand smashes the ground, and he walks away.

“Hey! Get back here!” You fire a thick beam of heat and light at his back, and one of the driers explodes. Startled, you topple, and the shot goes wild, puncturing the ceiling.

The floor’s starting to flood now, and you fall right on it.

“Gotta… save her…” You get up on your knees. Then you slip and fall again.

Oh, yeah. The floor “hates” you too, doesn’t it?

You’ve got another two minutes of power. Less if you push it. You crawl towards the exit.

The remaining drier sputters and starts burning as you come in its direction. A tongue of flame pours out and rests casually in your path, roasting your already wet backpack.

Can’t [i[anything give you a break?

You fire a continuous laser in the broken sink’s direction. It shoots up a jet of water, and the fire sputters and dies. Satisfied that it isn’t going to start again, you keep crawling.

As soon as you’re back on filthy tile, it’s time to drag yourself up and get moving. You bust through the door and find her immediately, being held up by the throat! Her legs are kicking and her hands are trying to pry his off.

In his free palm, he’s examining something: a little wristwatch. There’s no way it fits him.

He turns to you. ”Bitch had it on her! Can you believe it?”

“Let go of her!”

”Or what? You’ll put on another lightshow?” He turns to her. ”Looks like chivalry ain’t dead after all, huh?”

If she makes a response, neither of you can make it out. All you know is that you still don’t have those extra moments back.

”Alright, tough guy. Say pretty please and maybe she’ll just walk away with some bad bruises.”

You fire a laser clean through his wrist.

His fingers jerk open, and she falls and slumps to the ground. He grabs his hand, glaring at you, and you match the look.

Then, unbelievably, he retreats, his Stand punching every surface it can on the way.

You rush over to the girl. She’s conscious, but fatigued.

“Are you alright? What’s your name?”

She notices you. ”Have to…” She rolls and turns to the retreating giant, trying to get up with fire in her eyes.

Your Stand’s getting dimmer and dimmer. Still no future memories...

So that’s it.

You put a hand on her shoulder. This is the first time you’ve touched a girl in… you try not to think about that. “I’ll take care of him.”

You’ve got thirty seconds left. That’s plenty.

“Hey! We’re not done here. You have something that doesn’t belong to you!” You shout.

He looks over his shoulder at you from twenty-five feet away, as you prepare to unload all of your energy into physical space.

The floor feels like it could shift under you. Ceiling tiles feel especially loose. His Stand is out and ready for you.

“You think making the world hate me will be enough to stop me?” Your Stand glows fiercely, with more than the power of your future. “The world already hates me! It has for years now! I’ll never let something as tiny as that keep me from KICKING YOUR FUCKING TEETH IN! ｢TIMBUK THREE｣!”

You throw a punch, and a fist the size of the hallway flies at him. Slowly.

Ceiling tiles dislodge and break against it. Lockers find excuses to fall open, and get smacked away in its path. His own Stand throws a punch at it, and struggles to hold it back.

It falters. You can’t see it, but you can feel it failing to hold you back, and you run after the fist.

｢Sweet Thing｣ fails, and you get through. Quickly, you shred some of the light off of the main attack, focusing an edge to it. You’re working with senses you didn’t know you had!

While this guy’s being hit, his pockets are already cut open. Your power throws him through a wall into the teacher’s lounge, hard enough to give him road rash.

You scoop up what fell out. It’s a little Mickey Mouse watch, still ticking. Ha.

Man, you’re really late to class now, aren’t you?

You turn to check on her, and notice the crowd that’s gathered. By some miracle, there are no teachers yet. Some of them are looking at you, but a lot are looking just up and to the right of you.

If they can see your Stand, they can threaten it. You recall it, and try to ignore them.

She’s still on the ground. You make your way over, crouch and hand the watch to her. When she sees it, the fire leaves her eyes and she looks immensely relieved.

”It belonged to one of the Freshman girls. I thought for sure he’d broken it...” She pockets it, and you help her up, only for her to hug you. ”Thank you! I’m sorry I thought you were creeping around the girls’ bathroom!”

Could’ve done without that in front of all the people. But having her arms up around you feels heavenly.

“Well, you can count on me,” you say, and drunk on this victory you add, “I’m Care Root, and I don’t let people bully and hurt the innocent.”

Okay, maybe that was a little thick… But she looks into your eyes, and hers light up. She understands you mean that.

“I’m Derpy. Could you help me give this back to the girl who owned it?”

“Sure.” You feel your power increase and your Stand brighten again.

The future stretches out in front of you. And goodness, is it bright.

｢TO BE CONTINUED｣

Stand: ｢Sweet Thing｣
User: Fido
Abilities: Any inanimate object punched by ｢Sweet Thing｣ will be actively hostile to those fighting the user. These punches are strong enough that they always necessarily damage solid objects.

Author's Note

The "pilot" chapter, a little unpolished compared to the rest of the story. Looking back on it from the halfway point, where it's finally reached novel length, I feel I should advise my readers that CRBA hits its groove at chapter 5.

Signed Sealed Delivered

It’s early morning outside CHS. The buses have only just started to swim in, dropping herds of shuddering students to complain in the autumn air. Thankfully, your parents’ distant magnanimity gifted you a car.

You set an alarm for this, but you didn’t get very much sleep anyway. Walking behind the building, you try to put thoughts of your conversation yesterday out of your head. She likes you. She invited you to eat lunch with her, didn’t she?

But you can’t shake the worry that maybe you bored her and she was afraid to tell you. Or else you offended her and she only realized it later. You haven’t slept well, but your future seems like it’s still intact, so whatever goes on, the long game’s intact.

You’re Care Root, ”Wiz Kid” to some, and like many of your peers you’ve gained the power of Stand. Except for you, it was more of a curse.

Your ability could burn the happiness in your future for raw power. Except it turned out you didn’t have any. This left you prepared to suffer the rest of your life quietly, but then you stumbled on this one particular girl, and your future opened up. The rest of your life is full of joy now, and you aren’t entirely sure why, but you have a feeling not everything is ordinary about this cross-eyed teenager.

Or your feelings for her.

And your time spent unnoticed by the other Stand users is coming to an end. Which coincidentally brings you to the back of the school...

”Wiz Kid.”

Oh. It’s her. You ignore the nickname because she probably doesn’t know better, and watch as she leaves the shadows. White hair, blue skin, will probably look the same age forever until those two things fade. Blue, witchy uniform, like a Wiccan without the courage to look untidy.

And the note in your locker, which had only given the place and time, written in neat, flowing script. The kind you take multiple attempts at. If you knew her by more than reputation, you’d have expected this.

“Trixie.”

She smiles. ”Yes, the Great and Powerful Trixie has been looking forward to speaking with you! There are offers in the wings around here, but Trixie’s going to make hers first!” She looks not just pleased with herself but excited.

“Offers?”

She nods. ”Normally I wouldn’t be so forward, but... Trixie wants you on her side, Wiz Kid. My organization is shaping up to be the best in this town!”

“What do you need to take sides for?”

”Well, obviously because of the Rainbooms!” she says, and then by your look determines that you’re not in the loop. ”...They’re not doing anything.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

”No! They’re always running around fixing things! Trixie’s heard that yesterday you blew a hole in a wall and no one reported you! They should be hunting you like dogs!”

You supposed you hadn’t noticed them around, but… Well, honestly, it would’ve taken a little squinting for you to pick them out of a lineup. You didn’t do the whole school clique thing.

Not that it stopped everyone from calling you a “techie” because you had a shoddy haircut and wore a math pin. (Yeah, neural networks and set theory are the same thing, aren’t they?)

She’s still going. “And that Twilight character’s transferred here permanently. She’s been around for weeks now! She has to be preparing for something! And whatever it is, we’re going to show her we can handle it without her, and take the spoils for ourselves!” She breaks out of the monologue and turns to you, fists clenched, looking hopeful.

You’d have a hard time saying no to that face if you didn’t already feel so distracted. “Fighting’s not really my area…”

She scoffs and waves you off with one hand. ”Say no more, I understand the importance of chivalry with powers such as yours! Everyone knows you fight only to protect the innocent!” You cringe at that, but she doesn’t notice, already moving ahead, ”But there are bigger echelons to climb, Wiz! We need to take them in our hands while there’s still time, or else some other group is going to control everything that happens in Canterlot High! Wouldn’t you like to make sure the people running things are trustworthy?”

“...I guess I’m just not interested in who runs things, Trixie. My power’s not as good for fighting as you think it is. Sorry.”

She laughs. ”You don’t have to lie. Trixie knows what you did with your Stand, and how you hid it for weeks without showing anybody. You’re frankly obnoxiously good in class, you’re never late, and you’re never around other people. You’re playing a deeper game if Trixie’s ever seen it.

”I think you’d like coming down to our level more than you’d think. I think you’re worried, and you’ve got no one to take away those worries.” She says, coming uncomfortably closer.

You want to wave her away, and say “No, I have a date.” But, well, is it? It’s lunch.

Lunch with a pretty girl who gives meaning to the rest of your life.

You shake your head at Trixie. “I don’t think I’m interested on being part of anyone’s side, or level, or anything.”

Her expression becomes more obscure. ”Alright, Trixie will give you some time to think about it.” And then, like a smash cut, she’s ten feet away from you. You hadn’t even blinked.

She stalks away around the corner. You almost want to follow her, but you have a sneaking feeling she’s already vanished. Besides, the building’s probably open now, and it is pretty cold out here. You turn to leave.

And notice a figure in a big hood and a black backpack staring at you.

”｢Fineshrine｣!” A girl, given the voice.

A small, gnarled tree shimmers into existence behind her, its boughs pointed skyward. On it are birds with roots digging into their bodies, twitching. Being drained of color?

”Oh, yes, Care, I know your power works with light! And that means you’re useless against a blind enemy!” The birds detach from the tree, and they’re albino, eyeless, cold things that hover in the air. ”You might act all high and mighty about protecting people, but you made one mistake! You tried to touch dernier!”

What? Was that a thing? A name, a slang word you aren't current for?

The birds stop, realign themselves in an odd kind of grid. She shouts, “No matter how strong you are, I’m gonna put you in the hospital for that!”

The birds dive for you. These look like birds that spent a million years deep underground without losing their wings. You can make out organs under their feathers, like they’re sculpted out of gelatin. Their “faces” are smooth where the eyes should be, just beaks.

Their formation shifts into a V shape, with the most translucent heading the spear at you.

You summon up your Stand. ”｢Timbuk Three｣!”

You don’t have time to survey your whole future and decide what to burn. (You did do a bit of combing through it last night, though, when you should’ve been sleeping. It reminded you of shaking Christmas presents to find out what was inside them.) Carefully you reach for something small and inconsequential from the far end of your future.

There.

｢Timbuk Three｣ lights up a little. You’ve got thirty seconds of power, and you throw a laser through the one in front to see what happens. A hole appears, and it collapses. Then you bend the laser through the others, knowing the additional accuracy is burning away your time.

Then you let off a shot on the trunk of the tree. The hooded girl tries to recall it, but she doesn’t do it faster than the speed of light. Then she clutches her stomach as whatever-it-is retreats.

You throw down a flare to illuminate her hood. She tries to turn away, but you catch her face.

Yellow with orange hair, glinting surprised eyes, a look of desperation. You don’t recognize her.

She turns her face away from you, but doesn’t run. Instead, she clenches her fists. You stand and look at her for a minute, but she seems to be waiting for you to attack.

...“Why are you fighting me?”

Silence. Maybe she’s waiting for you to leave? She doesn’t seem very unthreatening.

Should you repeat the question?

”I already told you, you egghead. Even if my information about you wasn’t completly accurate, ｢Fineshrine｣’s going to teach you the most important lesson of all: you don’t mess with family.”

“Family? Like the Mafia, or something?” You picture the guy you’d punched into the teacher’s lounge, and his “army”. You’re beginning to feel concerned about how many groups and factions and squadrons you were unaware of for the past weeks.

She snorts, then starts laughing in earnest. Somehow, even her laughter sounds aggressive. She doesn’t look like much, at least so obscured, but you have a feeling she could throw you a few yards.

She throws her head back and the hood falls off of her orange hair, green eyes flashing with ill will. Still no matches.

Then she holds a hand in front of her face, fingers spread. ”Flesh and blood, brother and sister, the ties that bind and the covenant of the water of the womb! Truly someone so brutish can never appreciate the importance of family, unless it’s perverted by a criminal outfit! I’ve been told how violent you can be, but now I know it for certain!”

The ground shakes a little.

”I, Golden Harvest, have sworn to protect my little sisters above all else! Do you think that I would let someone like you into their lives unannounced?! I don’t think so!”

The tree phases up through the concrete, and attached to it are dozens of insects. Beetles and worms, with pointy black chitinous shells growing around them.

”For my sister’s purity and honor, I will smite you!” Her voice rises even further. The tree seems to sway in the breeze, and then hurls the bugs on two of its boughs at you.

You try to zap them away, but you’re out of juice. Then you burn something closer to the present and try to shoot out all of them at once.

The lasers bounce away harmlessly onto the brick walls and skies above.

You duck and cover your head. Most of them miss, but a few tear at your arms as they fly past. Some impact audibly on the wall to your left. A glance up and more are being thrown at you. Another dodge, worse off for you because they were aimed low.

Some attach to your legs and dig in like brambles into tennis shoes. You were considering running if this got bad, and now you’re not so sure that’s an option.

She’s grinning sadistically now, striding over to you over the mess of dead birds. Whatever you just burned up has burned out.

She raises a fist to strike you, and holds it there for a moment. Back where she was standing, birds are drifting towards the tree, being attached, and gaining the same black coating. ”They’re going to keep coming. And I’m going to make them better and better. And you know what can stop them?”

You ignore her at first in anticipation of the punch, then as you see the spiny shells growing out of melting speckled feathers. She moves to punch you in the stomach, but you burn something and throw up a shield in front of her fist.

She grunts. ”Just say that you’ll never talk to Derpy again, never even look at her, and you’ll never have to see me again. That’s all it’ll take.”

You grit your teeth and feel a strange uneasiness in your chest. Your future could change here. Run away and she’d take that as a “yes”, and make sure you didn’t see Derpy. Or else tell her that you weren’t interested in seeing her. Or…

The pit drops out of your stomach.

Or that you beat up her older sister behind the school before class started.

There goes most of your backup plans. You’re playing with napalm right now.

”Well?”

Well?

She throws another punch as her birds circle around you. You blow something medium-sized and throw up a shield in all directions.

Your fake sense of bravado got you this far. May as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Golden’s pressed up against the hard light like she’s peering into a window, and you meet her eyes while the birds smash into it one at a time.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be a good thing for your sister or not. But I’m going to try. I don’t know how to appreciate it yet, but without her my life doesn’t have any meaning at all. This is the path that’s been laid out for me, and if she lets me then I’m going to see her a lot more. So no. No. I could never say those words, not for any reason! I won’t do it!”

This hasn’t left a good impression on her. In point of fact, she looks like she’s fixing to murder you.

“I’m sorry.” Your shield drops.

She lets go with a right hook. It hits, and you stagger, nursing your cheek. It’s not quite as bad as you were expecting, honestly.

You meet her eyes again. “Whatever you think of me, however bad I seem to you, I don’t want to fight you.”

She’s scowling. ”This’d be a lot easier if you’d just say you’ll never see her again.”

You almost want to say “Sorry.”

Instead you answer, “I’ll leave her alone the day she tells me to. But not before then. I won’t fight you over that.” Man, if she only invited you to sit with her at lunch because she felt bad for you you’re going to feel like a complete idiot. At least there’s only an audience of one this time.

Golden shakes her head. ”You’ve got some nerve. But it’s not up to her. You’ll be birdseed before the first bell. Try talking your way out of this one!” She readies another hook as the chitin-birds swoop.

Then her fist freezes in mid-air. So do the birds. A mesh of red light pulls at both of them.

And then, like a demented fast-forward carousel, the dead birds on the ground rise up. They’ve practically been daisychained together, a long cord of hard light traveling through the holes in their creepy blind little bodies. They swing around like drunken marionettes and impale themselves with the bugs, which stick.

And then, with their new additions, they smash into their living compatriots, being cut and stuck and glued to each other in an instant.

You’re testing the limits of your control, not all of them are doing what you want, but the gist of your commands involve swinging dead things in circles, so you’re inching through. She’s stopped trying to break your hold on her fist and is just standing there straining with effort as her Stand’s attacked.

The tree gets maypoled, all seven boughs, with squawking black monsters and jelly-skinned cave-birds. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds, but they stick to the surface, all over it, covering up the space they took originally. You hammer some in with strikes of hard light, just to keep them where they are.

Then your power runs out, and she’s free to hit you.

She falls to her knees, gasping.

With the rush of victory comes the same voice you spoke with in that hallway. “I knew your Stand depended on changing living things. And if you could do it twice, you would’ve recalled your original birds as soon as I started to knock them down. You need new animals to work with, and you can’t change them as long as those are taking up the space. So call off your Stand and let Derpy decide for herself, or I’ll have to get even more clever.”

She taps out as she catches her breath. ｢Fineshrine｣ withdraws. ”F-fine. Provisional license. Tryout period. But if you lay one finger on her, or make her cry, or keep her out past her curfew, I’ll come for you while you’re sleeping.”

You nod, then hold a hand out to her, and in the hopes of making her feel better you say, “I’ll hold you to that.”

She scowls, but takes it, and lets go as quickly as she can.

Walking away, dusting herself off and muttering, you wonder what sort of family you’re getting involved with here.

The rest of the morning passes by uneventfully. The only difference is how many eyes are on you.

Trixie winks at you when she passes in the hallway. There’s a letter in your locker that reads “Expect no favors.” One girl you recognize by her hair as Rainbow Dash seems to trail you between classes. Altogether, it’s surreal.

But eventually lunch comes around, that pandaemonium of health-freak food. And Derpy.

You scan around for her and find her waving from a table by the wall while the others fill up. You head over.

”Hey! Sorry my sister was so awful to you, she’s just a little mistrustful of strangers.”

You haven’t bruised, but you’re still a little sore. (And, still, tired.) “It’s alright. I like how much she cares.”

She smiles at that. She believes you’re sincere when you say that. And… come to think of it, you guess you are. You’re no expert, but better a good older sister than a shitty one, you guess.

”I think she likes you already. She just doesn’t want to admit it.”

You wonder what Golden Harvest’s hatred looks like.

Then, lunch happens. Trays, food, sitting, chewing...

It’s quiet. Not in a bad way. Just in a… quiet way. You wonder if you’re messing something up. And more than that, something’s still gnawing at you. That word you couldn’t make out, that Golden said right before you fought...

“Derpy, mind if I ask you a question?”

She shakes her head around a bite of yogurt.

“What’s your full name?”

”Dernier Piege.”

Yeah, Dernier. That’s what she said alright. You try it out for yourself. “Dernier Piege… What’s it mean?”

She smiles, and her eyes glow. ”It’s French. My dad delivered mail on an ocean freighter before I was born, and he loved to travel everywhere. My mom didn’t like how much time he spent away, but nothing she said could make him stay and take on a different job. Then, after I was born, he knew there was no way he could stay away, so that’s what he named me. The last trap.”

“That’s really cool.”

She thinks so too. There’s glee bouncing around in her expression. ”No one’s ever asked me that before! I always wanted to tell someone!”

You chuckle. “Oh, I know what that feels like. You want to share it with another person so they’ll feel it the same way you do, but no one seems interested. Same reason no one ever asks me about the Monty Hall Problem.”

You realize you feel relaxed. You can speak long sentences here without worrying that you’re talking too much, and she really listens to all of it. Even if eye contact is still a little mystifying to you right now.

Then she says the most beautiful words you’ve ever heard. ”What’s the Monty Hall Problem?”

You grab a napkin and start sketching.

It’s a wonderful lunchdate. You even make plans to go out after school tomorrow. And you realize, belatedly, that it really is all worth getting beaten up for.

Fido

Everything is dark when you open your eyes. An ugly behind-the-scenes sorta room, and everything smells like disinfectant. You have to squint to read the posters in the dark, but you can see the dumb pictures of hearts and smiley faces.

You’ve just woken up in the nurse’s station at the school. The nurse isn’t here. According to the window in the corner, school’s not even happening right now. It’s pitch black out there.

You don’t know what the fuck just happened, except for that fucking kid. Him and the girl. You wonder if this was a coma type deal and you’re two hundred years in the future. You always were a fan of Heinlein… But your boys are out there all alone. Can’t tolerate that. Wouldn’t last a minute without you.

Then you feel her.

Someone else, here, with you. “What’s your deal?”

Then you recognize her, as her hand sinks into your chest. Your eyes widen and your breath hitches. Her fingers find your soul and grip it tight. You would cry out if you had it in you.

You summon ｢Sweet Thing｣, but it fizzles and glitches in the air beside you.

”Shhhh. You’ve done a good job up to now. We just need you... stronger.”

You stare up at the ceiling and, in a moment of pain, something slips loose and you fall unconscious again.

｢TO BE CONTINUED｣

Stand: ｢Fineshrine｣
User: Golden Harvest
Ability: A tree which attracts animals hypnotically to its boughs and holds them captive at the user’s command. Animals attached to ｢Fineshrine｣ can be altered genetically for one threat or condition chosen by the user, and the alterations will reflect how their species would behave if it had been a naturally selected adaptation.

This Is Spinal Tap

Another day in the life of Care Root.

You’re an hour into an outing with Derpy, which has mostly involved wandering the Canterlot Mall. There’s something nice about malls - they’re roomy, easy to walk around in. It certainly makes it less awkward when you can always turn and people-watch. (Not that it’s awkward anyway, although you were seriously worried about that.)

You were up all night wondering if she secretly thought you were obnoxious but was too nice to tell you, or maybe you’re going to say something stupid and drive her away. Derpy, Dernier, whatever you call her, she’s the keystone in the rest of your life. You’re painfully aware that if you blurted out some wrong combination of words, she would never want to see you again. Not that you would, of course, but…

There are stakes, is what you’re getting at. You feel like you’re walking on eggshells.

Maybe it’s because you haven’t told her how your power works.

Yet. You haven't been hiding it, exactly. It just… hasn’t come up yet.

There are a couple of other Stand users around here. Unlike in the school, they don’t make much of an attempt to hide it. The ghosts just hover over them, and they trade glances with each other as they pass. You decide to keep a low profile. Nobody’s recognized you yet, maybe because the colder weather's forcing you into a jacket.

Derpy’s walking next to you in silence, scoping out the stores. You’ve already been in a shoebox of a bookstore, an antique shop and a lame incense place, and neither of you are well-endowed enough to really buy anything.

Unlike you, she seems happy to change her fashions all the time. Right now she’s wearing a trenchcoat, and it looks very Carmen Sandiego. She smells like… you don’t know. Lavender, sandalwood, something like that. Is it creepy to notice that?

And her left hand is so tantalizingly close.

If you just... reach out...

”There’s the food court. I bet they have pizza.” She points to the middle-distance, past the carts selling phone cases and knockoff jewelry.

“Y-yeah. I’m getting pretty hungry.”

A few minutes later, you sit together with genuine grade-A food court pizza, the kind that was placed in the oven by a frowning Italian man and takes up an entire plate.

You might as well start having this conversation while you eat. If you keep putting it off, you’ll be putting it off forever. Just introduce it gently...

”Have you noticed the Stand users around here?” After a moment she nods through a bite of cheese, and you go on, “I was wondering if you had one of your own. ...A Stand, I mean, not a user.”

She smiles a little, apologetically. ”Yeah, I do. I wanted to show it to you, but... I can’t.”

“You can’t?”

”It doesn’t work that way. I don’t make it come out, it’s already out there somewhere.” She gestures at the nearest exit.

“Huh.” That’s bizarre. “What’s it do?”

”It finds things and brings them to me, once at sunset and once in the morning.”

Hm. Not much use for combat, then. You were hoping for a moment that she could help you sort out all the groups that seem interested in you and find some level ground to stand on.

All you really want is for her and you to be left alone. If only anyone else could understand that...

There are the Rainbooms, who are definitely keeping an eye on you. You still don’t know why. Today it was the pink one whose name you can’t remember, and she followed the both of you all the way to parking lot. If she weren’t so conspicuous, you wouldn’t have noticed at all. Whatever they want, they don’t seem ready to come out and tell you.

Then there’s Trixie, leading a group of unknown size, trying to show the Rainbooms up. She’s giving you time to mull over her offer, but she still checks up on you, disappearing around nearby corners whenever you’re heading off to class.

Plus whoever keeps putting notes in your locker. And the rest of the people like you in the general student populace, who just seem to want to show off their superpowers. That's everyone, right?

Joining Trixie is out of the question if you don’t want to piss the Rainbooms off even more, but... Well, how are you supposed to make them leave you alone, too? Is this a probationary period, or could they be scouting you for something? Isn’t there any way to get out of this without making a bunch of powerful enemies?

It’s been half a week since your life became worth living, and you’re already tired of the excitement.

”Is something wrong?”

You snap out of your reverie, and find Derpy’s looking at you, concerned.

You shake your head. “No, it’s… it’s nothing.” That makes her look even more worried, and seeing the look on her face gives you the strangest kind of dull ache.

”Tell me what’s on your mind, Care.” Her good eye focuses on you like it’s trying to penetrate your skull. It’s so intense you look away to your half-eaten pizza.

She has a lovely way of saying your name.

“I’m just trying to figure out who to side with. People keep trying to use my powers for their own ends, and I don’t really want any of them to have them.”

”Then you shouldn’t side with any of them. Not until you find one you can get behind.” She says it like it’s the most obvious, simple thing in the world.

...Maybe it is. “Then… do you think I should stand against all of them?” You wonder if she’d change her mind about that if she knew how much danger she could be in.

But no, she shakes her head again. ”You don’t have to do it alone. You can make your own group.”

You've never felt more aware of your crippling lack of friends than as you consider that idea. But if you could find the right people...

“Do you really think I could pull that off?”

”Of course I do! You’re a lot smarter than you think you are, Care.” She says, with no trace of insincerity, and then, ”By the way, how does your Stand work?”

“Uh…”

You explain ｢Timbuk Three｣ in broad terms, including its power source. She listens intently to the whole thing. You just don’t bring up how she’s the factor putting all of this happiness into your future.

Yet! You don’t bring it up yet! You’re about to. First, you just look around in case something more important needs Derpy’s attention. Any vendors on fire? Any Stand battles happening nearby?Any--

Oh. Oh no.

It’s her.

She’s in a hoodie now, but you could recognize her a mile off. The hair, the yellow skin, the two lackeys. It’s the Orange One, the last girl who touched you.

A few months ago, she put the entire school in a trance. You lost your sense of awareness when she touched you, and only came to a full day later - and that was only when the Rainbooms made some kind of counterspell. You don’t know her name, but she still sings in your dreams sometimes.

She’s scanning from left to right, searching for something. And then she makes eye contact with you, and gestures to the other two, and they make their way over.

No way in hell.

You stand up on the spot. “We’ve got to go.”

”What?” She turns in her seat and sees them coming. It takes a moment for her eyes to focus, and then you see her shiver and stand up. They’re halfway to you.

“Close your eyes.”

She turns to you, searches your expression for a moment, and then closes them.

The purple one summons a Stand of her own, an inky roiling mass barely in the shape of a person. But whatever she’s doing, she’s not faster than the speed of light.

“｢Timbuk Three｣!” A blinding field of light, a camera-flash of the gods, covers the entire food court. People cry out. Besides Derpy, you’re the only one who can see. Thankfully you're able to bend all the rays away from yourself; if you didn’t know better, everyone just flinched and fell over for no reason.

She opens her eyes, and you bolt for the exit in the chaos. You flare up another one behind the both of you, just in case, and don’t dare look back.

Okay, parking lot. This is close to where you came in. Car, car, where’s your - there! You and her run side by side for it.

With the rush of wind in your ears you realize something: you’re gripping her hand in your own, both of you carrying each other along. You fish out your keys with your other hand and unlock the doors a few feet away.

”Not so fast, Kid.” The voice comes from the other side of the aisle. Rough, a man’s voice that’s been through too many cigarettes. You recognize it.

The guy you punched through a wall.

He’s got a nasty grin on, and he looks like he’s been hanging out there for a while. There’s an open beer on the ground, and a grey circle spinning in the air around his abdomen like a magical hula hoop. It’s a little orbit of dust and bits of concrete, you think.

”You might’ve been able to get the drop on ｢Sweet Thing｣, but I’ve got something new to show off. And I need to know what *you* did with my watch.” He turns to Derpy for that last bit.

You feel outraged in a way completely foreign to you. It was one thing to stop him choking her when she was an abstract quantity, an undiscovered variable still being fit into your life. Seeing him actually threaten her now...

You clench your fists and step forward.

He chuckles. ”Must be some easy pussy, Kid. Hope it’s worth dying for.” Then his Stand appears, the same tomato-red Hoganlike outline, now with a crown of grey cubes orbiting its head. ”｢Sweet Thing Reprise｣!”

“｢Timbuk Three｣!”

Open the game!

...Okay, first things first. You glance back the way you came, surveying the lots for the singers. No sign.

Next issue. He's relaxed, standing tall and straight but without any tension. Even the ring separates into finer floating grit, particles arcing and dipping lazily. He must be waiting for the first punch.

Does he think you won't use the same trick twice?

You point and fire a laser at his shoulder. His Stand doesn't even move to block it, but in the instant of your attack, the grey ring comes alive. Faster than you can see, it shifts, spinning with freakish momentum, and hits the beam of light.

The laser bounces and goes wild, heading for your head. ｢Timbuk Three｣ throws a shield up on reflex, and it's your only saving grace from a fried brain.

The laser bounces again, hitting a car window. Then, like a paddleball, it ricochets and hits the shield again. You know it's not supposed to be that impervious to decay - this was a half-second attack.

It bounces again, jumping around a bunch of mirrors, and comes back in an ultimate act of inconvenience. You rotate the shield around yourself and deflect it at your enemy, but the ring flies to protect him again, shredding the light in mid-flight. Bits of it speckle the grey matter as they join the orbit, and the rest leave dents in nearby cars, but not one hits him.

You throw a fist of hard light at his head that's twice its size. It's half absorbed and half scattered, bounding everywhere and forcing you to waste more time on shields. But it'll be worth it, because while it's being deflected you generate a second one at his leg!

The ring stretches diagonally to block it, too, and you get the impression that you're burning up your power for nothing.

"Might as well give up, Kid. ｢Sweet Thing Reprise｣ was designed to stop anything you could throw at me. None of your fireworks are gonna land today. And I'll be sure to reveal all the gory details about who's paying for them to your girl here, if you don't pick up your game." He finally moves to step closer to you, and it's just to leer. "But that's only half of what my Stand can do, now. Betcha thought the world hated you before."

With that, there are a dozen synchronized rumbles.

All of the cars dented by your shredded light rev to life, and each one begins pulling out of its space, utterly driverless.

Shit.

You scramble to get into your car. Derpy follows your lead, jumping in and slamming the door behind her. The enemy Stand user shakes his head and steps forward towards you, leaning in to bring the ring closer.

You burn for a shield, and then a bigger second shield to block the rebound from the first. Neither last for more than a couple of seconds, but it's enough time to start the--

You're not in the driver's seat!

Derpy grabs the keys from you and jams them in.

You notice the ring around his Stand's head turn a fluorescent blue with accreted light. It barely registers, though.

Derpy sits frozen, hands on the wheel, as she sees it too. There are cars in front of yours, and backing out is impossible.

Your voice comes to you, past shock and calculation. "Alright, on my mark, floor it."

She nods without looking at you. You don't want to know if she's thinking about what this douchebag just said to taunt you.

You have to burn something bigger to make the curves fit your wheels, but you cover all four in hard light.

"Now!" You lift, and she stomps the pedal. The world shifts under you, and direction gets slightly confused as you're thrown, in a wheelie, over the obstacle. The impact nearly throws you out of your seat, and your headrest punches you hard enough to leave a bruise, but you're alive.

A wild shot of light flies out of the ring, missing your car and smashing into three others. They hum to life.

Without any prompting, Derpy peals out down the aisle, racing for the open road. Good. You need to get -- Wait.

"Where are we going?" You hope you're not distracting her.

"My house, Ludus Avenue. It's not far, so if we lose him it's a safe hideout."

You imagine this guy following you into Derpy's home, and then imagine what would happen if that spinning ring brushed against her. Or you, for that matter.

"If." Then you hold on as you're nearly thrown again. One last hard turn, but now you're on the street proper.

You check the rearview in the center, even though it's not angled for you. The bastard's sitting on the hood of one of the cars.

As you roll down a window, you realize there's some good news here: he might be protected from your attacks somehow, but they aren't. You lean out the window to get a better shot, and feel grateful the roads are so empty right now.

A concentrated burst at the gas tank of the car to his right, and it screeches to a halt immediately, cutting back three others. Another, and most of his backup's gone. He throws more light at you, but you deflect it and aim for his tires. If you can keep him back, even for just a little while, you know you can get away.

His car swerves around your first shots, so you decide to stop being so predictable. A hard edge appears, hanging in the air, less than a foot off the ground. It connects before he can even react, slicing through the rubber and leaving him skidding on his previous momentum.

After a couple seconds, Derpy's the only one breaking the speed limit.

You turn to her. She's driving with one eye closed, staring unyieldingly at the route ahead.

"How long until we get there?"

"We're about to reach the neighborhoods, and then Ludus should only be a few minutes."

You nod, and double-check behind your car.

He's still here! Pushed along, skidding and sparking, by a small conga line of other sliced-up cars, all of them shaking with the speed. They're about to give out, but they're getting him within range to touch your car!

He flexes a bit, reaches out, and the ring widens a little. You throw up a shield, and it breaks automatically. Then his power connects, clipping your trunk, and Derpy cries out as the wheel stops responding.

Your car has a mind of its own, now, and it races independently for the nearest turn. The doors auto-lock, the brakes stop responding, and you only pick up speed. If you'd been wearing a seatbelt, you're sure it'd be crushing your ribs, but instead you're both pressed into your seats. A laser in here would go bouncing in all directions, and anything more forceful would just hasten the crash heading your way.

He's still behind you, still slowing, while you're trapped inside an environment he controls.

You turn in your seat, fighting the speed, and lunge for Derpy. You grip her shoulders, and she breaks her stare at the road to turn to you.

After a moment, you're off-road, and your ride goes tumbling end over end.

｢Timbuk Three｣...!

The world spins as you build up hard light around the both of you, and then you're careening through the windshield. There's a judder, a shatter and you're free, the car tumbling away as you sail above it, upside-down and pressed together.

The other cars grind to a stop, and your opponent dismounts and watches you.

There's just the fall to deal with now. Derpy squirms in your arms, and you rub her shoulders as reassuringly as you can, but she doesn't stop. You turn closer, trying to think of something comforting to-

Oh. She's fishing in her trenchcoat.

"Hold on, Care! My Stand gave me this!" With a flourish, she pulls out a... popsicle stick?

As the air rushes by you, she grips the stick at both ends and pushes them inward. It bends like plastic, folding in on itself. She grunts with effort, expression obscured by the sun hanging low in the sky. You're too transfixed to ask why.

"Come ooooon..."

The ground rights itself beneath you, rushing up to snap your bones. Then, finally, with a long creak, the stick snaps. And you both stop falling.

You can feel yourself being held, and see the long porcelain arms nesting you both.

Above you, a long face like a helmet, with just two circles set far apart, and long fins dragging down its cheeks like exaggerated sideburns. It doesn't have legs, just a mess of crisscrossed bars like accordioned scaffolding that shift to gold and end in a long, mermaidlike tail. It's strong, and as it lowers you to the ground you can tell that it's only slightly larger than you.

Standing in its shadow, it feels much larger.

"H-how..."

Derpy finishes taking deep breaths and smiles at you, blushing slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mention all of how ｢Spinal Tap｣ works. When someone breaks something it delivers, it appears for a little while like other Stands do."

You feel a response bubbling up. An acceptance that she forgot to mention that, no big deal, and you just so happened to forget to mention something about yours, too...

"Shouldn't leave details out like that, kid."

Oh, right. It's him. Again.

The cars are totaled on the side of the road, but he's unscathed. You're a little ways off of it now, with some townhouse backyards and winding streets at your backs.

"I know you can filch just about anything with that Stand. Shame you used it to take repossessed property."

You remember the watch she was carrying when he first attacked her. Even when you returned it to the kid this guy had stolen from in the first place, you never thought to ask how she actually got a hold of it. How much about Derpy do you really know?

He snarls. "I also know it's gone as soon as it comes. How many other items do you have to break, hm? On you, I mean. I know you get two every day, but you've gotta be using them. And since this was supposed to be a quiet trip out, I bet there were only one or two, just in case. Otherwise, you'd have just fought me with your boyfriend."

Derpy doesn't break eye contact with him. Her face is a mask.

"Well, there's one way to find out, isn't there? I'll just wait for you to run out of juice and see what else you can pull out of your snatch. And after you run out, I'll let you choose which one of you dies first. How's that sound?"

"｢SPINAL TAP｣!" Her Stand moves like it's been jump-cut, and then it's upon him.

"｢SWEET THING REPRISE｣!"

｢Spinal Tap｣ lashes out and hits his Stand, fist colliding with it in a staticky, distorted mess. It spins and unleashes a loose kind of kick on the user, but the ring blocks it. He doesn't even flinch.

Derpy takes your hand and runs.

He calls after you. "Looks like that answers my question!"

You're terrified, but you match pace with her around a corner, through a cul-de-sac, past a backyard.

"Can we beat him to your house?"

She nods, but doesn't say anything. You're both completely out of breath by now.

The evening casts long shadows, and the next few minutes are a blur of them. A hopped fence, a few turns, and you emerge onto a street lined with white fences and two-story houses. All the lawns are trimmed and gardened neatly, except the one Derpy leads you to.

There's a large tree on the property, sidled up to the frontmost part of the land. Deep up in it, you see hints of yellow, and beneath it, a fence complete with its own little gate.

"Yoohoo." Across the street, leaning on a mailbox, it's him. Whatever he sees in your expressions, his reaction is immediate. "Did you think they wouldn't tell me your address when I was sent to take care of you?"

He stands up and walks closer, stopping in the street. Then he turns his attention to you.

”You've been letting your bitch do all the talking, Wiz Kid. What’s up? Starting to decide between yourself and her yet?”

“I’m not--”

”Don’t lie, kid, I’ve got an inside line on how your Stand works. You’re fine with sticking with this girl and burning up all of your happy moments. That’s no different than a drowning man taking his girlfriend down with him for a few more breaths of air!” He turns to Derpy, sneering. ”Isn’t that sweet, kid? He only knows you exist because his magic needs you, and when he’s finished burning up all of those little moments of happiness, he’s gonna throw you away like yesterday’s garbage. You’re only holding onto him while he eats you.”

You can’t see her face, but her fists are shaking at her sides.

He continues. "That's why he's suddenly trying to jump in your pants. No one in this world gets so close so quickly unless they're trying to get something, and only the suckers think otherwise. Now: if you hand him over, or kill him with your Stand, I won't go into that house and end your family."

Your hands clench too, as silence permeates the street. You have to say something to that.

“Derpy, I-”

She steps away from you, and towards the giant.

Dernier Piege

You raise a finger high above your head, and Fido follows it to the tree above you.

“Do you know the meaning of this tree?”

He doesn’t answer you, but stares without interrupting.

“My parents met in France under a lemon tree on my grandpa’s farm. Neither of them knew what they were doing with their lives, and they only had enough money for one passport, but they ran away together and they faced the consequences when they came.”

A lemon falls from one of the branches, and you catch it without looking.

“This is the daughter of that tree. It’s the tallest in the state, and it wouldn’t exist if they hadn’t depended on each other. Just like I wouldn’t.“

He doesn’t look impressed.

“So I’m willing to give Care a chance! We both might be drowning on our own, but together we can push our way to shore, and face what happens when it comes! Human beings latch onto circumstance and they never let go! That’s how a world unfolds! That’s the meaning of this tree!” With the last word you hurl the lemon at Fido.

His Stand’s defenses eviscerate it on impact, bits of fencepost-metal and concrete shredding the skin and draining away the juice. A mass of pulp lands at his feet, and he steps on it and grinds in with his heel for emphasis.

”That’s what I think of your sappy romantic bullshit. Was that supposed to be an attack?” He seems less amused now.

You point right at him. “It’s sunset right now. And that means my Stand has one more delivery to make before this is over.”

He grits his teeth. ”You really want to play this one to the hilt, don’t you? We both know your Stand can’t get through my defenses, and it couldn't scratch me if it gave you a bazooka," his expression turns neutral as he steps closer, and the air fills with the sound of cracking knuckles, ”In fact, I think I’ll just finish you before you can get that delivery. Time limit could keep things interesting.”

You smirk. “Oh, but it’s already been made.”

｢Spinal Tap｣ vanishes from the tree, and appears, fully-sized, from inside the pulped lemon.

Fido realizes what's happening just too late. His body turns as he tries to reorient his shield, but it can’t get close enough to matter.

”You bitch!”

Your Stand grabs his head and slams it into the pavement a few times. He’s not even fast enough to cower correctly. Then it lifts him off the ground, until his feet aren’t touching it, and unleashes a month of punches.

”ADADADADADADADADADADADADADADAD!” You can't tell if the noise is coming from you or your Stand, or if there's a difference.

Time seems to slow down. He hangs in the air for a moment, pummeled and half-aware as you nod at his departure.

“Adieu.”

With that, ｢Spinal Tap｣ lands its final blow to his chest, and he goes sailing above the houses and backyards, out of view.

That’s that.

You turn around to Care, and he’s staring at you like you can fly. It’s kind of cute.

“Come on, we should get inside. I don’t want the Neighborhood Watch finding us.” He blinks a few times, unmoving, and you take his arm and head to your front door.

Care Root

...What just happened?

Did she really just brush off what you're doing? You... didn’t realize that she felt that way.

In hindsight, you feel foolish, about the whole thing, about this battle, about, about everything! And now, before you can settle into feeling properly idiotic, she’s dragging you to her front door. Is she going to turn around and say goodbye on the stoop specifically?

No. No, she’s reaching in her pocket for the key.

”Come on in, I want you to meet my mom.”

You freeze up. You just raced a high school crime lord, totaled your car and entered the radar of three freaky singing supervillains, but it's now that you freeze up.

She doesn’t notice, the key works perfectly, and the door swings open.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit.

”Hey, mom! I’m back!”

The inside of the house looks lived-in, in a cozy way. There’s a staircase disappearing up into a long hallway, a living room through an arch to the left, a kitchen straight past the stairs, and what you guess must be the garage on the right.

The entryway’s hardwood, and it looks polished. Little knick-knack signs are hanging from nails in every wall, tidy, well-dusted and evenly spaced. The closest one you can make out says “Deliver us from evil!” under a little graphic of an envelope. Coming from the left, you can hear some kind of commercial playing, and make out the back of Golden’s head on the arm of a couch.

The air smells like banana bread. It almost makes you let your guard down.

But this is still enemy territory, you’re sure.

If you looked too stupid around here, you could throw the whole relationship off. You think. Your Stand doesn’t seem to sense any immediate danger.

A woman comes to the doorway of the kitchen, yellow-skinned with poofy blue hair. ”How was your day, honey?”

”Oh, it was great! Mind if I bring Care in?”

And that's how you meet Lemon Hearts, Catcher Pouch, and the rest of Derpy’s family.

???

You're the taller of the two figures in the distance, watching calmly.

“We’re chipping away at him without making him reckless. We need to keep him on the defensive.” Your Freshman friend pipes up. ”She’s going to make that harder for you, if she gets any better.”

It's a thinly-veiled suggestion. You can't tell her so, but she’s right; this fight was supposed to cost him a lot more. Not unlike a casino, you wanted him to spend as recklessly as possible before he understood how to play the game. It would've been better for everyone that way.

Oh, well. You shake your head. “Without her, none of this could happen. We have to preserve her for now.”

She sighs, and puts her shoulders into it. She’s such a little scrapper, you can’t help but smile. ”I’ll tell the others to leave her alone, then.”

“Good. But we still need a way to keep him off-guard… A-ha!” You can see her through their window, standing with her arms folded. You’d recognize that grey anywhere.

Silver Spoon. No Stand. Low willpower.

In a flash of inspiration, a plan sprouts. “Looks like we can trip him up after all.”

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Sweet Thing Reprise｣
User: Fido
Ability: Anything damaged by ｢STR｣ will be “hostile” to those fighting or working against the user; books will fall off of their shelves, ground will become slippery, machinery will fail to operate. Additionally, debris and damaged pieces collect in a spinning ring around the user at a two-foot radius, which draws in and shreds incoming attacks. When attacks are shredded, the largest remaining portion becomes “hostile” and smaller ones are added to the ring.

Stand: ｢Spinal Tap｣
User: Dernier “Derpy” Piege
Ability: Remote Stand; brings the user an ‘offering’ at sunrise and sunset of an object it’s obtained. Specific items or kinds of item can be requested, but if they can’t be obtained or no requests have been made, ｢Spinal Tap｣ will simply offer the user something helpful. The Stand cannot attack in its Remote form, but when an offering is destroyed in the user’s presence, it can manifest for two minutes from the remains of the item, displaying incredible strength and speed.

Destiny's Child

Silver Spoon

You're Silver Spoon, walking to lunch with your very best friend, Diamond Tiara. Who’s in a huff.

”Civics is such a snoozefest!”

You giggle. She’s only saying that because Ms. Harshwhinny caught her whispering to you and held her fifteen minutes after for a second offense. You hid and waited outside for her, of course.

She doesn’t notice your laughing, or pretends. ”I bet I could get her removed from her position if I wanted to.”

“Yeah.” You can’t help but smile when you’re around Diamond. She’s so... honest.

Not in front of anyone who could hurt her over it, of course. But there’s no nonsense to her, she does what she likes and gets what she wants. She’s even carrying a handbag instead of a backpack, which is totally off-code.

Sometimes you wish you were like her. Or… were her. You’re so ratchet, and not in a cool way.

When you bring up rappers, your Mom still talks about Soulja Boi. She even does the dance. You know it’s just to make you uncomfortable!

Once at a slumber party, Diamond left because the butler didn’t bring food to her room. For a little while you were all alone, and it felt like it was your room. You jumped on her bed, but it was a waterbed so it wasn’t very exciting.

That's your secret! You, Silver Spoon, are the CHS student who wanted to be another student! You wonder how other teens would feel if they had to go through that.

The hallway’s nearly empty already, so you better hurry. Then something brushes up against you and

cuts

cuts like a big splinter and you turn to see it’s like rock

then it stops hurting but it’s swimming up your shoulder like a worm!

You shriek, turn to catch a face and

Diamond’s handbag explodes.

Care Root

Lunch just finished, and now you're walking back to class, standing in the back of the throng. There's no rush; you’ve had a hell of a weekend.

With your car totaled, you’re going to bleeding money for insurance soon. Plus you’re taking the schoolbus, which only reminds you of your pain. But you guess that driving to school got sacrificed somewhere along the way. Not knowing where you’re paying for all of this makes it even more insidious.

You could only really be sure that everything was happening normally if you didn’t use your Stand. Which you’re trying to, this time.

First, you have to learn to spend wisely instead of overpowering opponents with attacks. Second, you have to learn how to stop having opponents. Which may be working out, for now.

Derpy asked at lunch if anyone else had been lurking or following you, but they weren’t. Not even Trixie, who you were sure you’d have to refuse soon. You wonder if there’s something going on - is there a regional test coming up you forgot about, or a big backroom deal thing?

You realize Derpy hasn’t said anything, and steal a glance at her.

She’s not there. She’s twenty feet back, bent over and listening to a Freshman waving her arms. It’s the kid whose watch you returned, in fact. Whatever Derpy hears, she looks grave.

It’s exactly the sort of face you dreaded she’d make when she learned how your Stand worked.

In seconds she breaks into a run, grabbing your hand on the way past. Stumbling, you almost trip her, but you right yourself. There’s nowhere to run, though, except into the sea of jostling students ahead.

“What’s-”

”Silver’s in trouble! She’s being attacked by a Stand in front of the side-entrance!”

“Which-”

”The auditorium one! There’s some kind of commotion over it, they’ll do something to her if I don’t get there!”

With that, your goals crystallize. You’re trying to reach the other side of this floor of the school, through a crowd of high-schoolers. Groovy.

You head up to the first corner when a pair of grey-skinned thugs step out. They look like the deformed cousins of the last guy you fought - one’s built like a trashcan and the other’s Quasimodo with eye contact. They speak before you can react, like they rehearsed.

”Where do you two lovebirds think you’re going?”

”Think you can slap one of us around and get away with it?”

You both slide to a halt, still connected at the wrists. It’s not something you want to do, but you break contact and bring your fists up.

“｢Timbuk-”

”｢Spinal Tap!｣” Derpy smashes a tiny china teacup on the floor. Then she turns to you as her Stand appears and put hers hands on your shoulders.

”You can do more than I can. Do whatever you need to.”

You gulp, then nod. And her Stand grabs you by the arm and darts you past the two. There’s a split second of wind in your ears and your arms cracks a little, but you’re on solid ground on the other side.

By the time they’ve blinked the dust out of their eyes, it’s back. You round the corner at a run and see the crowd ahead, but behind, you hear her shouting, ”This is what you get for standing between me and my SISTER!”

You didn’t spend much time around Silver last night. She stayed in her room the whole time you were at her house. You knew her, of course, mostly Diamond Tiara’s toadie. Not that you’d say that to Derpy, of course.

You’re sure she’s a great kid! Or she’ll grow up and turn out to be one. You just don’t know anything about this scenario, and the crowd isn’t helping!

It’s more like a concert crowd than a bunch of students. Everyone’s trying to get a better look in the distance. It’s a long hallway, stretching the length of the school. If Silver Spoon’s in trouble, it’s on the direct other end of these people.

Your Stand’s already out, so you make a platform under your feet. Effortlessly, it sails you over the sea of heads, although you have to duck not to hit the ceiling or the lights. It's not stylish, but it's cheap.

The crowd becomes more defined with height, and it’s taking up every tile of the floor. There are little pockets where a teacher stands, making placating gestures and saying things you can’t make out.

From your vantage, you can definitely see her down the hallway. The crowd stops mingling before they reach her, though. A good deal before, in fact.

You become aware that your fellow students are pointing you out to each other. There are the clicks of pictures being taken. And shouting. The crowd’s rambunctious, but it’s not violent; you scan the crowd for the source.

”Let me through, you cattle! You’re all going to share an ER if you don’t move!” There she is, pushed up against a locker on the outskirts of this headless moshpit.

Golden Harvest.

You make another platform underneath of her, and she wobbles as she notices you. Everyone sees her rise into the air, and they all stare up at you.

She doesn’t pay attention except to catch her balance. ”Silver’s in trouble!”

“I know, she’s been attacked by a Stand.”

”No, she’s got a Stand of her own!”

...What?

“What?”

”She’s not strong enough to have a Stand! It’s going to overpower her!”

You’d never heard of that before. How’d you get a Stand this strong, then?

She looks around wildly. ”Where’s Dernier? She’s always been able to calm Silver down.”

“She stayed behind so one of us would make it-”

Golden swears. ”Fine, we’ll improvise for her! Move!”

You nod, and the pair of you zoom over the remaining students, heading straight for Silver. And... there’s something next to her, on the ground. You really hope that's not a body, but before you can get a closer look, Golden's platform gives out.

That doesn’t make sense, there was still time left--

So does yours. You tumble to the floor, in front of a sea of onlookers.

Carrot lands on her feet, and sounds relieved. ”Thank goodness you’re here. Silver’s my sister. If we can get through to her we can take care of-”

A Southern accent cuts in. ”I’m sorry, but no can do.” It’s one of the Rainbooms, the rural one. Looking up, you see Rainbow Dash next to her, wearing a big overcoat.

Then you pick yourself up, ignoring the smudges and dirt all over you while Golden frets. “What’s going on?”

”It’s too dangerous for anyone to go in there right now. We’re here to manage everyone to keep anything reckless from happening.”

”But if you break up these people and let my little sister through, she can-”

”I’m afraid we can’t try something that risky. We don’t know what could happen, and we don’t want anyone else hurt.”

You can see past them easily, and yeah, there’s a body. Diamond Tiara, scourge of the lowerclassmen.

The Southern one pulls a quarter out of her pocket, turns and tosses it into the hallway. Hanging in the air, it tumbles end over end longer than it ought to, oxidizing in front of you with layers and layers of rust. You check Diamond to make sure she's not rusting away too, and by the time you look back the last bits of the coin are crumbling away into dust. Then a small explosion, bursting outwards just enough to startle you and let you feel the wind on your face.

Golden keeps talking. ”I know she isn’t trying to do whatever’s happening. She’s just afraid. I have to be there for my sister!”

Rainbow, silent until now, steps forward. ”Look. We’re the experts on this kind of stuff, we’ve got it handled. Until the others get here, we can’t let anyone through.”

“Says who?”

They all realize you’re here.

Rainbow’s face darkens. With the coat’s help, she looks like a hitman for a moment. ”Says Principal Celestia.”

Whose office is just past them.

She turns back to Golden. ”Is he also related?”

Golden’s getting frustrated. ”No, but he can help! His powers are good for-”

“I think they know what my powers are.”

Rainbow looks at you. It’s like she’s challenging you to make a scene.

Then there comes a flash of movement behind her, another shade of blue. You break eye contact for a moment and make out several more. Trixie, paused in a creeping motion, half-crouched and exiting the Principal’s Office. A flash of red disappears up her sleeve, or maybe your eyes moved too quickly and you imagined it, and hers turn wide as she realizes the hallway's completely full.

No one makes a move from the crowd to point her out, and you realize that she's behind the two Rainbooms, and all eyes are on you. The Principal's not in at lunch, and whatever she was doing, she looks like she really doesn't want to get caught.

Rainbow’s eyes move to follow yours.

You return your glance to her, hard-set. “You’ve been following me, haven’t you?”

She humphs, but her attention’s back to you. ”Why would I do that?”

Trixie looks down the hallway at Silver, realizes that something's up, and turns back to you, looking for some code or gesture. Unfortunately for her, you never learned any hand-signs, and using your Stand here would only draw attention to whatever message you were sending.

“You tell me. You’re the one who’s blocking my way right now.” A week ago, those words would never have come out of your mouth.

Rainbow snorts. ”You think you can get past me?”

You sense her power. It’s like the potential to summon a Stand, and something else… Something under the coat...

Southern steps in. ”Hey, now, no need for violence.” She puts a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder and turns to you. “We had to keep an eye on you to make sure you didn’t go around punching people through walls, that’s all. We didn’t mean to upset you by it.”

You’re almost certain that’s not true, but you don’t have time to rebut it. Derpy's little sister needs you, and that means all three of the sisters need you, and there's just not time for this.

“Fine. No promises, no threats.” You stare ahead, and ｢Timbuk Three｣ appears beside you, making the two tense up. “I just need to get to Silver Spoon! Just make me a path! Make me a way through!”

All eyes are on you, and none at all are on Trixie.

The smokebomb hits, and at the same time Rainbow and her friend disappear. No, that's not right, they shift! They’re both on opposite sides of the hall now!

You run into the smoke before they can register what’s happened, Golden following behind you. The hallways passes by you, and you're relieved to find that your body doesn't start to rust away into nothing. No one's rushed to follow you, which is also the best you can hope for. By the time the smoke’s cleared, you’re most of the way through! Plus Trixie’s gone, but you were expecting that.

And there’s Silver, sitting with her head in her hands and shaking, oblivious to most of this. There's not enough noise in the hallway for words to reach her.

Suddenly, a coin sails through the air next to you, layers of brown growing over its surface. You turn your head, but despite the commotion behind you no one's close enough to have thrown it. In fact, as it comes closer it looks like... the same coin from before!

｢Timbuk Three｣ bats it away with a single, decisive chop, and it explodes against a locker. The metal surface isn’t damaged, and there’s no heat, but the shockwave manhandles you.

Then the element of surprise runs out Rainbooms are running after you. Behind them, the crowd’s wondering whether it can inch forward or not.

”｢Fineshrine｣!” Golden summons her tree, and a dozen creatures flap off of it. Then she’s slowed down and wheeled around, directing black birds with serrated wings. She looks at you and shouts, ”Help her!”

You’re about to say “I don’t know how!” But all she would say is, “Figure something out!” or, “I can’t hold them off for much longer!”

Up ahead, there are only the two girls. The air distorts around Diamond for a moment, and then a pink purse appears. It hangs there, in mid-air, like some sort of guardian.

You approach the pained Freshman.

Silver Spoon

One minute you were waiting outside Ms. Harshwhinny’s door for Diamond. The next you’re in the middle of the hall alone, and she’s not moving. You can’t remember anything before that, there’s just an extra pain draped on top of your mind, and the harder you try to think about it the harder it gets.

You did something wrong, and you don’t know what. Or you know what, but not how, why. Why did you hurt her? Were you trying to take her place in a moment of weakness? Would you really go that far...?

”Silver! You need to calm down, something’s going on and it’s not your fault!”

It’s your sister’s boyfriend. You can’t see him, your eyes are closed, and he's miles away. The police are going to come for you, aren’t they?

”I need you to talk to me, Silver. Tell me you can hear me!”

“Wh-h,” you sniffle, and when his voice doesn't return, “Where’s Der-erpy?” The gross sob-hiccup halfway through her name only plunges more shame on you. You’d die of embarrassment if you had to look at yourself right now.

”She’s… she’s on her way," he lies.

“I-I want to go home.”

There’s another explosion, and you cower. So much is happening in the distance, and it's all you, isn't it?

”S-Silver, you have to calm down.”

You want to go home. This isn't a freak accident, you know this is one of those powers, but you feel like you could just get away from it. Was it waiting in you, all this time…?

You try to take a deep breath, and your heart hammers at you with your own guilt. There's nothing you can do about it, you deserve to feel this way. Derpy would know what to say to stop you feeling like that, at least with time, or to make you feel like the whole world didn't feel the same way. What would she say here?

...Nothing comes to you. You lower your head back down to your knees and keep crying.

The hallway fills with a brief whooshing sound as he talks again, ”Your sister will be here in just a minute, you just have to-” Another explosion cuts him off, the same as the one that hurt Diamond.

No, who are you kidding? It is the one that hurt Diamond.

...Is he dead, too?

”Silver, I need you to stay calm. Do anything that will make you feel calm.”

“St-stay away. I’ll just h-hurt you if you don’t run away from me.” There’s a pause where he hesitates, and all you need to do is push him a little further. “If you stay here, there’ll be another explosion. It’ll kill you. I know it will.” It's the truth.

”Open your eyes, Silver.”

You shake your head. “If she’s not there, I don’t- I don’t know what could…” Don’t even look.

”Open your eyes and I can guarantee everything will be fine. 100%.”

The explosion’s coming any second now.

You lift your head slightly and open them.

It’s brighter than when you closed them, a lot brighter, but shapes fall into place automatically. This is your living room. And in the middle of it, standing and smiling, Derpy.

Was this just a dream? Is everything really okay? You stand up and stagger toward her.

She smiles. You’re okay. Everything’s okay...

Care Root

Silver drops to a knee and slumps, exhausted, into unconsciousness. The purse, hovering in the air a couple feet from you, doesn’t detonate again. After a moment, the life leaves it, and it drops limply to the tile.

The pounding in your head lightens. You take a look at Derpy, the living room, and Silver in the middle of it, admiring your own handiwork for the next few seconds. Then another future moment burns out, and the hologram disintegrates.

Then noise comes back to the world. Golden rushes up to you, with the Rainbooms in tow, and jumps straight past you to pick her sister up.

”We need to get them both to a hospital, now!” Rainbow zips past you and grabs Diamond. She doesn’t even look at you.

Maybe she’s not an awful person after all.

”Care!” Derpy's voice comes as she shoves her way through the congestion of the crowd. She sees Golden and Rainbow carrying the girls outside, while the other Rainboom holds the door open. ”Is she okay?!”

You throw her a thumbs up. ”She passed out from exhaustion. I think she’ll be okay now that you’re here.”

She processes the words while she's still en route, and bridges the distance at doubletime. You take a step out of the center strip of tile so she can blow past you, and moves like a homing missile to match you. Before you can respond, her arms are around you, squeezing almost painfully, and her eyes are closed.

Everything in the world feels right again.

It takes a couple hours to get word from the hospital: Silver’s already up. Not happy, but… functional. Derpy leaves early to be with her.

You wonder how all of this happened so suddenly. It was too bizarre to be an accident, wasn’t it? Maybe you're being paranoid, but... why did it all happen this way?

???

”It didn’t work.” Defeat.

”It wasn’t supposed to work, you dunderhead! We were only supposed to slow him down.” Annoyance, unrest in the ranks.

The other two keep going at it.

”Don’t call me a dunderhead! We didn’t slow him down at all! Something got in the way!”

”What could get in the way? We made sure the entire hallway was packed!”

”Someone broke up Applejack and Rainbow. They got right through!”

”Well, how was I supposed to know that would happen?”

”Did you check?”

”Did you?!”

“Girls! That's enough! ｢Steam Powered Giraffe｣ won’t work if we aren’t in sync with each other!” You have to raise your voice to maintain order, but you at least calm them down.

”Sorry.”

”...Yeah. Sorry.”

Both of them turn to you, and you think out loud, “The important thing is that we still have the element of surprise. We can prepare better next time without worrying about him responding to us. So long as we keep up our defenses, it won't be possible for him to come after us.”

They get very serious. ”Okay.”

”Let’s get to work.”

Filthy Rich

Her friend was discharged from the hospital almost as soon as she entered, but Diamond’s still not awake.

She's breathing, her blood's pumping, but she's not awake. Nobody home.

You thought you were a normal father, at least in the ways that mattered. Diamond had some problems, but she was never going to be hurt on school grounds, and nothing would be able to touch her with anyone in your employ around, and that was more than most parents could say about their children.

You would cry, but you’re not a crying man. Since your youth you've taken to closing your eyes and rubbing your temples. This time, when you open them, there’s a get-well card on the table next to her.

You step closer and pick it up, to make sure you're not seeing things. It’s generic, and not a gift from the nurses. Inside, there’s no writing, just… an arrowhead, pushing out of the paper. It glows gold and extends outward, wriggling like a living thing, and the only thing that you can think about is that you really haven't had enough sleep lately.

You reach out to touch it, not knowing why, and it breaks free, flying into your arm. There's something like pain, like listening to a hurricane through a bunker door or hearing about a crash in a market you've put only a little inside, but a sweeping feeling heads upwards from it until it cracks against your spine.

Something new courses inside you.

”You can use it.” The voice comes from the doorway, but your eyes are glued to this card. ”They have powers. You can get back at them for doing this to her, and then maybe she’ll wake up.”

It solidifies. You understand what your daughter must have felt.

”She's the most precious thing in your life and you didn't protect her, Mr. Rich. Can you make up for that?”

“Yes! Yes!” You shout to the ceiling, not exhilarated but burning energy. Something takes root inside of you, and as you feel its name impress itself into your mind, you call it out.

”｢Johnny Cash｣!”

The voice goes silent, and you're alone again. And for a moment, in the light and madness, you think you see worry flicker over your daughter’s face.

But it’s just your imagination.

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣
User: Silver Spoon
Ability: Exists only in half of one hallway of Canterlot High School. Inside this hallway, large objects, and items which aren’t directly touching a person’s skin, quickly degrade into nothing and reassemble themselves like new, creating shockwaves of psychic energy that explode outward and pull inward again during each cycle. This power is magnified by the user’s fear or willpower, and they can un-target any item in range at will.

The Man Comes Around

Care

Another early morning, earlier than normal. You're walking onto campus far ahead of the rest of the student body, while the world's still waking up. You had no problem going to sleep early, especially on request.

Not having a car only makes the distance more noticeable. It still beats taking the bus, but you have to resist the urge to make a new ride out of light and save yourself the trip.

You checked over your future last night, and more’s missing than you took. It terrified you at first, because of the creeping dread that it might be dissipating whether you use it or not. But after a lot of staring at it, you think it’s more that removing some happy moments stops others from happening; you can’t enjoy a marriage if you never get to the wedding. Already, you have less than you were planning on.

But at least you can get out of bed in the pre-morning. The whole city has a gloom cast over it, and you feel odd seeing the parking lot empty even of faculty cars. Derpy said this was important, and it takes a lot of glancing around to find her, even though the grounds are modest.

She’s standing in the front of the school, waving at you, and beside her is her sister. Silver, not Golden.

It’s been a couple of days since you rescued her, but you haven’t seen her around. When you cut across the grass and walk closer, you notice that she’s smiling, thinly.

"What's u-" you start, and then Derpy's close enough to hug you. You’re no major connoisseur (yet) but it’s warm and gentle compared to her general tackles and hand-holds, something that buries a seed of warmth deep in you. In the moment, you realize that her hugging you in general, and not because you’ve escaped certain death, is rare.

She’s been in too many life-threatening situations already. For a moment, you see Golden’s face in your mind’s eye, and remember your promise.

Before you can ruminate, Derpy turns a half-step and pulls you with her. You’re cheek to cheek now, and facing the horizon with your backs to the school.

“What’s going on?”

”Silver wanted to thank you for keeping her Stand from destroying her.”

“Oh. Uh.” You turn your head toward Silver. “You’re welcome.”

She smiles broadly, expression static, and finally speaks, ”Just watch.”

The sky’s already turned a lavish pink, and in the distance, the sun starts rising. Are they showing you the beauty of nature...?

No, something’s moving in the air, in the distance. It’s not a clean shape, so the silhouette doesn’t offer you any clues, but it gets substantially bigger the closer it comes. Derpy smiles at its arrival, and you can feel her teeth move inside of her cheek.

It takes far too long for you to realize that it’s the wreckage of your car. You stare dumbly as ｢Spinal Tap｣ hauls it across the sky and to your school. Silver waves a hand in your peripheral vision, and the front of the school opens up. Then Derpy and you turn, and watch ｢Spinal Tap｣ dump your totaled ride into the first-floor hallway.

Through the hole, it rusts and falls in on itself even more.

“｢Tin Cup Chalice｣!” Silver shouts, and it collapses entirely into a pile of rusted simple machines, and explodes. You give a weak flinch, hampered by Derpy's hold on you, but the shockwave doesn’t leave the hallway. She's still smiling, but you don’t know why.

And then it hits you.

The shockwave reverses, pulling itself inward, and starts to knit itself into a more solid form. Before your eyes, it assumes its original shape. In fact, it looks a little better than when your parents bought it for you. Derpy snaps something while you stare at it, and ｢Spinal Tap｣ carries it back out of the school.

You’re dumbstruck.

Silver sees your expression and smiles. ”Thank you.”

Golden

Later in the schoolday, math class continues to be insufferable. That said, the only class you actually like is Language Arts, when you get to do the readings. Unfortunately, that’s your first period, and now it’s close to lunchtime, so the day’s got no chance of recovering.

｢Fineshrine｣’s on a right angle, jutting off of the side of the building. The last bird you caught was a few minutes ago; the area’s been running low. It’s been your one distraction, for as long as none of the teachers have Stands.

Why is that, anyway?

A little buzzer rings, and everyone re-sorts their backpacks. Lunchtime. Even the teacher goes, you don’t remember his name even though it’s on the door but he looks a lot like Bill Nye, he’s a chaperone. You smile apologetically at him and pretend to have trouble with your backpack, and he leaves ahead of you.

Then you take a deep breath and count to ten.

...No one else comes in.

Canterlot High has a surprisingly strong sense of security - which is to say, a regular student can’t leave if they don’t want them to. Most Stand users could manage, if they absolutely had to, but most of them aren’t that smart. The smart ones are more likely to help other people, and expect to make some kind of money for their trouble. Screw them all.

You’ve already done a daily check-in with your sisters, and they’re just fine. So you open the nearest window and vault out. Your feet touch your Stand almost immediately, and you try to avoid crushing the birds; they’ll be fine.

Then you grab one of its branches, and it leans to lower you most of the way. The impact on the ground still jars your heels, but you’ll live. Now at the side of the school, you sojourn back home.

Silver Spoon

The other kids have finally stopped avoiding your hallway, mostly because they’ve got to. You’ve seen them opening their lockers and looking relieved that nothing exploded. Then at lunch, more of them are willing to walk through than go upstairs and take the long way. Derpy tells you people forget embarrassing things really fast, but you don’t really believe her.

Diamond would’ve embarrassed them back.

But if she were here, people wouldn’t be avoiding you in the first place. She was like the ocean, she made sure all the fish knew where to swim.

You wanted to go visit her, but you’re not allowed. No one seems to want to tell you what'll happen to you if she doesn't wake up, or she only does it ten years from now.

But since you’ve got nothing to lose now, you might as well eat lunch with your sister in public. What worse could happen?

”-seen her in the last few days?”

”Not since she helped out. She was carrying something red, and she looked like she’d been sneaking…”

”Oh, hey sis!” Derpy turns away from Care to wave you over. Her smile is contagious, but he looks lost in thought.

You take a seat. “What’s the matter?”

Filthy Rich

You could have hired someone to do this, but you didn’t. Especially now, you could hire anybody. But some things are more important.

Your favorite novel is The Count of Monte Cristo, but you aren’t a man for fantasies; this is for your daughter. Which is why the backdoor collapses under your touch, clattering into a small pile of gold coins, and you step inside of the home of your daughter’s friend’s family.

You’re wearing streetclothes, which you had to purchase from a thriftstore and will burn as soon as this errand’s over. It’s noon, long before the buses come back from the school, and it should reasonably be empty. Still, you proceed quietly. As you stand in the doorway, you listen for sounds of footsteps or running water.

Nothing. None of the lights are on, but even in the daylight the place is immaculately designed. Not that it matters now.

There’s a saying that goes “There are some things money can’t buy.” It’s true, but not in the way people usually mean it. People often like to deride currency, saying “The paper’s not worth anything!” or “It’s all arbitrary!” They tell themselves they’re smarter than the corporate fatcats, because they don’t chase after slips of paper with big numbers on them.

What they miss is that money is the ultimate equalizer. It’s the middleman that gives everyone a perfect standard. Money will tell you exactly how many candybars a paperback is worth, or how many cups of coffee you’d have to sell to buy a private jet. It’s a symbol of nearly ultimate freedom, to have anything you can imagine.

Nearly.

Because there are some things money can’t buy, only make promises about: happiness, safety, love, the future. When those things are threatened, there’s no point appealing to money, no matter who you are. You don't know how, but you have to remove the Stands of everyone in this family.

Then the only diamond that matters to you will be awake again.

Golden

You’re making excellent time, especially on foot. Canterlot's a pretty decently-sized city, but it’s not a full-on grungy metropolis. It’s like a compromise between crime-free suburbia and multi-level shopping malls.

You’re glad your mom left you with a housekey. And also that she doesn’t really care when you come home, as long as you mumble something about being excused. There won’t be much to do at home, but you can at least get through some reading.

When you reach your house, only your dad’s car’s in the driveway. He uses a post office vehicle for work. You wonder why your mom isn’t there.

Oh, right, she said she’d be going to the store. Whatever. You unlock the door and let yourself in.

Which is when you see a shadow dart out of the end of the hallway. Your breath catches in your throat as the questions pelt you. Are you seeing things? Is there someone in your house? Has something happened to your parents?!

Throwing off your backpack, you tear down the hallway. As soon as you turn into the dining room, someone’s there. A man in black. He’s familiar, although his clothes are dark and ratty, and he’s pointing a gun at you.

You recognize him from all the sleepovers you had to drive Silver to. That same face was always waiting out on the porch when you turned into his community.

“Diamond’s dad?”

His eyes are steady and level with yours. ”If you want to live, tell me how I can remove your powers.”

You barely register his words. “Where’s my mom? What did you do to her?”

His expression doesn’t change. ”She left to go to the store, without seeing me. She doesn’t need to see me, if you’ll tell me how to destroy a Stand.”

What? “Who cares? What does-”

His voice becomes a bellow. ”I care! My daughter’s life depends on it! Tell me how!” The ferocity radiating from him makes you step back - it’s a protectiveness, something you feel too.

“Y-you can’t destroy a Stand! It’s a part of someone! It would be like taking someone’s heart away!”

His expression sours a little. ”I was… afraid you’d say that.”

Then, he fires.

Derpy

”What’s the matter?” Silver takes a seat and puts down her tray.

Care answers her. ”We don’t know where Trixie is.”

”Is that a bad thing?”

”She was very interested in pulling me into her little group. Then she seriously helped me out and I haven’t seen her since. As far as we know, no one has.”

”You’re worried about her?”

”A little. I don’t know if she’s just being secretive on purpose or if she’s really in trouble.”

You worry that he’s getting paranoid, but you don’t tell him that. People have left vague, threatening notes in his locker, apparently. He’s stopped getting perfect grades, although he doesn’t seem to mind.

You’re worried you might be paranoid, too. You knew a lot of people in this school, and did a lot of vigilante stuff on your own, but it’s all dried up lately. Not much random bullying. Maybe everyone’s just happy with their Stands.

Silver hmms for a moment. ”I bet the Crusaders would know.”

Care leans forward and thinks about it, or maybe just tries to place the name. ”The Crusaders…”

”Freshman girls. They’re connected to everybody, kind of like the Rainbooms.”

You nod. “And just as hard to learn about, sometimes. I met Applejack’s little sister a few times while I was reclaiming things, and she’s got a lot of attitude.”

Care considers that. ”Do they have any Stands?”

Silver shrugs. ”Diam- uh, we used to make fun of them a lot, so we never really asked them anything.”

You think on it, yourself. “I haven’t seen them using any. But I haven’t seen the Rainbooms using them either.”

He nods and sits back. ”I think I saw one of them use their Stand, actually. When I was with Rainbow Dash and Applejack in the hallway, my Stand’s power stopped working too soon. Maybe one of them shattered it somehow...”

Your phone vibrates. Golden’s calling you.

Filthy Rich

The last two minutes have been very unpleasant.

Your shot was perfect, but it didn’t hit. The girl’s Stand appeared in an instant, some kind of macabre tree, and took the shot. It startled you enough that she had time to run back the way she came.

Then, just as quick, it disappeared.

When you reached the hallway for another shot, she was already dialing a number on her phone. She was too far away, and it might have been an emergency number, so you activated your Stand.

“｢Johnny Cash｣!”

The hardwood flooring was pretty expensive, but it turned into a couple bills just the same. She fell into the basement below, and you took another shot, this time for the phone.

The tree blocked again, and you heard her cry out. Pushing the sound out of your mind, you fired again.

But before you unloaded the rest of the clip, a couple of the indistinct shapes on the tree came unattached. They were birds, maybe pigeons, but grotesque and bloated.

Their wings were massive to compensate, and one flew its girth right for your face, clawed toes kicking. You emptied another three shots into it before it stopped spiraling and squawking.

By which time the other one had already latched onto her shoulders and lifted her up toward the front door. You took aim again, with her back to you it was almost difficult to pull the trigger, but she was wounded already and you had to follow through.

Another squeeze of the trigger, and… nothing. Your clip was cheap, and you'd used it up.

She threw open the door and paused to look at you while her bird flew your way. You tossed the gun and created another one from a hundred-dollar-bill in your pocket, pulling it into the world like a magic trick. Her eyes widened, and she ran.

The bird was short work, but she and her Stand are outside now. Things are getting complicated exactly when they shouldn't be.

You turn a wall into coins and jump through, only to see her climbing into the car in the driveway. She’s shouting into her phone.

”-to the hospital! I’ll distract him until-” She sees you and shuts the door.

She couldn’t have had time to grab the keys, wherever they are, and the car was already in the driveway before you entered the house. You walk up in time to hear it start up and puff out some exhaust.

You swear. The keys must’ve been inside! She peals out, heading into the neighborhood.

You rip a small stack of large bills out of your pocket and let ｢Johnny Cash｣ do the rest. A monster truck materializes in the driveway, sheer shiny black. You climb in without wasting any time.

You’re not letting them get to her.

Care

Right now, you're driving yourself, your girlfriend and her little sister toward the hospital.

As soon as Derpy got the call, you all headed out. The doors are usually locked during the school day for your protection, and the few that open are one-way, but no one monitors the halls. Silver took you out through her Stand in no time flat.

You just hope that you don’t total your car again.

Silver’s tapping away at a phone, giving directions from the back. ”Next left!”

You hit it. Most people are out to lunch, but the lights are favorable this time of day.

You’re not clear what you’re going to do at the hospital. Derpy’s nursing her phone and frowning.

...This probably all ties back to you somehow, doesn’t it?

”Right, then straight!”

You were worried about that before, but worry implies doubt. It's pretty obvious that you brought the hand of destiny down on yourself somehow. Probably by eating up too much of your own future too soon...

Is it just going to get worse from here?

”You should be able to see it in a few blocks…”

You have enough worries in the here and now. What’s Golden planning to do?

Golden

Phone’s in the passenger seat, on speaker. You’re not talking, and Mr. Rich is bearing down on you. He doesn’t care if people see or not, but your dad’s going to kill you if you crash this thing.

You summon ｢Fineshrine｣ on your trunk as you turn off into the back-alleys. You really aren’t good enough at driving for this. What do you have?

A couple squirrels, three more birds... You wish your deer-catching project would pay off already. They’re all communing with each other slightly, trading traits; if you left them on there for a few months, they might meld into one organism. That would be messy, though.

You need to get to the hospital before he does, and then you can negotiate. Once you can threaten her, you can get him to stand down. Afterward... you’ll think of something. Or Derpy will, she’s coming. Even if you don’t make it, they probably will.

You switch into the oncoming lane to get around a line of cars and- fuck, fuck, there’s someone coming! This car's nearly had enough of you, and both of you are moving too quickly to turn away.

A thought and ｢Fineshrine｣ disappears. You call it back into existence underneath your car, propelling the whole thing upwards as it blooms from the pavement. It feels like you’re holding up the car and you’re about to crash all at once, and then you let go.

They pass straight beneath you, and your car hits the ground shuddering. You wrestle with the wheel and get back into your lane.

Everyone’s hung back for you now. They have no idea what you just did, probably, besides making your car levitate. You expect to hear Filthy’s new truck crush the car behind you, but you don’t.

Your heart skips, and then you glance in the mirror. He’s gone.

The hospital’s straight ahead, and so is he, further along. He took a different path.

He’s going to beat you to it.

Derpy

Mr. Rich has snapped, and he’s coming after your family to save his daughter.

You’ve got one way to summon your Stand right now. Normally you’d have at least two, but you used one up helping Care with his car. You’re pulling into the hospital now, and so are a couple others. Golden’s been quiet, but there was a lot of bumping on her end. No crashes, though, so she's probably, hopefully still okay.

From the far entrance you see a monster truck entering. That’s definitely him. Care sees it at the same time you do, and he tenses.

You put a hand on his shoulder, and he softens again. “He won’t recognize you. Just don’t look suspicious...”

The monster truck slows as it entered the parking lot, and then disappears in an instant. Mr. Rich drops out and hit the ground normally.

He looks so... different. Part of you wonders if he’s been drinking. Then your dad’s car pulls in, and he’s turning to face it.

Something giant, green and boxy appears in his hands. He staggers with its weight for a second, almost kneeling, and then he levels it right at the driver’s side of the car.

It’s a rocket launcher!

“Care!” you shout, but he's way ahead of you. ｢Timbuk Three｣'s already floating outside the car, and it points a finger at Mr. Rich. A beam of light slices through the underside, and the box part clatters onto the pavement.

He’s left holding the trigger, looking confused, then angry. He turns to look at the source, straight at you, and then Golden speeds up.

She’s going too fast to stop, and you think to yourself that she's trying to run him down. But she can't really be trying to do that, you know her too well. Except she doesn't swerve, or make any move to take her foot off of the pedal!

Mr. Rich throws out a hand and slaps the hood of the car, and it disintegrates on the spot into a cloud of glinting silver.

Golden tumbles in the air, her momentum rocketing her past him. Care turns to her and starts to do something with his Stand, but a shot whizzes into the windshield and it breaks his concentration.

Your big sister hits the parking lot on her side, rolling.

Care

You don’t feel as freaked out about being shot at as you would’ve expected. It helps that you can throw up a field around the car.

You don’t know what you’re doing now, though. Even if you made it inside, you’d have to get past the front desk, up several flights of stairs, find the right room...

Derpy talks. ”Silver, do you know which floor Diamond was on?”

”Uh…”

Another shot glances off of your shield. Where is he getting these things? Is it his Stand?

”The same floor I was on! Fifth!”

Derpy’s hand’s on your shoulder again, damn it you wish you could enjoy that right now. ”Get to Golden. I’ll take care of the rest.” As your wheels swivel and you head between Rich and Golden, she turns to the back. ”Silver, open the other back door!”

You move fast enough to unlock the car doors, and she throws it open. Another shot bounces off, and Derpy snaps a twig.｢Spinal Tap｣ flies out of the door.

You have to let down the shield for it, but it scoops up Golden and throws her in. She makes it, but now you're moving too slow, Mr. Rich is rushing for you so he can touch the car. Another shield comes up and he slaps his hand on it, turning it into a wafting mess of paper money.

Then he levels the gun at Derpy. Time shrinks, and you know you’ll have to fire another laser at his head to stop him, or blow up the gun, or...

The car rises off the ground.

...You’re still surprised how strong her Stand is.

Silver

You try to ignore your fear of heights as the car lurches and rises up.

Golden’s beaten up pretty bad. She’s got road rash up one arm and on one of her cheeks, and she looks like she's been running a marathon. She’s still kicking, though, just loudly catching her breath.

The car’s at the fifth floor now, and it’s moving in a circle around the building. They’re looking for her room. You remember it was right next to yours, and there were a lot of tall buildings outside the window...

Yeah, that’s right! “It’s around this next corner!”

Derpy nods. Below, you hear a faint, choppy rumbling while ｢Spinal Tap｣ zooms you around the corner.

“I think it’s the middle one!”

Care grimaces and holds out a hand. A giant circle of wall shines brightly for a moment and then disappears. You can make out rows of flowers, a single chair next to the bed, and inside it, something pink.

You’re here!

Golden sits up straight. ”There’s no way a car’s going to sit on that floor. We have to leave the car.”

Derpy nods, and her Stand brings you all up to the hole. Care and Golden climb out, and you get over and join them, head spinning at the feeling of not being lifted up any more.

Then you look for Derpy. She’s trying to get past the divider in the front seat, and it’s not working. The ceiling’s too low.

And behind her, rising into the air to meet all of you, is a helicopter. Mr. Rich stands at the controls, staring you down. She sees him, and immediately brings the car out of the way.

She’s running out of time, and you don’t see her Stand raise her back up again. And it’s only when the car’s gone that you see the gun. This one’s long, powerful, and aimed at all three of you.

Golden unleashes everything on her tree, all of it black and covered in scales. Care throws up a shield and holds it. Mr. Rich only flies closer.

Then, like the cars, the helicopter stops existing, and he’s just floating in the air toward you. Everything feels like it’s in slow-motion as he falls, his face exactly the same.

He hits the force field and it shuts off. Care throws up another, and it breaks. Another. Another. They don’t even block him, they just turn into money.

The birds swoop, but when they hit him they vanish. So do the squirrels.

As soon as he steps through those, he grabs Care by the shirt and spins, throwing him through the hole in the wall. There's no noise in the room as he does it, only the actions, like getting trounced in a game you've never played before.

And then he’s in the room with you, and you’re staring down the long barrel of a weapon.

You try not to cry or flinch, to not look directly at it. The only other option at this distance is his face, and it's just as awful. Not because it's dirty or scary, but because you can see he doesn’t want to do this. Maybe even he doesn’t know it, but he doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

That’s what Derpy would say…

”Hey, bastard!” Golden shouts.

You both move your eyes and nothing else, and Golden is standing over the bed, holding onto Diamond. Her Stand’s sticking out of the wall, one of its branches touching your comatose friend.

”One false move and she’s part of my Stand.”

He stares at her, and in a single moment the indecision’s left his eyes for good.

She doesn't notice, if she knew it was there to begin with. ”Don’t think I won’t! And I can just switch off her brain, too! If she’s gone, you don’t have a reason to do anything to us!”

The staring contest continues, and the gun doesn’t move. You realize, with terror, that your big sister isn’t bluffing. She’s really going to use her Stand on Diamond.

This is a situation that nobody wants, but you don’t have any powers to stop it. You try to think of some hidden use for your ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣, but it's pointless. Even if you could wish the bed into your hallway, you still wouldn't stand a chance against someone like Mr. Rich. You're not Golden, or Derpy, or Care, you’re just Silver Spoon, and without Diamond you feel like you're even less than that.

Wait.

No, that’s it! It’s stupid, but it might be her only chance! With newfound energy, the room shrinks down in your vision, and you leap across it. Mr. Rich isn't ready for the movement, calculating something, and the world doesn't cut to black.

Both of them start shouting, and you can’t make out the words, so you don’t listen. He swivels the gun, and Golden pulls Diamond onto the tree. On impulse, he shoots for your sister.

More of ｢Fineshrine｣ comes out of the wall, and it splinters as she cries out. You bound onto the bed, in front of Diamond, and he doesn’t shoot you.

Golden shouts at you through her pain, biting it back to get her words through. ”Get under the bed, Silver!” It hurts that you can't consult her, but there's no time, so you ignore her and leap the rest of the way.

And then the tree grabs you too.

Diamond Tiara

You're alone with yourself.

There’s no real beginning or end, you just find yourself in the entryway from time to time. The mansion is large enough that you could wander the rooms for a day and not repeat one, so long as you took your time. Each circuit you think to yourself that there must be someone besides you in them. Other people must exist somewhere, in some ring of the world just outside of yourself, but no matter how much you expect them when you fling a door open, the other side is always empty.

The pink of the wallpaper and the furniture and the floors and ceilings and light fixtures gets muted with each lap you make. Most rooms have windows, which you have to keep shut, and curtains you make sure are drawn. You can't allow yourself many glances outside, for your own health.

Now that you're in the entryway again, you can see them, through uncurtained glass. Copies of you, outside there are nothing but bad copies of you, all of them broken or disgusting. They bang on the ground floor of the building over and over, reminding you of themselves.

You don’t remember why this happened, how you came to be here, except that it hurt. As far as memory takes you, you've never even been outside. If you had been, they would've taken you.

”But you have to step outside, Diamond!”

Wh-

You look around your entryway. Who said that?

”It’s the... only way!” The voice comes from all around you, changing in focus halfway through. So does your world, like a draft of air coming into a room.

You’ve always wanted to be someone else, and so have the people you’ve hurt. You grew up in luxury and style, you had all of the power you could want, but no one wanted to be Diamond Tiara.

”That’s not true! I’ve always...” It trails off.

Always what?

”Always wanted to be you! You’re the strongest person I know!”

The door starts cracking, and this time it might actually start to buckle. They’re coming again.

“Even when people don’t like you, you still make them do what you want, because you don’t care!”

The walls shake a little, too. They don’t do that.

“I wish every day that I was more like you, Diamond! You’re unbreakable!”

The walls crack, and the hands and faces of other selves get in. The people you don’t wish you could be. Longer teeth, greasier hair, skin conditions, eyepatches, giant sores and burn scars, all of them, reaching.

”You have to let them in, Diamond! And I know you can!”

You find yourself partly agreeing with the voice. It’s like some kind of wound has healed over.

...What are you doing here, anyway?

”Dreaming! Now wake up!”

You step up to your buckling front door, take a breath that puffs out your cheeks... and throw it open!

Bad copies swarm you. Where they touch you, there's no pain, but you can hardly look. They sink into you, bubbling into your skin, diving. An army of them fall into you.

Something hums to life, and you wake up falling.

Face-first, you hit a hospital bed.

What you see on the way down, a frenzy of color, is enough to frighten you. There are real sounds here, technological clicks and buzzing lights, and you know you're back in the land of the living.

But when you look up, you see that you were just imagining the gun. And by the time your mind's resurfaced completely, you realize you’re in a hospital gown.

...This is a hospital!

Your dad hugs you like he hasn’t seen you in years.

You have too many questions. “Wh… what happened?”

Next to you, Silver bites her lip and then breaks into a small grin.

Derpy

By the time you and Care get up the stairs, it’s already resolved.

Which is, you have to admit, a nice change. Mr. Rich replaced the car without any trouble, and repaired the damage to the hospital. Some people will probably tell stories of strange things happening on the roads and in front of the building, but it all happened too fast for anyone to make the news believe them.

Still, Care’s troubled. It took a lot of work for him to break his fall, ramps and platforms and successive crashes. He’s replaying being thrown in his head right now, probably. You wish you could take that kind of worry away from him.

Besides that, there’s only one thing that keeps this from being a truly happy ending: it’s around fifth period now.

If Golden's lucky, your mom won't be back yet and chewing her out for taking the car. The rest of you, who don't have the stamina to skip classes right now, pile back in Care's car and get going.

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Johnny Cash｣
User: Filthy Rich
Ability: Converts items touched by the user into a currency of their choosing, equal to the market price of the item; this effect wears off outside range. When used on items the user owns, the currency is pooled, and the user can convert some or all of it into any object of equal or lower market price.

Magical Mystery Tour

The Great and Powerful Trixie

The alleyway’s dark, but your eyes have almost adjusted.

It’s been a week since you last attended CHS. Keeping your head down around cops is enough work without being chased. None of them have their paws on you yet, though.

Unfortunately, it’s also been a week since you last saw Wiz Kid. He was going to be the ultimate addition to your little army. When you had one.

Turns out the higher-ups in this wargame could’ve disbanded you all at any time, and you just hadn’t made them angry enough yet. Now they were out for blood.

The only thing that made day marginally safe was that they had to keep going to school. They mostly had parents who gave them attention, who wouldn’t take kindly to hunting other students off-grounds. Not to mention that what you’ve stolen gives you a powerful bargaining chip, so long as you can get it to a safe area. You tried hiding it at your house, and someone broke in during the night to take it.

You're presently certain of two things: your Stand is the only thing keeping you alive right now, and this stone needs to stay out of everyone’s hands.

The coast looks clear. Midmorning with no cars, only half a city to go. You make a break for it.

Canterlot is a city in a loose sense. It’s got a few tall buildings and looks imposing on a skyline, yes, but there’s very little bustle, especially at the right hours. No one’s chased you for the last few blocks, and you’re starving.

Actual food might not hurt you, but vending machine fare is livable. At least until you get to that place…

You walk into the nearest businessy-looking building, one of those that get rented out by a bunch of tiny companies. It’s in the closest stairwell, that tall friendly box.

Vending machines are the great comfort of modern civilization. In WWII, some were invented which dispensed paperbacks instead of food. On the other side of the world, there are machines which solely vend illegal goods. No risks, no one to impress, just crackers and water for loose change. Civilization is wonderful.

You make your selection, shove your food into your jacket pockets and go. You’d wear a bag or a backpack, but it would make you much more noticeable, unless you wanted to pretend to be a hitchhiker. Not that anyone would hitchhike here…

It’s only when you make it back out to the front that you see the motorcycle.

A girl’s sitting on it, wearing a helmet, running it on the street just outside the door. Just… waiting there. There’s another girl sitting behind her, and her face is in view. Her skin’s almost the same shade as yours, and she glances down at some sort of watch, or locket, before snapping it shut and pocketing it.

She turns to look at you, and mouths words through the glass. You activate your Stand immediately.

“｢Abracadabra｣!”

The helmeted one turns the wheels of the motorcycle as soon as you summon your Stand. Its wavy star-speckled form dances over your head like an amoeba as the motornoise rattles the ground. Then she accelerates directly into the glass of the door.

A high-pitched voice enters your hearing.

“-ot that waaaay!”

The rider screams, pressing her face into the driver’s back. Shards fly everywhere, but the vehicle lands in the entryway, and she doesn’t stop for anything. She’s right on top of you!

…And then she isn’t.

You’re over at the stairwell, and she’s back at the door. Hoping that you've tripped her up, you run up the stairs and out of sight.

“Goddammit Indigo, we’re supposed to rendezvous with the others!” The voice comes from below as you climb singlemindedly. They’ll be following you on foot now. How many exits are there? How far do you have to get to lose them?

The second floor’s a good start.

You wait outside the door, but they aren’t coming up.

“Look, I know what I’m doing, alright! We’ve got code set up. Thumbs is a victory, middle finger is danger.”

“That’s a seriously underthought code.”

“Look, if we can just tire her out, we can take her. You ever hunt rabbits?”

“Murdering animals is a filthy hick activity, and you’re wasting our time.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you ate the stew, Sugar.”

“I would and you know it.”

Chuckling. “Yeah.” Pause. “She’s still here, right?”

“The stone hasn’t left the building. It’s above us. They’re probably calling security on us by now.”

“Good. Most of it. You take over and get nearby, I’ll go after her.”

You get away from the door. This looks like it’s a three-story building, but there’s only one set of stairs. If you kept climbing, she would see you now.

Looking around, you see a handful of doors leading to podunk offices, some bathrooms, bad carpet… and an elevator! You hit the call button, and it dings politely. Then, in a show of ultimate luck, the doors open without a wait! You dash inside and jab the button for the third floor.

It lights up, but the doors don’t respond. You stand in one corner and keep hitting the button, as it fails to do anything, feeling the blood pounding in your ears.

Your power isn’t meant for fighting. You’re just good at putting distance between yourself and others.

Finally, they react, and slide shut. You let go of a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

“A-ha!” A light tan hand slaps between the closing doors in a karate chop. Attached to it is a blue-haired girl with goggles on her head, grinning like the Cheshire Cat in that small slit. “Gotcha, lady.”

You activate your Stand. The doors haven’t been stopped just yet, so you separate them a little more. Then you let out your best attempt at a yell, and smack her wrist.

She doesn’t retract it. In fact, she doesn’t act like it hurt at all. With a sudden twist, her hand’s gripping yours.

You can see in her face that she’s having a spectacular time.

You call up your Stand and separate her from you, but she’s still smiling outside as the doors close the rest of the way.

That look unsettles you. Wasn’t it a victory to make it to the third floor?

When the elevator opens, you can already hear her jogging up the stairwell. You bolt out, looking around: offices, more offices, and a long hallway with a plain door. Over it, the words “Fire Exit”. That has to be it, the next step toward getting to that place.

Your Stand creates more space between you and the elevator, propelling you down the hallway. She bounds after you tirelessly as you throw open the door and run up the stairs beyond.

Almost all buildings are required to have a set of stairs that grants access to all areas. This includes tricky places like roofs, basements, subbasements and back-areas, where the average person might get lost. However, most businesses and owners wish to keep regular people from trespassing in these places.

For the average company, fire exits fulfill both of these needs, but proper alarms are often expensive, and wiring them in is tedious. Especially in cheap buildings, if you can’t see a mechanism affixed directly to the door, you should take the alarm warnings with a grain of salt. Especially especially in a building without alarms on its glass front doors.

You’ve made it up to the roof safely, and from this vantage you have a pretty good view of the nearby city. There are some rooftops close-by, but the further out they get the taller and shorter they become. A long way away, you can even see the park through a few of them.

You know that these people are tracking you by range, or else the stone. And you know that they have extra trouble finding it if you’re in a crowd. Once, one of them muttered about there being “too many living things nearby” when you slipped away. These facts are the basis of your plan.

Indigo makes it up to the roof and stops. “You gonna run?”

You don’t respond, backing up to a far corner.

She goes on. “It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t. You’ve already lost. ｢Nails for Breakfast｣!” You flinch and prepare for battle, but nothing happens.

Then she pulls out a little pill bottle and pops the cap. With pinching fingers she grabs a few… tablets? And swallows them.

“This is ALD-52. It’s called a prodrug, because it gets turned into LSD by the body. You can buy it online if you shell out a little cash.” She says, and then stands there like you’re going to say something in response.

Then you start to feel lightheaded.

“Since LSD takes time, I made sure to mix it with everything else nasty I could get my hands on, of course.”

It comes in a wave, like the feeling of being about to vomit, the thought that your body’s just... too loose. You resist that line of thought, and start to feel your legs heating up instead. How is this happening…?

Indigo walks over, cracking her fists. One of her thumbs shimmers like a mirage, and then it’s longer, and a darker orange.

“A-｢Abracadabra｣!” You jump backwards, and suddenly you’re on the next roof over. The distance is too long to jump without a Stand, but increasing your range doesn't seem to change what she's doing to you.

Indigo frowns at you over the distance, and cups her hands around her mouth. “Fine! We’ll do this the hard way!”

You feel your left leg go numb, and you realize, dimly, it’s hers. You look down, past your dress, and the leg is the same color as hers, the same everything. A foreign object. You wonder if you’re starting to hallucinate.

While you head for the exit, she’s jumping in your peripheral vision. It’s like she’s bodyslamming an invisible man, or ragdolling. Then, on her fourth or fifth attempt, she cries out.

You ignore her and make your way into the building - and then your leg comes back.

It flares up with pain, collapsing underneath of you, and you cry out. Stumbling with the pain, you fall down the first flight of stairs outright, and only with your Stand do you land on your back, leg up in the air. The successive impacts leave ripples of hurt around your lumbar, and you hold onto those hard-edged sensations as your vision jerks and threatens to swim.

You test your leg on the floor, leaning on it a little. Then you seethe and retract it to your chest again. Sprained ankle.

Obviously she did this somehow, but figuring out her Stand and its limits isn’t in your power right now. She’s going to come over here, or call over the others. They’re going to find you in a stairwell unable to walk, and they’re going to take the stone.

Until you learn why people wanted it so badly, you can’t relinquish that rock. Especially not given what they’ll probably do to you after they get it. Your fear and pain keep you grounded enough to summon up your Stand, and then the rest is fast measurements and hope.

You scoot on your back to the nearest flight of stairs and create some space between you and the nearest wall. In a diagonal shot, you’re halfway down the stairs. Another, and you’re on level ground again.

You repeat this process as quickly as you can, ignoring the pain. Sometimes you fall anyway, and the stairs buffet your spine like a bad massage, but you make it to the ground floor. You need to get to a doctor.

But first you have to make it. You have to get to that place!

Outside, you’re in the lobby of a closed business. All the lights are out. The architecture’s the same as the last building, but it’s cleaner, dimmer. You prop yourself up on a wall and lean as you hop toward the entrance.

The blue girl, Sugar, is already outside on the motorcycle. She’s staring at you, expressionless, unmoving. You grit your teeth as your Stand unlocks the door, and then lean on it as it swings open.

You want to puke. No one ever said that Trixie Lulamoon wasn't a lightweight.

But you’ve already seen your objective close by. The pain hasn’t cleared your mind, but it’s forced you into a single mode of action, and you know what to do now.

Sugar gets off the motorcycle and waves in the direction of the building you just escaped. Indigo emerges on ground level. In the distance, you see a couple more motorcycles. And then there's you, hopping determinedly like a woman on a mission. You look ridiculous, and you don’t care.

Sugar sees where you’re heading, and stands between you and the motorcycle.

“Is the stone on your person?” She stares at you, undaunted.

You hop closer to the back end of the bike and balance yourself. She turns a few degrees to keep eye contact, holding out her arms to block you. Between you and a ticket out of here, her full wingspan.

The others approach. You turn to them, but look only at Indigo. Even though you’re sweating and there’s a buzzing in your head that won’t go away, the thespian in you can’t resist the moment.

You raise your voice so all of them will hear you. “Trixie isn’t just a showstopper, she’s a patron of the classics. And two-thousand years ago, a man in China wrote The Art of War. He said ‘Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across’.”

Indigo blinks.

“Desperate people take chances. The more desperate, the more bizarre their tactics get. And if you leave anyone with only one way out, you’re adding pressure to the barrel of a gun in that one direction!” Your Stand appears over your shoulder as your voice climbs, finally shouting, “That is why you lost on this day to the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

You create space between the road and the motorcycle.

Before Sugar can turn around, the vehicle crashes into her from behind. As she pratfalls, you reach out for the seat. Your hand makes contact, and from there your Stand helps you up the rest of the way. As soon as you’re not about to fall off, you create more space, put yourself back on the road, and you peal out. All in all, it takes less than ten seconds.

They’re right behind you, of course. Buildings rush by as your Stand pushes you along; you’re moving too fast to stop or turn now. Then the buildings thin out a little, long roads leading into neighborhoods as you race past. You never stop hearing them.

Even if you had unlimited fuel, you wouldn’t outrace them in your state. You only barely understand how you’re not crashing right now.

Your right hand shimmers and goes numb. Over your shoulder, you see Indigo wave at you with your own hand and reach out for the side of the road.

No.

You swerve, still zooming forwards, and swing her hand at a parked car’s side mirror. She yelps over the turbulence, and in a flash, your hands switch back, just in time for your Stand to stop the collision.

“Agh!” It still hits your ring finger and pinky, and they snap backwards. You wobble in your seat and groan the pain into the wind, but the motorcycle keeps running along underneath you.

It's the only thing with energy here, now. You’ve only got enough strength to use your Stand one more time.

The stoplight ahead’s green, and you can see your goal. You grip the accelerator with your three good fingers and reach into your jacket with your good hand. Everyone sees the glint of the red stone in the daylight.

You’ve almost made it.

You spent endless summers in Canterlot Park. It was huge, and almost entirely wooded. It was also out of the way enough that not too many people came there - that is, it was populated, but not popular. Now, as you barrel toward it, you tense your body. Straight onto the green!

The motorcycle jerks onto the sidewalk, past the gates, and off the stone path. When your front wheel hits the grass, it starts tearing into the turf, digging ferociously in a spot it's destined never to leave. Its momentum bucks you off, and you go sprawling end over end into the grass.

Part of your impact gets your ankle screaming again, and you lay there. You’re not getting up.

The others stop. There are five of them, on four motorcycles. Sugar and someone else got left behind so Indigo could make the trip. She dismounts first, letting her motorcycle thump against the ground, and scrambles over to you.

Clenching your good fist tighter, you summon your Stand one more time. “｢ABRACADABRA｣!” The word comes out loud enough to echo, exactly as it should.

Indigo braces herself, but no space appears between you. As soon as she sees that, she rushes over and grabs your wrist.

“Hand it over!” She places a knee on your ankle, and you cry out, your hand spasming and opening involuntarily as she leans in. Then her eyes turn to yours, more lost than anything, “…Where is it?”

You smile through the pain, if only because the lightheaded feeling is getting worse. A wiggle of gripped fingers, a wink.

“Presto.”

She’s losing it now. “Where is it?! I saw it, you had it!” She reaches into your pockets, crushing the crackers, but finds nothing.

You cough and speak. “I threw it underneath of the wheel when I went over. I-into the hole.”

A female voice you’ve never heard before calls over. “It’s not in here!”

“｢Abracadabra｣ put distance between it and the motorcycle. It’s one foot underground somewhere in this park, and only I, Trixie, know where.”

Indigo grabs you by the collar. “Where?! Where is it?!”

Your good hand comes up and smacks her across the face, throwing her off of you. As she recoils, you fall limp to the ground.

Before she can react, you turn your head to the others. “I don’t know how her Stand works, or why you want the stone, but if I die of an overdose you’ll never get to it. You’d better call Trixie an ambulance.”

They’re silent for a moment. Indigo glances back at the one standing closest, and something passes between them before he nods, once.

She turns to you. “This isn’t over!” Then she rips the bike from the earth and sets it back on the path.

A few minutes later, paramedics arrive. You’re the only one still there, and by the time they load you into the car, even that's questionable.

But you’re alive, and the stone’s safe.

For now…

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Abracadabra｣
User: Trixie
Ability: Creates space between a pair of objects or surfaces.

Stand: ｢Nails for Breakfast｣
User: Indigo Zap
Ability: Switches body parts with any person the user’s touched hands with.

Trouble

Silver

The hallways are just about empty around lunchtime, so getting to the auditorium is child’s play. Its doors are large and black, without handles or windows, and a little grimy. You glance over your shoulder at Diamond, who's a foot behind, and a little nervous.

“Sure you want to join?”

Her reaction’s muted, considered. ”Yeah.”

Diamond’s not how you remember her. Not in a bad way, either. It’s like she’s… more than she used to be.

Anyway, it's seconds before you find them in the auditorium, sitting together onstage. The lights are off, but you can't miss their silhouettes. They didn't used to stand together constantly, but they grew into it. Now that you're a Stand user, you can feel the bond between them even more strongly. Maybe their Stands work together?

Either way, the musty dusty crusty mess of the auditorium lets out a creaking echo when you push open the doors. They don't react. In fact, they don't acknowledge you at all until you're close enough to make out which of them is which.

Scootaloo speaks first, around an egg salad sandwich. "Look who it is." She's not quite looking at you.

Bloom pipes up. "Glad you healed up so quick."

Diamond doesn't answer.

Sweetie doesn't turn her head, just staring out into the empty seats. "What are you here for?"

You clear your throat. “We’re looking for answers.”

Sweetie smiles a little. ”Does Care know you’re running around for him?”

You pause, shrug off their creepy ability to know these things, and then shake your head.

Scootaloo picks up from there. ”What are the questions?” And with that invitation, the next few minutes are awash with exposition.

“What happened to Trixie Lulamoon?”

”She stole something and ran off school grounds.”

“What?”

”A magical artifact. It’s the only complete one in the set.”

You’re about to ask how many others there are, but Diamond pipes up.

“Why was it here?”

”Safekeeping. Anywhere else would be putting it at risk.”

“Is she in danger?”

Scootaloo shrugs. ”Aren’t all of us?”

Then Belle speaks up again. ”There’s a battle, a real one, and whoever gets their hands on all three stones wins.”

Diamond asks another sensible question, even though she’s hovering around your shoulder. ”Who’s fighting?”

Silence, looks among the three, then Apple Bloom: ”We don’t know. It’s about all we can do to keep our class in order. Not that you two were keen on helping us out with that.” Inside, you wince a little, and decide not to press them.

For her part, Diamond hmmms. ”You are working for the Rainbooms, right?”

Apple Bloom answers. ”Of course! They’re our sisters, after all.”

Before you can ask another question, Belle speaks. ”If you want to help, there’s a house we were supposed to investigate. Maybe you’ll find a clue there.”

”Or else I'll find something dangerous?” You ask.

All three nod, once. The way they move gets creepier the longer you have to look at them, and you have to resist the urge to shudder - but that’s how you get the address for an abandoned house. The bell rings as soon as you get the information, and carries you off into the rest of your day. Toward the end, the plan solidifies between you and Diamond, wordlessly.

Derpy’s not going to be in tonight, and Golden’s already skipped half the day to go home. Calls to your parents asking to sleep over at each-others’ houses go off without a hitch. Diamond’s been spending a lot of time at your house anyway. Growing up with her hasn’t just taught you about lying, but the finer art of steering lies. Navigating through the web, never being caught without a ready response, and padding out enough to make people want them to be true.

You feel downright Machiavellian.

”Silver…”

You turned to her. “Yeah?”

”Did they have their Stand out?” Right, she can't see those. It was really hard to look away for the first couple hours you had yours.

You shake your head. “I don’t think so.”

”I don’t trust them. I never liked them in the first place, but...”

“Yeah. I know. They seem too... together.”

You only barely hear her mutter a response. ”Maybe because I’m not.”

You frown. Neither of you say anything else on the way to class.

Care

It's been a little while since anything big happened at school. Derpy's been busy for a few days: lots of homework, spending time with Silver and Diamond, and so on. You both know it's really your fault, but she never mentions it.

Things have been cooling off recently, like the focus has shifted somewhere else. Every day that you don't need to use your Stand is a victory. You almost dropped a few grades in some of your classes, for once. And today, you're on a date to the movies! It's at one of the rich people theaters, too, with the five hours of before-previews commercials and its own radio station.

The tickets are going to cost you, but you don’t really spend money on anything else. At least, besides gas and groceries.

The point is, you’re due at her house in an hour, and then you’ll be on your way. And, more because you have time than out of any real need, you make a detour. Candy always tastes better when it’s bought in a chintzy dollar store and snuck into the theater, and Canterlot Mall’s dollar store is the absolute chintziest.

Diamond Tiara

The last few days have been a whirlwind.

You were in a coma for no time at all, but you feel like it should’ve changed you. Your dad’s actually paying attention to you now, and it’s almost creepy. No, not creepy, but, y’know, uncomfortable. Ish. He used to always react to you instead of trying to start conversations. You guess that’s what everyone else’s dads do.

You don’t even know what you’re thinking now.

A lot was involved in bringing you back to the land of the living, though. And oh, what a land it is. All of the other kids are ignoring you now - they’re on the Crusaders’ side, of course. You can’t really blame them, either.

Silver’s tougher, too. You hadn’t noticed she was weaker before until you saw the way she stands now. Stands. Hah.

It seems like everyone’s changed except you. That's a big part of why you’re in favor of going to the creepazoid shack on the edge of town. Even if you’re stuck, the only reason you’re not having some unending nightmare is because of Silver, and her sisters, and Care Root. The thought that they saved your life and didn’t want something from you for it makes you feel...guilty?

No, it's simpler than that. It’s a debt, and you can’t stand being on the wrong side of those. Today, you’re going to save them the trouble and the cost. Even it means riding a public bus, Diamond Tiara always gets even.

Silver’s with you all the way, still wearing her backpack. You hope that her Stand gives her some kind of protection this far out, but you're a little afraid to ask in case it doesn't. She doesn’t act like she’s vulnerable, but maybe that’s just because she’s aware of the threats.

For the whole trip, the two of you laugh about the lightweightiest person in your class, Featherweight.

”Yeah, and then he did the, the-!” You mime the face he made when he tried to do a pull-up in PE. She points at your impression and covers her mouth to snicker. Some things never change.

But eventually the bus lurches, and the door jerks open. You glance out the window for the street signs, and Silver nods. Then quickly, you dispatch yourselves into the afternoon air.

Care Root

You're hunched over a display of movie-theater candy, planning. Do you dare go with something that could make noise when you walk, let alone melt? Or do you gravitate towards more varied but non-chocolatey fare? It’s hard to ignore how stained the carpeting of this store is.

You'll also have to buy some zipper bags to put these in, and then stuff them into your pockets.

The sign above you says that cameras are watching you. You wonder idly, after a moment, whether you could steal this candy if you wanted to. No matter how much you spend, your Stand’s only ever changed your sum total happiness once. Are your decisions your own?

Probably. You mean, Derpy has free will. It’s not like you could tell, but maybe your Stand only highlights the important things you’ll do anyway. It’s not limited by computing power or anything.

Even if it’s dictating your path to you, you could probably throw off the path by leaving. Jump in your car, head in a random direction until you’d never see her again.

Not that you ever would, of course. You have a core feeling that you could spend your whole life looking and never find a girl who would make your Stand change again. That day was the start of an incredibly happy moment in your life. But... why didn’t ｢Timbuk Three｣ predict the switch in the first place? Even if you could have two destinies, one miserable and one bright, shouldn’t it have known?

”Hey, Kid.” You turn your head.

There are two students whose names you never knew to begin with. Lowerclassmen, orange and blue, tall and lumpy, ten feet away.

The blue one’s got a nasty bruise on his forehead, and he does the talking. ”Where is she?”

You want to knock their skulls together for bothering you right now. But you just stare at them, quiet. Then you point, surreptitiously, to the cameras-are-watching-you sign.

Blue sours. ”We’ll talk more in the parking lot.”

Then they fall back a few feet, and go mill around outside of the store. And you go back to choosing your candy.

Silver

You get off the sidewalk once you see your destination. The house hasn’t been touched by anyone in years, one of those that isn’t brought down because no one can muster up a good reason to trash it. The grass is up to ridiculous heights, and the structure itself is all wood. Darker splotches decorate it, some of the stairs are splintered, but everything’s locked and closed.

All in all, it’s the yard you don’t want to lose your frisbee in. With Diamond behind you, you duck into another empty backyard and survey the house from another angle. Still two stories, but on the back of the second floor there’s one of those weird doors that goes nowhere. The front had a porch of some kind, but here’s it’s just a backdoor and the grass, staved off from where you’re standing by a sturdy fence.

You try to get a look in through the windows, but it’s all dust, curtains and darkness. There’s a sudden creaking.

”Get down!” Diamond hisses at you, pulling you into the grass.

Through the slats of the fence, you see the backdoor open. Someone blue lingers in the doorway. Trixie?!

...No. No, Trixie doesn’t have hair like that, you’re just getting excited. She giggles, and it’s the wrong register, too. Then she leans in, into the door, and kisses someone. When she comes closer, she has something hovering over her shoulder like a ghost. Except… you've seen Stands, and it really is like a ghost. Translucent, grey, wispy.

You turn your head slightly to Diamond and mouth words. Do you see that? She doesn’t answer.

The ghost turns and surveys the area. You can see her better as she walks up to the front yard. Blue-raspberry hair against dull clothes. You saw this girl when you competed in the Battle of the Bands, everyone did.

Diamond’s looking at you now, eyes serious. You remember the name from the tournament list: Sonata, one of three.

You whisper, half to Diamond and half to yourself. “Why here…?”

Sonata abruptly stops walking.

You shut your mouth.

Care

When you leave, bags in tow, they’re still waiting for you. They’re both almost solemn. They don’t even speak, and you walk past them towards the parking lot.

You could definitely get away from them if you were willing to shell out the price. But you don’t even try to run. Their footsteps pad after you on the linoleum, and soon the parking lot’s upon you.

You wait until you’re a good distance from the door. Closer to the horizon, cars drift in and out of view against the sunlight. You stand between it and them.

”We know you’re going to meet her. Where and when?”

You say nothing.

”Fine. Be that way.” A sudden headache affects you, and Orange darts forward, his Stand hovering out of his arm.

It’s purple, bumpy, ogrelike. You throw up a hand-sized barrier, and it simply passes through it. He’s holding a tiny vial of something, and suddenly it passes through your skin and into your arm. It's not even painful, surreally.

｢Timbuk Three｣ appears and roundhouse kicks him. Those purple arms appear again, crossed now, and he grunts as he’s pushed back.

Your migraine subsides as Blue talks. ”That’s poison. Real bad stuff. I’ve got the antidote, but it’s unmarked and there’s a lot of nasty stuff on me, too. If you want to live, you have to earn it.”

Your heart rate and breathing start increasing. It’s like there’s something on the verge of your senses... The headache returns, but it was there before, so it wasn’t caused by the poison... Something in your stomach does a flip. Where the hell are these kids getting poison from?!

Blue takes your silence for an answer. ”Tch. Tell us or don’t. But you don’t have very long to make up your mind.”

Okay, that's enough of that. You've been pushed around more than enough by now, and you're not going to take it from a couple of half-pint kids looking to interrogate you. You focus on your arm, and your Stand shines a powerful light through it. It’s like holding a flashlight to your fingers to see the bones.

”Don’t die for her, Kid," Blue says, and you ignore him alongside the vomit-sweatiness breaking out on your forehead.

A thought, and then a tiny glowing casket envelops the vial. Another, and it’s completely annihilated. It singes your muscles a little, but you’ve never been one for working out.

Blue sees this, and the look in your eye. “Snails, get him!”

Orange comes towards you again, his Stand’s arm apparent. You throw up another shield, and the Stand goes straight through it. He smiles viciously - you realize he really thinks it's fun to do this to you.

You smile back, and push the shield past his Stand and onto his arm. His fist gets jerked backwards, and its knobby counterpart never reaches you. While he’s stunned, ｢Timbuk Three｣ smashes a foot into his face.

Man, your Stand’s pretty good at kicking, isn’t it?

He hits the ground, and he’s out. Without a second glance at him, you turn to Blue, who suddenly looks a lot less dangerous.

Diamond Tiara

Sonata Dusk, the finalist in the Battle of the Bands, is only a few feet away, listening. You cover your mouth, trying not to hyperventilate. Silver, next to you, is staring out through the fence, and you have to resist the urge to take her shoulder and wrench her backwards for fear of the noise it would make in the grass.

You see sweat on her face. Both of you are wondering whether it’d be best to run away right now. Could you pretend to be kids who lived in the neighborhood? Would she know if you were lying? Damn it, you should’ve been ready for this!

Without any change in volume at all, Silver speaks again. ”I mean, there’s not even a pool back here.” You slice a finger across your throat, but she goes on without reacting to you, “And it’s next to a freaky Goosebumps house. What kind of party could some dork like Rumble throw here anyway?” Then she nods at you, eyes like dinnerplates.

You realize it’s your cue. “Y-yeah, what a loser. ...I bet his parents aren’t even leaving.”

”Yeah.”

Behind the fence, Sonata shrugs and keeps walking. Your face trembles as you hold in a sigh of relief.

She walks across the street, gets into a sleek blue car in their driveway, and drives off. Only when you can’t hear the sound of it any longer do either of you move.

Once you have a handle on your heartbeat, you turn back to the house. “Okay. What’s our plan from here?”

Silver looks surprised. She was probably expecting you to tell her.

It takes a few tries to jump the fence, and you tear a line in your best yellow jacket. There’s no helping the rustle of the grass, but you don’t think anyone’s listening. You keep an eye out for traps, or mosquitoes.

Silver takes the lead, checking the door - there aren’t any locks on it, or a screen. When you stand just outside of it, your palms feel sweaty.

She grips the doorknob, because she’s closest, and turns it all the way before she makes any move. The thing nearly screeches when she pulls it outward. She cringes with you, waits for someone to call out, but no one does.

Gently, gradually, you both test the limits of the hinge. She eventually makes an opening big enough for the both of you. Hoping you don’t wind up on the news, you slip inside first.

Care

Leaving two unconscious students behind, you take your candy and go on your way. Even if it melts, chocolate has to be your go-to. Gosh, look at the time.

You make the drive efficiently, paying attention to the encroaching moment of brightness in your immediate future. It’s big enough to be worth something, too. Swinging by to pick up Derpy takes only a couple minutes. She’s wearing a black shirt with gamepad arrows on it, and little red earrings that glint in the light. You hadn’t known you were tense until you just relaxed.

She smiles and climbs in with you.

”How are the girls?” The way you say it makes you feel like you’re their dad. Shudder.

”They’ve done some growing up, but they’re alright. How have you been?”

Should you really mention being injected with poison at the start of your date? No, that would definitely nuke the mood.

You shrug. “Same old.”

”What movie are we seeing?”

Uh… crap. “I, uh, guess we still need to pick one.”

She looks for starting times on her phone while you drive. You don’t know whether you should rush or waste time, so you try some kind of compromise. If you listen closely over the machine-noise of the wheels, you can hear her reading the names under her breath.

”Fifty... La La... Hidden... Ohmigosh! Brawn Kick 2!”

You take your eyes off the road and look at her like it’s the first time you’ve seen her. ”You’ve seen the first one?”

“Of course!” She says, and looks up at you, making her face completely neutral and putting on a deep voice. "You stole my car and killed my dog."

...Somehow, whether by dumb luck, fate, an evil curse or some combination, you've managed to find the perfect woman.

Her face returns to normal, and she looks at you, a little concerned. "Are you okay?"

Scootaloo

Sweetie says what you’re all thinking. ”I still think it’s dangerous to send Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon out there.”

You shrug, although neither of the others can hear that over the phone. “It is. But no matter what happens to them, it’s still better for us.” You’re not lying. If they break in and take another gem-shard, even if they don’t hand it over, things are still better.

And if they’re never heard from again… Well, that’ll only bring the present situation to a boil even faster.

Bloom speaks. ”I think so too. No point in worrying when it’s no skin off our backs.”

”Do you really feel that way?” Sweetie asks, and neither of you answer. After a little more discussion, you all hang up and enjoy your evenings separately.

There are things you wish you could tell the other two. That it all really is for a higher goal, and that it’ll all be okay in the end. But then she’d erase their memory of the conversation. You doubt even you’ll know the truth for much longer.

What matters for your future are getting to the gems, keeping everyone else away from them, and making Care Root stay desperate.

｢To Be Continued｣

Diamond in the Witch House

???

The sun’s close to setting, but the house is only a few feet away. One floor, not two. You try to ignore the pain in your arm.

Hrgh. You spit a little blood on the sidewalk, and lurch out of the open.

Silver

You've just entered into one extremely creepy house.

Is anyone paying rent to live here?

It’s naturally lit, which is a fancy way of saying it’s really dark. The back entrance is a hallway, like your house’s front, but half the length. The carpet’s shag, and stacks of magazines and boardgames line the walls, each one complete with a dusty tchotchke sentinel. All in all, it looks like your grandma’s house in Besançon, but without the homeliness.

For a moment your eyes have to adjust, and you look around for Diamond. She’s to your left, pressing herself against the wall between the junk and the door. There must be a staircase somewhere, but you can’t see it from here - instead there are doorless openings, a stained kitchen to your left, some less distinct room on your right, and at the end some larger space.

You remember the first time you realized that other people’s houses weren’t arranged like yours. It was one of the most disorienting feelings you ever had, until the last week.

There’s no sign of Trixie around here, or at least you haven’t seen her yet. You can’t hear or see anyone from here. Who was that blue-haired girl, Sonata, kissing goodbye at the door? One of the other two, Dazzling and what’s-her-name? Trixie?

You feel the reassuring weight of your backpack, and try to crane your neck without leaving your vantage point. The kitchen’s empty. You scurry for it just to get out of the open, motioning with one hand for Diamond to follow. She steps lightly enough that you have to check she's still behind you.

The kitchen’s just as bad as the back hall. White cupboards and cabinets are shut but splotched with red-brown. The sink looks like something out of the school bathroom, and flowery china plates have been set next to it in crusty stacks. There are signs of life, though: in one corner a switchbox lies open, half of the fuses permanently turned off. In another, a fat cylinder of a water heater thrums in tune with a minifridge with a microwave balanced on it.

Your first guess, if Trixie were here, was that she’d be in the basement. If all of this stuff is up here and there aren’t lots of extra doors to check, there might not be one. Second floor, then? There’s only one exit besides the way you came, another large doorless opening into a room with a couch and a tiny TV.

Just then, sounds intrude on your thoughts. A grunting noise. A man, stretching. A popping joint. Footsteps coming down the hallway.

Diamond heard it before you did, she’s already checked the cabinets under the sink. Only one fits. It’s grimy and full of unopened cleaning supplies, but amid them there’s maybe enough room for someone your size to hide.

But not two.

Diamond trades looks with you, indecision falling over her in waves. There's definitely no time for that. You shoo her in and close it, and then scram on eggshells.

Diamond

You’ve already split up.

Nothing's visible , but you’re pretty sure there’s no reason to open it. Shoes clack on the kitchen floor, swooping towards you and then away. The baby fridge opens.

”Hmm...” The voice almost sounds familiar. Your dad trained you never to forget a name or a face. Or a weakness. But who…? You resist the impulse to peek out and see, and wish for a moment that you weren’t bright pink.

Where’s Silver now? Maybe in as much trouble as you are!

Clicking, buttons on a phone, slowly. Then the slam and beep of a microwave turning on.

A pause. ”Hey. She’s coming. You tracked down the girl yet?”

You think to distract yourself from the ache in your neck.

”I can’t, I’m already tied up.”

You’ve overheard this voice, he was an upperclassman, dropped out a few months ago.

”You gonna twist my arm about that forever? … Look, if you were at the Friendship Games you’d know what I’m talking about. Don’t underestimate them.”

As the microwave shrieks that it’s finished, you realize who it is.

”Well, unless you feel like going all-out Custer, it’s our best lead. Find that girl and you’ll have all the power you c… Well, then don’t make me repeat it!”

The weird kid who wore a suit to school and never talked to anyone. The one who just stopped attending last semester, hardly even rumored about. Anonymous.

”Toodles to you, too, Ari.” Click, opening, shutting, more footsteps. ”Nowhere man.” He says this into the air, facing away from you.

It takes a moment for you to realize it must be his Stand.

”Keep doing sweeps, one. Two, stick with me. Guard duty for number three, and four’s on escort with Sonata.” Whatever happens then, there’s no noise. Then he walks back out, into the hallway and back the way he came.

Is Silver still out there?! You reach the verge of panicking, but remind yourself that nothing's happened yet. If she'd been caught, he would’ve indicated it somehow, or she would’ve screamed for help, right? So... somewhere, Silver’s hiding.

You creep out of the cabinet, checking over the rim for movement. There’s nothing.

Why is Anonymous here? What does he care about the Dazzlings? ...Then again, why do you care about Trixie? Whatever the reason, he’s guarding something. Is he expecting intruders? He sounded relaxed when he gave those orders, so maybe not.

The hallway you came from is clear, for now, but you don’t want to retrace his footsteps. You try to get a better look at the other opening, with the entertainment room past it. Once you’re closer, you see it’s one undefined jumble of rooms. Not far from the sofa is a weight bench, nearby a small spiral staircase, and not far from that is a dinner table, and fixed in the middle there’s a front door covered in nails and wooden planks.

Keeping low to the ground, you can see a pair of dress shoes under the sliver of table in your vision. He’s nearby, facing your general direction. Silver’s not hiding down here until she’s behind the couch; she went up the stairs. Which means you’re going to have to follow her, or make some kind of distraction...

It’s only then that you notice the intangible, see-through figure of a ghost glide through the room. An honest, real, heavens-above ghost, dressed in equally colorless and transparent armor, floating in mid-air and glancing around. You stifle a scream, cover your mouth.

It sees you.

Silver

Even though it’s two stories, this is a one-bed one-bath house. You haven’t heard anything happening downstairs except someone talking, so you aren’t panicking yet. The upstairs is quieter, smaller, and all of the doors are open except one. Bedroom, bathroom, the untapped potential for a nursery, and some kind of study. You’re most hesitant about the bedroom because someone might be sleeping there, but you look inside anyway.

The bed’s empty but half-made, the curtains are drawn shut, and everything else is dark. You conclude that, most likely, Trixie’s not here. Then, on a childish impulse, you check under the bed for her.

Nothing, except... A box, on the far side. You crawl over to that end and pull it out, thankful that it doesn’t groan against the carpet. It’s a briefcase, plain black.

Experimentally, you try to open it. It doesn’t budge. On closer inspection, it’s locked; a seven-digit combination lock sits before you, every number turned to 0. Those black numbers on glimmering gold taunt you, and you contemplate them. If there’s something important in this house, it’s probably in here.

So, as quietly as you can, you take off your backpack.

Diamond

You duck back into the kitchen and backpedal further, into the hall, and then into the dark room past it. Your heart’s killing you.

The ghost swoops in, tracing your path like a sheet of paper in the wind, checking corners. Inside the darkness, you’re close to panicking. There’s nothing around here big enough to hide behind, just a desk and more stacks of crap.

You try to stay silent and huddle into a corner as it completes an inspection of the kitchen. It takes so long that you start to think that maybe it’s not coming near you after all. But then it draws itself out into the hallway, lingering as it gazes up and down, and then finally turns its eyes to you. Straight to yours.

With a look of mute annoyance, it draws a shortsword from its mass. You try not to scream, or maybe it's just that your mouth won't let the sound out. It’s absurd, but... if Silver heard you screaming, you’d both get caught. And you have a debt to pay back, to her family, to her… to yourself. To overcome your mistakes. To be who you want to be!

It hovers closer to you. You shut your eyes as it strikes, but nothing comes.

You open them, expecting it to be waiting to land the blow once you’ve relaxed, but you can’t see anything at all. A moment of feeling around, and... wait, you’re back in the cupboard?

Silver

You carefully slide the material out of two separate pockets of your pack. They’re large jagged chips of tile, each big as your hands, taken off the floor of Canterlot High. You had to come before anyone else was there, and dig them up carefully, and it stung, but they’re your secret weapon for now.

“｢Tin Cup Chalice｣.” Although they’re already here, you whisper it to them anyway, for luck. Then you position them, holding each upright, on either side of the case.

You understand your power: whatever’s inside your hallway can be destroyed and recreated. With your willpower, and your fear for how quiet things are downstairs, you choose to think that the front half of the briefcase is inside your domain.

It softens, rusts, and flakes away in a matter of seconds before you pause the decay. Inside that darkness-within-darkness, there’s the glinting of red. It’s exactly what the Crusaders were looking for! You reach in for it.

And then, as your hand closes around it, an ethereal grey one protrudes from the box and grabs your wrist.

You yelp, loud, and pull free, shard in hand. Below you, the ghost sinks through the floor. When you hold it, you can tell immediately that it’s part of those pendants the girls, Sonata’s group, were wearing. Unless there’s a knockoff jewelry shop around.

You make out your own appraising eyes in its surface. It’s pretty, but why would anyone want to get their hands on it?

There’s a stirring downstairs, a rushing, moving up the stairs. Oh. They heard you.

Diamond

The miracle of whatever just happened to you is interrupted by the certain knowledge that something’s gone wrong. You open up the cabinet a little when you hear the scream from upstairs, and Anonymous rushes to the stairs and starts ascending.

You could distract him, but that wouldn’t help her if someone else caught her. Not that it would help you, either. So you do the best thing you can.

Rushing out of cover, you step onto the fridge with one foot and hold yourself up, level with the fusebox. And, with a storm of loud snaps, you slam all of the switches on. Around you the house suddenly fills with light, ceiling lamps you hadn’t known were there remembering a job they’d fulfilled long ago.

Anonymous curses from the second floor and rushes back down. You duck into the hallway.

”Two, Three, upstairs! One, guard the door!” He says this, and then half-jogs into the kitchen.

And the same ghost that tried to stab you drifts into the hallway. It sees you, and rushes.

Before you can rush out of the door, or shut your eyes and wish your way back to cramped safety, it closes in and throttles you. You squeak under the strength of the intangible hands, but your own pass through.

Silver

All of the lights are on and whoever’s coming up went back down. Diamond must be helping you.

A shout downstairs, and then two ghosts float up through the carpet. There’s no exit but through them. You throw the closest thing you can, one of the shards of your Stand, at them. It passes through harmlessly, landing against the floor. You strain a little just after, and it slowly raises itself up to stand against the wall, but nothing more.

One comes closer, and it’s some kind of Roman soldier. You swing the now-empty briefcase at its face, and it passes through, falling on the bed. Then it reaches into you, and grabs something.

Your heart.

It squeezes, and you can’t breathe. The other one snatches the red gem from the floor beside you and then floats patiently behind your murderer. The only thing you’re still holding, while your body spasms, is one piece of tile.

You raise it while cold shivers wrack your nerves. It doesn’t even hurt, you’re just stopping, all at once. Through sheer terror, you keep your arm raised.

And the closest part of the bed, the footboard, rots and falls apart in an instant. Between those two shards, it crumbles to dust, and then spits out an explosion of force. Stand power.

The ghosts aren’t even looking at it as they’re vaporized, and the wave of psychic power passes over you painlessly. Still, you clutch at your chest and fall down for a minute.

The gem’s on the floor nearby. You’ve still got something to show for all of this, if you can get it outside.

But what about Diamond?

Diamond

You're gasping, tears forming in your eyes, as you try to summon up whatever magic helped you a moment ago, and begin to feel like you've squandered something once-in-a-lifetime. Then, without warning, you find you can breathe. The hands around your neck are forced a few inches away from it, and you gasp for air.

Loudly.

Anonymous rushes over, and sees you. And… something tiny and black, hovering around your neck. It’s smaller than a canteloupe, covered in square plates like armor on an armadillo. Its eyes are the color of your skin, and they flash with intelligence. Around the front, along the whole of its torso, is a giant “C”.

You can see all of this even though you’re not looking at it all. You just… know it, like an old friend. Even with its small form, it holds off the ghost’s hands easily.

Anonymous steps closer, practically sputtering. ”You?!”

The ghost floats away from you. You smile, despite yourself, that he seems to be taking you as a threat. It gives you hope.

Then Anonymous rummages in his suit’s inside pocket and pulls out a handgun, and you stop smiling.

”Who’s upstairs?”

There’s such a profound change in you that the gun feels like a secondary issue. Some potential, some power... Oh. That's what it does. You didn't even know that the knowledge would come to you automatically - it feels like having someone else in your head for a moment.

You take a deep breath and draw it out. You picture yourself switching on all of the electricity a minute. Then, in your mind’s eye, your Stand drives its fist through that memory, and it dissipates like a cloud.

”My friend! ｢Pink｣!” You shout, and then the lights all go out.

Your Stand lands a solid hook on his gun, and then on him personally. It knocks the wind out of him, and you run in the opposite direction. The stairs come upon you, and you take them two at a time in brief, stomping jumps.

When you get up, Silver’s just coming out of one of the rooms. She smiles and holds up a piece of the gem.

“Any sign of-”

”No.” She shakes her head.

According to the noise, Anonymous is coming up after you. You look around at the open doors and find exactly what you were hoping for.

You point to it and turn to Silver. “I’ll be outside. Trust me.” And then, from her perspective, you’re gone.

Anonymous

You’ve got an aching pressure in your head. Of all the threats, the Stand users, the potential strategies, it’s this prissy bitch who shows up!

You keep calling your legionnaires to your side, but they don’t come. You hear the backdoor opening and ignore it. Too many distractions, diversions, when all that matters is that gem! No one’s spoiled rich kid is going to stop you from giving her back her voice!

When you reach the top of the stairs, there’s the other one. Grey, hateable, destined to be third for homecoming queen. She’s standing in the doorway, facing you. The other one’s not here.

A voice is calling out from below. ”One second!” You don’t know how the pink one’s teleporting, but it doesn’t matter.

She’s holding a slab of flecked white stone in each hand, and behind one you see the red glint. She managed to open the case somehow, but she's here now and she has it in her hand, and you can solve all of this in a few seconds.

You train the gun on her. “Drop it.”

She trembles minutely, but doesn’t react. Like she’s used to it.

You raise your voice, hoping to spook her. ”Now!”

She kicks off, out of the second-floor doorway that doesn’t go anywhere. She'll break her legs on the fall, but you shoot for good measure.

Silver

Your body is your domain. It’s in your hallway. You’re holding up a wall in each hand, and you can picture the whole boxy shape of it if you just squint yours eyes and think sideways. Thoughts of Mr. Rich, posed about to murder you, bubble up at the sight of the guy in the suit pointing the gun, glomming onto the idea, giving it depth.

The bullet explodes into a great white cloud of aura just in front of you. You feel the pain of asking too much from your Stand, but you’re out now. Gravity and trust do the rest.

After a couple feet, you stop falling, and you see something holding you in the air. It only slows your descent, but you float down to the earth. Diamond breathes heavily and you both keep to the side of the house. The sun set while you were inside, and in the cover of night her Stand helps you jump the fence.

The backdoor’s thrown open behind you, and you don’t look back. Three fences, four, trees. The two of you only rest blocks away. She pulls out her phone, makes a call, speaks in clipped and apologetic tones a few feet away, and then a plain grey car comes to pick you up.

Care

The movie doesn't disappoint. The insane proficiency at murder, the well-directed choreography, the constant uncomfortable look on his face... The music's not as good as the last movie, but besides that, bliss.

At one point, you put an arm around her. Her shoulders are so diminutive compared to yours. She reaches over and pats your head. Then, absentmindedly, she runs her fingers back and forth through your hair, and your eyes nearly roll back in your head.

All in all, it’s an amazing evening.

When you finally take her back home, soaked in the happy energy of the theater, you talk the whole way. You get out and open her door, as an excuse to not sit awkwardly and wave goodbye. Then she kisses you.

It’s an entirely alien feeling, like eating a new food for the first time, but you lean back into it when you get the idea of what’s going on. Mouths touch, capillaries burst, and then, just as immediately, it’s over.

You look into her eyes, one at a time. They’re so… beautiful. You bet your face is frozen in some horrible slackjawed gape, but she doesn’t give any sign.

In the distance, Golden opens the door and hovers on the step with her arms crossed, grumpily inspecting the night sky. You let Derpy go, and watch her walk inside. Then you get back in your car and sit there for a minute, head spinning.

That’s how you got your first kiss.

A little while later, now you've moved up in the world, you get back to your house. Park, get out, feel like the man of the hour, unlock the-- your front door’s already unlocked. Huh.

Must’ve forgot.

You enter anyway, looking around the dark family room, and then disconcertingly hear breathing. Following it, you summon up ｢Timbuk Three｣ and draw closer to it.

Suddenly you’re standing in the middle of the room.

”It’s about time you showed up!” she says, as if you broke an appointment.

She’s laying on your couch, next to a bottle of painkillers taken from your medicine cabinet, and there’s a crowbar sticking perpendicular out of her arm.

”Trixie was beginning to wonder if you lived here after all,” she smiles.

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Nowhere Man｣
User: Anonymous
Ability: On request, summons up to four ghosts of those whose names are not recorded in history. Each request must be specific enough that only one person in history fulfills it. Ghosts retain memories of their lives, and can manipulate small objects, travel within a mile of the user, and communicate nonverbally. In all other respects, they behave as Stands.

Stand: ｢Pink]
User: Diamond Tiara
Ability: The user can ‘erase’ any actions they’ve taken in the last two minutes from causality, causing time to carry on as if they had simply done nothing instead. Erasure does not undo the effects of those actions on living things; if the user trips and falls on their head, they can erase the tripping, but they will still have the bruise, and witnesses will remember the fall.

Midnight Rambler

Anonymous

It’s dark in this alleyway, but you can make them out clearly: the three girls you have left to turn to. They look much more civilian without the fancy outfits. Like they could just be any three women, except for the eyes. The way they walk in perfect unison. The interruptions, repetitive conversations, smacks to the head.

It’s sublimated choreography.

One pointless slogging night the orange one, Dazzle, will grab your face and tell you the story of the world. Every war mongered, seduction cast, cult detonated. She’ll start to bubble with deep, operatic laughter at the whole thing, and then depart, and never mention it again. But here, now, you don’t even know that they’re from out of town.

They’re just the last place you have to go.

School was too painful for you, and if that makes you sound like a pussy, then so be it. You just weren’t able to deal with it the way other people did - you didn’t feel like you were going anywhere. No career plans, no friends, and only the constant ocean of worthless people. Your grades faltered, and you knew you were depressed, but... Well, how does knowing help, anyway?

Anyway. You don’t like to dwell on that. The world’s harsh to everyone in turn, but tonight’s the night things change for you.

”We noticed you dropped out of Canterlot High. Didn’t feel like a very stable situation?” Dazzle’s voice drips with humor only she seems to appreciate.

“Yeah. I got your note.” They’d slid it under the door of your house, so it’s not like you could’ve missed it. Just an address, and a job offer. “What are the terms?”

”Oh, nothing special. You arrange to investigate some things for us, accompany us, gather information. You’ll be our eyes and ears in places we can’t go easily.” You don’t know it now, but somehow this arrangement will involve letting them crash in your basement and raid your pantry. ”And in exchange, we’ll convince your family that you’re living a perfectly productive life. If you do a very good job, we’ll even work something out once we’ve regained our true power.”

They’ll end up true to their word, at least on the first point. Your family will feel proud of you, even if it’s all a lie. They won’t bother you like they used to, shouting to do this or that chore. You’ll realize almost perfect NEETdom.

But that’s not your only question.

”Next you’ll ask, ‘Why me?’” She pauses for your response like a showman.

“Well... yeah. Why me? I mean...” You look each of them in the eye. “What do I have to give you that any other student at CHS wouldn’t?”

Purple, Blaze, seems to be barely listening to anyone in this conversation. She’s just weighing you with her eyes, like she’s about to take your wallet. Dusk also stares at you, but differently; there’s no malice on her face. And her eyes, a different shade than the others. Even to your untrained senses, she feels like something different.

The other two aren’t a part of this world, but she adds to it. Hair like a flourishing blue penstroke, a kind of resting sweetness in her blue-raspberry complexion...

Dazzle speaks, and you’re drawn back to her. (Was her eyebrow always raised that high?) ”We need someone who isn’t a part of CHS. The Rainbooms rule the roost there, and anyone going there for hours every day is bound to wind up on their side. With you, we know that there’s no risk of being compromised.”

That makes sense, and she waits for you to accept. You debate it with yourself, and she keeps waiting, but eventually you latch onto the note of discord in her story.

“Why not get another dropout, then?”

She sighs, hands at her sides clutching at air. ”You’re the only one, okay?”

...You feel reassured by that truth. Their motivations are clear to you now, misfits seeking a misfit.

“Then I’ll do it.”

Dazzle smiles, though she still looks put-upon, and Blaze smirks to herself.

Dusk squees. ”I knew he’d want to help us out!”

And that, bookmarked forever in your life, is the first time you hear her voice.

Anonymous, later

The last couple of months haven’t been very productive. But they’ve been some of the best of your life. It’s like you took an off year before college, except to skulk around your hometown. You have the kind of face no one recognizes, and you’re naturally quiet, so you're not half bad at it, but unfortunately, none of the leads you turn up seem to go anywhere. It took you a while to even realize that they were looking for what was left of their pendants.

But now things are more complicated. The Friendship Games came and went, and there was a spike in local energy strong enough that they felt it. It was a crucial spark, turned into an ember now, not long afterwards.

People at Canterlot High have superpowers, en masse. There’s a whole “gridwork of intensely powerful Equestrian magic” within it. But... not anywhere else.

They held court over that in your basement, the three of them without you, and they decided they needed to make a move now or never.

Adagio’s standing next to you, singing and holding a note. Aria’s with her, singing a slightly different one. You’re stretched out on the couch, with Sonata over you. A test subject, making sure this isn’t lethal.

Sonata clasps your hands in hers and locks eyes with you. ”This might hurt, but don’t stop struggling.”

You swallow, and nod. Then she closes her eyes and starts singing too. The three notes converge, raise, fall. It’s not a song, more like an improvisation, just sounds. Are those dots of color in your eyes the ceiling light, or something else? You take shorter breaths.

And then, all of a sudden, your muscles stop working. The room opens up, and you see a swirling latticework of light hanging over you. Is it falling into you or rising out of you? The volume of their singing starts to increase, as if someone’s rhythmically punching a volume button.

With a snap, a beam of light stretches from some invisible horizon, to the structure, to you. It penetrates into your chest, and you spasm like you’re having a schoolbus bump dream. Sonata holds your hand tightly as something swims inside of you. And you gain the power of Stand.

Anonymous now, right now

You're hyperventilating. Your outpost’s been compromised. Three of ｢Nowhere Man｣’s ghosts were defeated, by the least likely burglars in history. You don’t even have valuable information about how their Stands work. Teleporting? Controlling electricity? Little panels that make things explode?

The thought of Adagio asking you these questions only makes you feel worse. Aria being angry at what you’d lost after all the work you did. And, and Nata. The look you’ll see in her eyes, when she finds out she’s back at square one. That you let her down. Your legs start to shake.

You raise your head and summon up your Stand. It swirls into existence between your palms - a large vase, almost like a canopic jar, with the swirl of a question mark for its head. Along the sides are spiraling lines of meaningless hieroglyphics.

You stare down at it. Why did it fail you? Why didn’t you have a Stand that could protect her?!

You hurl it across the room with both hands. It bounces into the floor, rebounds off it and smashes unsatisfyingly onto the couch.

After a while, the door opens. Arms wrap around your neck, and her head nuzzles next to yours. ”How’s things, Nonny?”

“...” When you don't say anything, she waits. She probably thinks you’re just being moody. Oh, Nata...

You keep your head bowed so she doesn’t see your expression, or the words you’re mouthing to yourself. After a minute, you take a wet breath, and tell her.

Trixie

This morning, when you wake up, you’re not alone in your room.

The hospital room's bland, but clean. You’ve been forced to stay here by your own sense of self-preservation, but now you’ve got a cast for your broken finger and you’ve healed up your sprain. It was time to leave a day or two ago, you could feel it. Magician’s intuition.

You really should’ve taken your own advice.

A familiar face is sitting at your bedside, reading a Harlequin Romance book. It doesn’t seem to be interesting her, and she shuts it as soon as you stir. Blue skin, white hair, Crystal Prep.

You sit up, stifling a yawn. “What do you want with Trixie?”

”Insurance. You’re not important any longer, but it would save time for us to get the information out of you.” She looks at you, anticipating another question. You stare back at her, not letting her see you scope the room from your periphery.

There are windows in this room, but they don’t lead anywhere because you’re not on the ground floor. There’s a small bathroom nearby, since you’re not completely bedridden, but of course it’s a dead end. The only exit’s the door, and she’s between it and you.

And there’s a chair between her and it. You create space between the chair and the floor.

”You’re not very smart if you think the same trick is going to work on me twice.” She leans to one side and gestures to the legs of the chair. They’re sticking into the floor, not even nailed in, like they were built in when the tile was laid! But that means Snails is here. And that means...

How deep does this betrayal go? The whole world could be out to get you, now.

”Where did you relocate the magical gem?”

No. No, you’re still in the clear. You’re just not safe here, in this building.

Thump! “Ow!”

She takes the book away from your head, eyes narrowing. ”I can see we’re going to have to do this the hard way.” She pulls out a cell-phone. Yours. On reflex, you try to use your power to separate it from her, but she’s holding it from too many sides.

”This is key for your plans, isn’t it?” She looks at you as she turns it over in her hands. ”You won’t be able to survive without this phone?”

Harumph. “No. I don’t need it to survive.”

”But you won’t be able to regain the gem without it.”

You don’t answer her. She inspects it carefully, switching it on and getting the password screen. Four numbers.

”Hm. Is the passcode ‘T-R-I-X’?” She checks your face, types it in, and it fails.

You snort. Like you’d be that narcissistic!

She puts an elbow on her knee and props her chin on her fist. ”...Is it ‘M-A-G-E’?”

What?! How could anyone know something like that?

On instinct, you deny it. “N-no!”

She smirks. ”Lying’s bad for you, you know. ｢Pavlov’s Daughter｣.”

A Stand appears in front of you, a small spinning disc with a giant mouth. It looks like a sand dollar, decorated with five small teeth. As soon as it appears, it dives through your skin, into your abdomen!

It’s painless, and you wonder if your organs are being shredded from the inside. Most of them don’t have nerves, after all. But you don’t start coughing up blood.

You wonder if her attack actually worked, or if she’s going to explain it, but she doesn’t need to. The feeling appears. The hunger, insatiable, for one thing in particular.

She holds it up. ”Tell me where the gem is, or my Stand will make you eat your cell-phone.”

The impossible craving tears into you. You pull against it. The metallic tang, the toughness against your teeth, the crunch of the final snap. Feeling it explode into a microcosm of circuitry before you swallow it, like technological spaghetti. You feel yourself salivating. And you realize what you need to do.

She sees the look in your eyes. ”It doesn’t really matter if you tell me. I won’t stop the effect until you tell me what I want to know, but even if you don’t, you’re eating this.”

There’s only one way out. This craving is driving you past sanity. You shiver with need, and understand it’s hopeless to resist this drive.

You’ll just have to go with it! You’ll just have to bust through!

You sit up further on the bed, poise, and throw yourself towards her. She flinches, and then balks at you as you go sailing over her.

“｢Abracadabra｣!” You create space between the edges and insides of her pockets. A wallet falls out of one, IDs scattering onto the floor. Another spits out lipstick. But there, there! You create distance between it and the floor.

It soars into your hand as you tumble to the floor behind her chair. Blue, compact, flip, but it still matches the description! A cell-phone! While she’s spinning to get out of the chair, looking around at the mess, you shove it into your mouth.

It is so intensely satisfying. From the bottom of your being, you feel refreshed.

And as soon as it appeared, your craving vanishes. Her mouth’s open.

You throw a punch at her jaw, and she recoils. By how she falls, you realize she’s probably never been in a fight before. Wordlessly, you pry your phone from her hand.

Then you pivot her, shoving her into the bathroom. Your Stand keeps a good distance between her and the doorway.

”You still aren’t going to get your hands on the stone, Trixie! You don’t have-” You drown her out. With your new reprieve, you scoop up the wallet and flip through it. Mostly gift cards, and no basic cash. Does this girl never use vending machines?

You find a driver’s license tucked behind a random gift card. ’Sugarcoat’, huh? She sounds familiar. Was she in the Battle of the Bands…?

You put it back and resolve to figure it out later. Now, where’s…? Ah, still in the far corner! You locate your primly folded belongings and change out of the hospital gown. In the bathroom, Sugarcoat’s gone silent. Let her sulk.

“I’ll tell you this, Sugarcoat.” You don’t know if she’s listening or not, but you speak to the door anyway. “Your whole gang of thugs hasn’t stopped the Awe-Inspiring Trixie yet.”

This time, the silence feels sullen. When you leave, you throw the door open and stride out confidently. It’s visiting hours, but early. The hallway’s lined with empty chairs and musty cushions instead of people, but like clockwork, there they are. The inseparable duo, Snips and Snails.

They look surprised to see you walking out, like everyone else who’s blocked your path. But they scramble quickly to their feet. Snips activates his Stand first, and you feel it in the sudden lurch in your step.

There’s a pounding in your head, like it’s been hand-dipped in static. Yes, ｢Run DMC｣ has definitely been activated. Snails, for his part, grabs something from a small end-table nearby and runs for you.

You helped him learn his power’s usefulness in close-range combat - the ability to ｢insert｣ things. The key, you know, is not to give him the opening.

You rush straight ahead. He tries to get closer to you, but you create distance between the two of you, widening the gap diagonally even as you strafe past him. Once you’re past him, you can punt Snips out of the way and get the hell out of Dodge!

Snails’ voice cuts through your determination. ”｢Busdriver｣!”

What? You turn your head to make sure he’s not close enough to strike you. But he’s not, he’s using his Stand to throw the object in his hand, a pen!

The space you’re already maintaining is starting to get to you, and it connects. Stabbing through the arm of your blouse, straight through, missing your skin but piercing the other side. The momentum staggers you, and then it jams itself into the wall behind you.

You lean awkwardly, scrambling to get your feet under you without hitting your ankle on a chair. Then he walks back the way you came, with a sense of purpose. You try reaching over to rip out the pen, but it hasn’t made a hole, it’s just lodged into your shirt and the wall. He learned to use his power at a distance?!

That shocks you, but you’ll still be alright. All you need to do is snap the pen-- Your head fills with more of the pounding as Snips draws closer. You can barely hear yourself think!

Trying not to panic, you work on snapping the pen. If you can snap the pen, you can still escape!

Then you see Snails grab something from outside of your room door. A full on crowbar, laid against the lip of the doorframe. He hefts it in one hand and carries it back toward you. He’s going to pin you to this wall even further!

Snips talks, grinning. ”Where’d ya hide it, Trix?”

You look at him, and realize you’re sweating.

”You’ll save us some trouble if you spill it.”

”That’s right.” The voice comes from down the hallway, where you came. Sugarcoat stands outside of your door, arms crossed.

You’ve almost got the pen, if only so much of it wasn’t already in! The Great and Powerful Trixie won’t be treated like part of a butterfly collection!

Snails raises the weapon and steps closer. You try to gather your power, but you need a few more seconds to let the space you’ve made dissipate. You throw a punch for him, and he grabs your fist, holding you in place.

”Sorry, Trixie. ｢Busdriver｣!” And like a shot, it goes into your leg, out the other side.

You kick your leg towards him, and the ghostly bar keeps going forward. The intangible surface passes through you, until your leg's too far forward to be pinned. He dodges your kick by stepping back, but the crowbar moves back with him. It settles into place on your leg, solidifying, without touching the wall!

With one mighty crack, you snap the end of the pen. An inky wound splutters onto the wall, and you take your opportunity. A blast of your power and Snails is back down the hallway, closer to Sugarcoat than you.

Next, the other threat. You spin to Snips, sweeping the leg. He sees it coming; you taught it to him, and how to get around it. Naturally, he jumps over your leg.

But he doesn’t land.

“｢Abracadabra｣!” You shout, increasing the distance between him and the floor at a constant rate. While he’s in freefall, you get in one solid punch to his face. He spins like a plane going down as you throw him out of the column of distance. Then he hits the floor on his back, and the ill feeling leaves you.

You run into the nearest elevator, down, and then walking casually into the nearest empty room. Opening the window a crack, and then making enough space to jump through. You close it behind you, land on sterile manicured grass, and get out of sight of the windows.

Then you take a deep breath and get as far away from the building as you can.

It’s many blocks before you finally stop, leaning back over the sidewalk, and think. You can’t go to the park, because someone’s bound to be watching it. Of course, there is a way to get the stone out without going there at all...

It’s funny, but your hope lies with the person you know the least. Wiz Kid. Or, you guess, Care Root.

It takes a minute for your phone to burst to life. A minute’s scrolling and you find some of the pictures you took in the Principal’s office. There was a file drawer that was positively lousy with copies of personal records. Lunch gave you a little more time than the mad dash you’d planned, so you’d found his.

It didn’t have any juicy information in it. In fact, he was as academically squeaky-clean as they come, no shocker. Probably one of those kids who frets over earning Bs. But sure enough, it had an address on it. You throw it into a GPS app and get to walking.

After a while, having a crowbar integrated into your leg starts to itch, and then to burn.You vomit up the phone after a while, and spit out some blood after that. Price of victory.

Only two things bother you now, after it all. Snips and Snails were the first recruits to your little brigade, and, by far, the easiest to convince. You knew they’d turned against you when they didn’t answer your messages, and started snooping for you after you retrieved the stone. You thought the Rainbooms had sunk their hands in.

But now, these other girls... Surely they’re not CHS students. How far do Twilight’s connections go?!

And, also… How did Sugarcoat know the right passcode to your phone? Was it a part of her Stand ability, or some other source of information? You used “MAGE” as your password everywhere you could get away with it, but you never wrote it down publicly, and you never told anyone about it. Could someone have stolen that information from you?

Care

Trixie finishes her story, and looks at you expectantly. You sat down halfway through, and now you’ve leaned forward, processing. It’s some story, alright - and a true one, you can tell.

You thought that the two kids at the mall were after Derpy, but they must have known that Trixie was coming to meet with you. And where you would be.

That’s concerning. Has someone bugged her phone, or yours?

You tuck that question away for a moment and finally start talking. “What made it so important to get to me?”

Trixie, whose face has run a gamut of emotions throughout her storytelling, switches to intent. ”Your partner.”

“Derpy?”

She nods, sharply. ”With her Stand, she can retrieve the stone. And given how dangerous it is to hold onto, surely she wouldn’t object to returning it to Trixie.”

“What are you going to do then?”

She pauses, abstract, and you give her time. ”I’m going to get to the heart of this. I’m going to stop all of these Stand users and take Twilight on myself.”

She’s still on Twilight. Why does she think that the new girl is so important? You sense there’s a rant there that’s best avoided, but even if she’s crazy in that area... She’s been through a lot in the last few days. She’s living on the run now, and she’s held her own against a mess of Stand users.

The good thing about your Stand is that you can accept bad things will happen to you. Accept, and prepare for them.

“I’ll make you an offer. Like you did with me,” you say. She leans in, back to intent, and you focus on choosing your words. “Bad things have been happening around me. For a while I thought it might just be my Stand, but I realized it couldn’t be. Not all of it, at least.”

You take a breath.

“Everyone wants me on their side in this battle, and they’re going to keep coming after me until I pick a side. And then they’re going to come after me for not being on their side.” You haven’t said this out loud yet, it’s your last chance to stop the intention from crystallizing - but you go on: “So… I’m not playing their game.”

You hold out an empty hand to her. “I’ll do my best to fix your wound, and help get the stone away from everyone else, but only if you agree to help me get to the bottom of all this after you have it.”

She stares at you. ”You want Trixie to… join your side?”

You shrug and nod. Then you notice the tears in her eyes.

Her hand thundercracks into yours, and she shakes it hard enough to pop a couple joints. ”Trixie accepts!”

You’ve made an important ally. Tomorrow, you’ll have to track down Twilight and talk to her. Maybe it’ll be as easy as that.

Except... You just realized, today’s Friday. You’ll have to do that after the weekend. In the short term, tomorrow, you’ll at least be able to help out her leg.

The night ends with her still on your couch, pain meds nearby. You wander into your room, past the empty sprawl of the rest of your house, and collapse.

Anonymous

You've finished talking, and now you're just on the sofa with her. You feel so undignified.

”Nonny, you couldn’t have expected that. And seeing it makes you ready for bigger surprises later on!”

“That’s not what Aria’s gonna say.”

”Is she being mean to you?”

A little, but neither of you can help it. “No, it’s just true.” In your mind, her expression of shock has been frozen still forever. The look she made when you told her that they’d taken one of her shards. The realization of a step backward, like a knife. A month’s work diminished...

”If you know who took it, you can find them. They’ll probably have more!”

That makes you raise your head. ...Huh. You meet her bright, violet eyes.

Gently but insistently, she pushes ｢Nowhere Man｣ into your hands. ”You haven’t lost yet, Nonny. I believe in you.”

She’s right. You concentrate, and three more ghosts spring from the jar. Like nothing!

You’ve suffered a loss, but Sonata’s right, you don’t feel dead over it. There’s a spark in your soul that refuses to go out, and it's the desire to hear her sing! And if a pair of CHS brats want to stand between that and you, you'll take them. Them, their Stands, and whoever else they want to bring to the party!

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Pavlov's Daughter｣
User: Sugarcoat
Ability: Inflicts an incredibly strong variant of pica, with a non-food craving of the user’s choice, on any target who tells a lie within range.

Stand: ｢Run DMC｣
User: Snips
Ability: Broadcasts noise within range at any frequency outside of human hearing.

Stand: ｢Busdriver｣
User: Snails
Ability: “Inserts” objects into solid surfaces.

The Weeknd

Saturday

Silver

It's early morning on a Saturday. This is one of the only times you get the TV to yourself, while everyone older than you sleeps - or it would be, if you weren’t already needed somewhere. Being a Stand user is tough work.

You’re still at Diamond’s house from last night, having turned the evening into a pretty strong sleepover. She told her dad you’d both wanted to come here instead after you missed the bus. It was the first time you ever saw her explain herself to Mr. Rich, and he looked a lot more worried than you remember him being. He was nice to you, of course, although he once tried to shoot you, and he looked around the same, so.

But you’re over it. You’ve been shot at twice, now, and you’re starting to get used to it.

Now that you’ve woken up, checked your phone and got the message, you send out an ETA. Then you get out of the mini-bed they wheel out to save you a sleeping bag, and stretch. You try to do it loudly enough that Diamond wakes up, but she doesn’t. Should’ve known.

You wonder if she still dreams about all of the different versions of herself, like you saw. For some reason, it doesn’t sound likely. She’s got a Stand now, although she’s had a hard time trying to whisper to you about what it does. Probably she’s getting cooler and cooler under pressure now. You’re glad to see your best friend rest after an impossible victory. But.

You nudge one of her shoulders, exactly enough to wake her up. She stirs, dreams cracking and turning back into void, and her eyes open already looking at you.

”What time is it?” she asks.

“Seven. I need a car.”

Diamond blinks at that, like details will hit her if she mulls it over a little more.

“It’s to help out Care. And Trixie.”

She nods, then stops. ”Trixie? What’s she got to do with it?”

You shrug.

Diamond

Through a tinted window you see the mesmerizing zip of passing parking meters and too-tall buildings. Being driven to CHS on a Saturday dampens your mood a little. Not that school stresses you out or anything, until recently you’d rather be there than at home. Your grades weren’t fantastic, but they were only as bad as your tutors would let you get away with, and you weren’t thrilled by the occasional visit to Luna’s office, but it didn’t hurt much.

There’s just a time and place for things like that, an etiquette to scheduling. No one wants to go to high school at 7:30 on a Saturday.

”Diamond?” Silver’s next to you, not looking out of any of the windows.

You dampen your sourness and turn to her. “Yes?”

”Why didn’t you tell your dad about your Stand?”

That’s... a good question. You could say that you just didn’t want to be punished for lying about the sleepover, but that’s not all of it.

You frown, and try to answer her. “I don’t know how he’s going to react. I’m worried it’ll end in him locking me up in my room with a bunch of bodyguards, or something like that.”

She doesn’t say anything.

“I’m going to tell him, I am! Just not yet. ...Plus I don’t want him getting involved in this if he doesn’t have to.”

Your Dad’s done a lot for you, especially in the long term, but Silver doesn’t run to hers whenever she needs something. Her parents are there to love and support her, but not carry her through life, and you've tried to learn from that. No using your family name as a raft through stormy waters, not while you have other options.

”What about the gem?” she asks.

Damn, it’s still in your room. It might have been a good idea to give it to Care, actually, but you’re not in the mood to admit you made a mistake there. “We should keep it where it is for now. No one should be able to break into my room and take it.”

”...But are we going to tell him about it?”

Well, of course. “Why wouldn’t we?”

She fidgets a little. ”Because he’ll probably tell Derpy.”

Oh. You think to yourself. Could you make up some excuse that would make the whole thing seem less dangerous? ...No, because then Anonymous might show up again, and Care wouldn’t know to watch out for him.

When you don’t answer after a while, she hangs her head a little. She looks like a girl on death row.

Silver

You get out of the car, parked in front of Canterlot High. Then you're tromping up the sidewalk, half-expecting Derpy to be around at any minute. Thankfully it’s just Care and Trixie, nonchalant in front of the school, eyes peeled for cars. His own is one of the only ones in the lot, along with the couple that never seem to leave.

Trixie has something metal jutting out of her leg, but no real wound or blood. You activate ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣ while you walk, and the wall opens up behind her. She startles and turns to it, eyes passing around the opening like she’s checking for traps. Diamond follows behind you, still quiet.

You arrive and put on a pleasant smile. “Just step through and I’ll handle the rest, Trixie.”

She gazes, appraises you, and then enters. The curly hunk of metal enters your awareness proper, and you close your eyes to make out its exact shape. It’s lodged straight through her, alright, but the skin’s not broken. What sort of Stand could do something like that to someone, and why was she fighting it?

”Care,” Diamond says, businesslike.

”Diamond," he replies.

You let the metal start to degenerate, then realize you’ll be letting rusty metal into her body if you do. Once you've started, your only option is to speed up the process. You’re worried about what’ll happen, but if you’re right, she’ll be fine.

In a flash, it disappears, and you suppress the shockwave as best you can. Then you stop the process, leaving the weapon unreformed. Trixie pulls her leg up, grunting in pain and hopping on one foot, and then sets it back down. Taking deep breaths, making fists, she stretches it back out.

Then, finally, she speaks. “Trixie thanks you, Freshman.” There’s not a trace of malevolence in the way she says that; she really means it, or else she’s really bad at this.

Either way, you turn to Care, neutral. “What’s going on?”

Sunday

Derpy

You're out among Canterlot, walking the streets near your neighborhood and trying not to think of racing through them for your life a couple weeks back. Stress runs your life right now, even on a weekend that started with such a lovely night out. Yesterday wasn’t as relaxing as you’d hoped. Silver and you aren’t talking very much right now.

”You can’t stop me from helping! I’m not going to be dead weight!”

Care and Trixie only showed up for a minute with Silver and a cut-down explanation, and you sent your Stand out to gather the stone in that area. Trixie seemed really interested in getting you to scavenge for all of them, but… Well, you need to know where they are or what they look like to do that. Otherwise you’re just a jewel thief.

And, well, what’s all of this about, really? Is Care really getting involved, and if he is, how should you feel about that?

It’s better than being twirled around on someone else’s strings, of course.

”Of course I did! Would you have let me do it for a second if I hadn't lied?!”

At least, you thought so. You’re just worried about him, really bone-deeply worried. He shouldn’t be risking his life to keep you afloat, he doesn’t deserve that and neither do you.

”No, Mom, it’s nothing. We’re just, uh... you know. Dumb argument.”

Your walk’s led you out of the neighborhoods and back into the sprawl. A car stops beside you; your dad’s. The window rolls down, and Golden's driving. Her eyes are as intense as always, but she has an easygoing smile.

”Hop in,” she says.

She takes you downtown, further than you’d expect, and you stop at a little Indian place. It’s a single room affair, with enough booths for about ten people, but it’s close to empty. Golden orders, and you order, and your food comes out, and you eat.

At some point during it, she finally speaks up. ”Silver told me you had it out. Told me all of the things she did, for Care Root.”

You grimace in response. Almost mindlessly, your finger traces the outline of the wedge of lemon in your water.

”She went through a lot," Golden says, and she's still so conversational about the whole thing, like she's giving a performance report for how well Silver did in a soccer game.

“Yeah. I know.” That’s why you yelled at her. In that same position, you wouldn’t expect to have made it out yourself. And you definitely wouldn’t have gone in without any plan because the Crusaders told you so! “It’s not Care’s fault.”

”I didn’t say it was. I don’t think it’s Care’s fault at all.”

That stops you. “You don’t?”

”No, he didn’t know anything about it until afterwards. For all anyone knows, the idea could’ve been planted in her head by a Stand!”

That thought makes you uncomfortable. The whole way Golden's acting is nothing like you expected. You thought you’d be discussing ways to make sure Silver stayed within earshot at all times. Has your sister changed?

“Are you asking me to go easier on her?” you ask.

She nods without contesting your wording. ”I think she’s proven that she can take care of herself.”

What?! “She almost got shot in the face by a creep people haven’t seen in months, and you think that we should pat her on the back for making a good decision?”

She holds up a hand to placate you. ”You’re right to protect her, but not like that. If you hold her back, she’ll just get more reckless.”

“She’s my little sister!”

”And you’re my little sister, Derpy. That doesn’t mean I get to control your life. Much.”

“This isn’t about controlling anyone, it’s about stopping Silver from doing something she can’t come back from because she thinks she’s invincible! There are guns out there, Golden!” You realize how high you’ve raised your voice.

The two girls who came in after you are trying not to look in your direction. Golden sees them too, and leans in a little closer, voice lowered. ”Do you think she doesn’t know that? I nearly had a heart attack when she saved her friend, and she had a gun pointed to her head then, too!”

You sigh. “I wasn’t there, I didn’t know everything that happened.”

”Well, she lived! Not only that, she stopped everyone in that room from dying. She’s tough enough to have a Stand, and we both need to put some more trust in her.”

“I’m not going to let her just… just go off on her own like that!”

”Of course not. But… you have to be there to catch her without her realizing it. That’s the secret of being an older sister.”

You... don’t think you’d be very good at that. Even if your Stand was more reliable, and better at long-range defense...

Golden reaches out to grab your hand. ”I’ll be here to help her, too. And so will Diamond, and Care. We need to give her a little bit of a hard time so she knows not to charge into things, but we also need her on our side.”

She looks at you earnestly, and you break eye contact. If she hadn’t grown up with you, she might not have noticed it, but she presses, gently.

”Can’t we do that?”

“...Yeah, okay.” You let out a small breath. “Okay.”

”Um, excuse me, Miss...”

You realize someone’s standing next to the table. It’s one of the two girls, around your age. Golden stops holding your hand, and you both straighten, sizing her up: yellow, pink hair, freckles, wearing a bad-fitting smile.

“Is your name ‘Derpy’?” She’s falsetto, downright cooing. It’s the voice of a half-dozen bad teachers making bad first impressions based on your bad eye. You resist the impulse to twitch and tell her off.

Golden speaks up. ”Who wants to know?”

The new girl doesn’t look at her. ”We would really, really appreciate it if you’d come with us. There are a few little boo-boos we need to clear up, and you’d be an awfully big help.” Her expression does nothing to mask the menace in those words.

“Why’s that?” With the hand that’s under the table, you grope for one of your Stand’s gifts.

”Well, we’ve heard that you’re good at getting back things that are stolen, and someone took off with some very valuable cut rubies belonging to our mother.” She hooks a thumb over her shoulder at the other girl, who looks up and smiles too. She’s red-skinned, with hair colored like lemon-lime soda packaging.

How did they find you? You’ve never been to this restaurant before.

”｢Fineshrine｣.” Golden summons her Stand under her breath. The tree springs up a half-foot away from the newcomer, and she flinches, stepping to one side. Then she looks at Golden, and at you, and sighs.

Her face darkens, like she's lost twenty hours of sleep in a second. ”Look. Come with us or we’re going to make things very painful for you.”

You meet her eyes again, and this time there’s just irritation. They’re open much wider, now, to take all of you in. The girl in the booth gets up and treads closer. Did she get startled by the tree? You weren't paying much attention to her, but reasonably she must be a Stand user too; what interest would she have with you otherwise?

You consider playing dumb, then choose against it. “What do you really want? What are the stones for?”

She doesn’t answer you, but the other one does. ”We don’t set the goals, lady.” She sounds like an 80s rocker stereotype. Now that she’s closer, you can see the giant headphones more clearly. They looked more like earmuffs from a distance, and right now they aren’t playing anything you can hear.

The angry yellow one speaks again. ”We won’t hurt you if you come with us.”

”Where?”

”Wherever we say!” She slams a fist onto the table. You breathe harder as she looks down on you.

”｢Fineshrine｣!” The tree whips a bough around towards the back of her head.

She doesn’t turn around, just grunting the name. ”｢Message Man｣.”

Suddenly it catches on fire, recoiling. Golden cries out as it starts smoking and tearing into the outer bark. A Stand that sets things on fire?

You don’t wait for a chance to test that theory. ”｢Spinal Tap｣!” You crack the popsicle stick in half, and your Stand materializes from under the table. The two girls take a half-step back as it draws up to its full height, and then you stand up and fling your water onto the fire.

”Tch. ｢Message Man｣!” Her Stand appears, only a little shorter than yours.

Its face is a curved black screen, like a biker helmet. The rest of it’s a series of black strips separated by the sort of little knobs watches are set with. In the center of its otherwise gray-chrome body is the red shape of a heart symbol, split vertically down the middle by an arrow which points up at its featureless face.

｢Spinal Tap｣ launches a volley of punches straight at it, and it braces itself. “AD-AD-AD-AD-”

Its arms block the first few, but then you adjust and your Stand picks up speed.

“ADADADADADADAD--!” It’s knocked backwards into the nearest booth, and the owner goes flying onto an empty table. You look at Golden, who’s already up. Both of you dash for the exit.

As you pass her, you hear the red girl fuming. ”｢Lemon Demon｣!”

Something small, flat and impish appears, yellow-green, designed to glide and hover in the air. You don’t get a good look at it, because you’re already heading for the door. But the girl picks up speed like she runs marathons in her free time, leaping and cartwheeling the rest of the way to the door, beating you there!

She slides and spins around between you and your way out, only to see ｢Spinal Tap｣ bear down on her. The small green Stand tries to hold back the punches, but it only takes three to exhaust her. You throw her backwards, stumbling through the doors, clutching at one arm.

Then you walk outside onto the street. “Who are you working for? Why do they need these gems so badly?”

She frowns. ”Hell if I know, man! I’m just here following orders. Once I capture you, and we get all of the stones, you’ll probably just go home.”

“You’re not going to capture me.”

She smiles at that, and cracks her neck. ”We’ll find out. Now, let’s see who can really punch the fastest.”

You sigh, but ｢Spinal Tap｣ rises to the occasion. Behind, you can here the other one getting back up.

The girl shouts over your shoulder. ”Leave this one to me, Sour!”

Golden enters, summoning up ｢Fineshrine｣ and sending something winged toward 'Sour'. ”You’d better stay down, lady, unless you want to pay the full price for bothering my sister.” She gets no answer.

You let out a series of punches with ｢Spinal Tap｣ while you try to keep track of time. It’s been out for more than a minute, but not quite two yet... Thankfully, you brought a handful of gifts with you this time. After being caught empty-handed, you never want to risk it again, but one of them could be waiting for an opening while you switch.

You're reaching for your second popsicle stick when you realize that you’re Stand’s not hitting her. She’s hitting it with an even faster barrage of punches! Her small Stand isn’t even throwing them, it’s perched in the air beside her head! As her fists rebound against your Stand, you can see they’ve started to glow with some yellow-green aura all their own.

She smirks. ”Looks like that’s the end of your Stand. Rest in peace.” She points straight at you as ｢Spinal Tap｣ fades out.

You grit your teeth and pull out another stick.

It’s already broken. Did it snap in your pocket when you weren’t paying attention?! You reach in for another, and then the bubble wrap, and the toothpick, and the folded-up sheet of notebook paper.

They’re all shredded in your pocket, just tatters.

“Th-that’s impossible!”

Her hardset eyes and aggressive grin double. ”Not for the Shadowbolts!”

...Shadowbolts? Weren’t they the Crystal Prep students playing in the Friendship Games? Why would they be involved in any of this?

”She’s right!” The shout comes from behind you, where Sour’s standing over Golden, laying on the ground. What on Earth is happening?!

Golden speaks from under Sour’s boot. ”She tripped me, without touching me.”

Sour chuckles, then the sweetness and light voice. ”Oh, you’re right there. The trip was meant for someone else.” Shifting, darker, gleeful. ”You just took the fall.”

An obsidian, spiky bird, still airborne, swoops for her. Without her even registering it, ｢Message Man｣’s fist obliterates it.

Nice: ”Why don’t I tell you what just happened, so you don’t feel like fighting to the death.”

You stare at her, trying to calculate under the pressure of seeing your older sister in such a defeated position.

”My Stand lets me push events into the future, wherever I like them to be. The fire you put out really came from a match I lit this morning. The fall was an honest mistake when I sat on a bench a little earlier and put my legs too far out into the sidewalk. And earlier today, I took a bunch of small things and broke them apart all at once.” Malevolent, proud: “So all of your secret weapons are useless. Time’s run out for the first one, so it’s up for all of them. And even if it weren’t, my Stand can just absorb your attacks. I only had to keep you occupied long enough for it to disappear.”

She finishes off her little explanation by crossing her arms and lowering her chin, smug eyes piercing into you. ”Now. Time to go.”

You look from her to the door, where the other girl’s standing, hands on hips. She’s right, all of your gifts are useless. How, though? How could they know all of this, and be so well-prepared? How could two Stand users you’ve never met understand your power so well?!

A voice cuts through your rising panic. ”｢Fineshrine｣!” Then, a flurry of motion.

The tree releases all of its birds, flapping angrily in concentric circles. In the chaos, Golden pushes herself up, knocking Sour off-balance and back into the booth, and throws her phone at you.

You stoop and catch it without asking why.

Then Golden shouts, ”I was going to make you and Silver make up after this. She’s at the library. Get there!” With those words, her birds swarm past you, their wingbeats mussing your hair, and hit the other girl. She stumbles herself and tries to bat them away, her Stand blocking the beaks from in front of her face.

The way out is open.

”No!” One of them says.

”Run, Derpy!”

“｢Message Man｣!” Thump!

You’re already outside. The library’s to your right, a few blocks down, but you run left towards the car. Golden had the keys, but the doors don’t lock.

Quickly, you throw yourself into the passenger seat and shut the door behind you. Where, where is it?

”Golden, are you alright?”

That voice... it’s faint, but it’s Silver’s! You look down at the phone you forgot you were carrying. It must have been dialing her number when your sister threw it to you.

You put it to your ear, still rummaging quickly between the seats. ”Silver!”

”Derpy?” Shock, then silence.

“Silver. I’m in trouble. Golden gave me her phone.”

You find it! Figures she would take it off of the dashboard where your father keeps it... Golden’s so self-conscious sometimes.

”Trouble? What- what’s happening?” Fear.

The door opens behind you, but you’re already most of the way out of the passenger seat. You scramble into the driver’s, only to immediately see the lemon-lime girl standing outside. She opens the driver-side door and cracks her knuckles. Then you scramble back toward the passenger’s side, only to find Sour leaning in.

”Derpy? Derpy, what’s going on? Who’s there?”

Sour leers at you. ｢Message Man｣’s fist appears next to her shoulder, and lets out a single punch. You put up your hands in front of your face. In one is a pair of fuzzy dice, a gift for your dad. The punch pulverizes it, and sends you flying into the other girl, who catches you around your armpits like a wrestler.

Both of you go sliding backwards into the street, but she stops much sooner than she has any right to, completely avoiding any errant cars. ”This would have been so much easier if you’d just cooperated.”

And then, she sees her friend go flying back herself, hitting the steps of the restaurant. From that pair of fuzzy dice, ｢Spinal Tap｣ emerges into the car. It climbs out, not wasting time, bearing down on Sour while she’s knocked down.

You make no move to bring it closer to yourself. Sour’s already dodging hits by saving them for later. One, two, three gone, and then the fourth punch gets through! The barrage opens up after that, some limit to her Stand being reached.

”Shit.” Your assailant spits, and her Stand punches you in the stomach. It’s a strong jab, and it leaves a spiderweb of pain in your abdomen, but then she lets go and dashes for Sour.

You run away from both of them, heading towards the library. ｢Spinal Tap｣ will keep them occupied for another ninety seconds, which is all the lead you’ll get.

Around you pass candystores, bakeries, knick-knack places, antiqueries, thrift stores. You catch Silver up to speed while you run, and two lucky crosswalks later, you can see her standing by the side of the library, phone between her shoulder and ear.

She sees you coming, and then she waves. ”Hey!” You wave back, and then she points. ”No, behind you!”

You look over your shoulder. The red girl, with messed-up hair and a couple bruises standing out against her skin, runs for you.

The aura covers her legs down to her shoes, and she’s sprinting at you without breaking a sweat. Silver ducks behind the library and hangs up. You have to get to her, or you’re doomed!

You put on more speed, but she only gains on you faster, clearly something to do with her ability Is that it…? She’ll get to you before you can escape, you can judge that from here. You prepare yourself, and then you duck and throw out a leg to one side.

She registers too late that you’ve stopped running. The aura burns strong, and she collides with your leg, flying in the air for a solid few feet before she hits the sidewalk.

You stand up, seeing Sour jogging for you in the distance. Nodding to yourself, you get up and keep running. Lemon-lime’s already pushing herself to her feet, and you kick her on your way. She rolls, and then she’s out of your peripheral vision.

C’mon, Silver...

”｢Lemon Demon｣!”

Her Stand makes her much faster than you are, whatever it does. You hope you can overcome that speed boost…!

But then she’s overtaking you like nothing, side by side, neck and neck! She doesn’t even hit you as she starts to pass ahead. ...Yes, that’s it! That must be the secret of her Stand!

You take a deep gulp of air, and stop completely.

As soon as you stand stock-still, her aura wears off. She’s just walking. She looks at her feet, then back at you, as you level a punch at her. It catches her off-guard, and she gets knocked down again.

Her Stand needs you to be doing something for her to do it faster. It’s why she can’t hit you while she’s racing you with it, you’d slow down! She needs you to be running!

The only problem is that you can’t reach Silver first without running. Sour’s still coming, much closer now.

You keep moving. If you can trip her up again, you can keep her on the ground long enough to make it the rest of the way, to get everything into position in a closed space. it's only a few more seconds of running until you sense her about to pass you again.

Then you pile on speed, reaching the front of the library. Sidestep, throwing out an arm, fist out, to clothesline her... In a blur, she guitar-slides under it, and then, in a single swift motion, she’s reached the corner.

Still kneeling, she turns to you. ”I know your sis’s hiding back here. She might be able to keep that up, for a minute, but she won’t be able to run from me. This, right now, is your last chance to save her.” Her yellow eyes meet yours like a negotiator’s.

You say nothing.

She shrugs. ”Alright. So long as you’re keen on putting your own family in danger, I guess.”

No. No, you just... trust them.

As your enemy rounds the corner, Silver slams the blunt curve of a crowbar into her face. She goes reeling, and you close the distance, shoving her away.

She falls woozily, wetly, unconscious.

You come upon Silver standing as close to the wall as possible, cradling the crowbar. A few feet back, two portions of ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣ have been laid out in the broad brick alleyway. From what she told you, before your row, she destroyed that crowbar; it was lodged in Trixie’s leg.

You knew her Stand could recreate the things it destroyed, but you didn’t realize it could do it across distances! And speaking of that...

”｢Message Man｣!” She summons the Stand from a few feet away, face flushed with exercise and anger.

You duck behind the wall, rummaging in your pockets, but she’s on you like glue. Her Stand punches through the brick to hit you, sending out clouds of chunky red dust. You’re knocked back a few feet, scuffing your legs on asphalt. Sour steps into view as the dust falls, and Silver lunges for her with the crowbar.

｢Message Man｣’s hand grabs the rod and holds it like a baton, picking your sister up with it. A flick of the wrist, and she hits the far wall of the alley. Sour breathes heavily, slouching like Quasimodo as she lumbers toward you.

You pull out everything you had in your pocket - the splintered wooden sticks, the deflated bubble wrap, the torn paper. This is your last, long shot! The only way you and Silver can make it outside!

In one last, desperate act, you throw the whole fistful at her. Her Stand’s fist appears alone, catching it all in a single motion. After a moment of holding your hope for the future, it crushes all of those fragments, and drops the remnants like sand to the ground.

Then she comes for you. You back up. She’s not fast, but you don’t have a hope of taking her hand-to-hand.

She speaks, and her voice is deep and rumbling, almost demonic. ”I’m going to break your arms, and then your legs, and then make you win this all for us whether you want to or not. I’ll break every part of you that isn’t necessary to use a Stand.”

She steps closer again, and now you’re up against a wall, and she's clearly not paying attention to whether you're listening or not.

”You might be asking, which arm am I going to start with? Or maybe a leg, instead? I’ll tell you. I’m going to be reaaaal nice and use my speed to break all four of them at once.” Her voice sounds like she’s enjoying herself, but there’s no smile on her face. ”I saved three of your punches the last time you summoned your Stand, but I blocked each one while I was running here. In fact, I took the chance to save three of my own. So I’m going to hit you in four places at once! How do you like that, you cross-eyed bitch?!”

You keep eye contact, for a moment, and then smile.

And, softly, laugh. You’re standing up straight, face free from fear.

She all but roars. ”Why are you--”

Behind her, there’s a flash of light.

“The gifts my Stand gave me fell inside of my sister’s ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣! You dropped them right in it!” Sure enough, some of them made it between the two pieces of tile propped up in the asphalt’s imperfections. “Its power is an endless cycle of destruction and creation, decay and rebirth! It destroyed the gifts, and rebuilt them again! And now it’s breaking them down all over again! That’s the hidden power of Silver Spoon, my amazing sister!” You laugh, louder!

Sour bellows. ”Who cares?! You put a couple fucking wooden sticks back together! I’m going to rip out your tongue for stalling me like this!”

“Stalling? I’m not stalling. You’ve just been defeated.”

She looks from your easy smile to the gifts being broken back down. Then she realizes it.

”｢Spinal Tap｣!” Your Stand appears from the gifts behind her, and this time it’s inexhaustible. “ADADADADAD-”

”M-Mess--｢Message Man｣!”

Your Stand’s punches are relentless, borne on the constant cycle of rebirth and resummoning!

DUAL HEAT ATTACK: Just Begin Again!

“ADADADAD-”

Three of her Stand’s fists appear from nowhere, zooming for your Stand. It brings its tail around, blocking all three, and then its own fists connect. Sour hits the wall, and you don’t stop, not until she’s not getting back up for a few hours.

“AD-AD-AD-AD-AAAAD!”

Her determination disappears, consciousness fading.

You turn away. “Adieu.”

It takes a little while to get things back under control after that, but you're learning the rhythm of recovery.

Silver’s okay, except for a sore back and general stress. Golden’s picked herself up at the restaurant by the time you arrive, but she’s not doing hot either; one of her arms is broken, but after a run to the hospital, where she stays overnight, you and Silver make it back home.

You have to tell your mom that your older sister was reckless and got in a really bad fall.

But… you made it. One more fight, with the help of your little sister. And one more clue. If you can find out what the Shadowbolts are after, maybe you can figure all of this out...

MONDAY

Care

Alright. It’s morning, and you’ve done everything you can in such a quick sweep of Canterlot City. Derpy spent the last day fending off the same people who seem to want Trixie.

Trixie, who hid out on your couch for another night.

You get dressed in your usual, say her name a few times until she wakes up, and get in the car Talk about a night-owl.

And when you’ve arrived and parked, you make your way through CHS grounds. With Trixie covering your back, you approach some other early arrivals. The Rainbooms are mostly assembled, and in their midst is one girl - purple-skinned, like Trixie said. You hold your Stand at the ready in case things get ugly.

Sitting and listening to the others on the steps of the school, her hair has a streak through it, and it’s tied in a loose bun. Thick glasses, and purple-blue clothes.

Twilight Sparkle.

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Message Man｣
User: Sour Sweet
Ability: ‘Saves’ events for up to 12 hours and ‘reinserts’ their effects into causality at the user’s discretion. Effects can be directed anywhere within range, except for events affecting the user, which can only be postponed. An event must last under 3 seconds to be saved by ｢Message Man｣, and only 3 can be saved at a time.

Stand: ｢Lemon Demon｣
User: Lemon Zest
Ability: When competing against another person at a specific task, bends circumstances around the user so that they can accomplish the task in exactly half the time of their competitor. If it’s not possible to make the user faster, the Stand will simply impede their opponent.

Have You Seen Me Lately?

Cloudchaser

The building’s dark and choking, empty and purposeless, and your ears are ringing. You don’t even know what it’s supposed to be for, only the address. Goddamned Freshmen.

Right now you’re stuck in the background, the guts of it, and running too fast to make that out. Is your sister okay? It’ll work out, if she's okay. She wasn’t the one with the fragment, the fragment from the pile from the stage. Flitter’s the one who got you both into this mess, when she quietly swiped that and had it appraised. When she tried cozying up to the popular girls to find out where gem #3 was.

When she got those three little fucks instead, who gave her this building number.

She’s going to make it out just fine, you know it. She’s the smart one, the one with the backup plans and the safe-zone plotted out. But where did she say it was?

The ringing in your ears changes, smooths out. It’s singing, wordless humming thundering singing from all around you. You feel your face vibrate, and pick up speed. A half-dozen doors pass by before their nameplates can introduce them, and you face forward, ignoring them.

One of them’s standing at the end of the hallway!

Her eyes glow red and ravenous against her blue skin, and her voice is high-pitched, enjoying herself. ”The next thing you’ll say is ‘｢Year Without Rain｣!’.”

Wh-what? What the hell does that mean? You realize she’s closer than before, why is she closer now?!

Oh! You haven’t stopped running towards her!

You don’t have time to ponder anything right now, you have to take down at least one of them! “｢Year Without Rain｣!” Then you rush past her, your Stand flying beside you.

It's hard to make out your own words against the singing, even though you heard her fine, but you can see your own ability pop up in the air no problem. It’s a thin thing, a little smaller than you, and it kicks out one of its needly legs. But it doesn’t connect.

You risk a look back as you keep running. She’s holding the leg with one hand, still looking into your soul. You smirk; as long as it touched her, its effect has been activated! Now the further you get away from her, the worse her environment will be. If you can make it out of here and onto a bus or taxi, she’ll be finished!

You recall it and keep running. But there’s a tugging against your mind, and it... No, it stays out. You see over your shoulder, and notice its leg stays out, still in that grip. She twists, and one of your own gives out under you.

Flitter used to trip you, and you’ve learned how to deal with it. You scramble before you’ve even finished falling. The Dazzling twists the leg further, and something cracks; pain surges up your own, and the urge to limp presents itself. Finally, she lets go, but the damage is already done.

If you can just make it back down and outside, or to a fire exit, or, or... She’s walking up behind you. You look for options and find only doors, taking them just as quickly. The first try’s locked, and so’s the next one. Why hasn’t she caught up to you yet? No, on second thought don’t ask that and don’t turn around either.

One says “MAINTENANCE”, and the handle works and you take it. There’s nothing but darkness inside, and you step inside. Through the doorway, you slam it behind you. There’s machinery in here, maybe boilers, you don’t know that sort of thing. The singing’s muted for a moment, and you scan for other exits.

This is a much bigger room than you were expecting. The other end’s so far away you can’t make it out, or is that just the darkness? You feel the handle on the door turning behind you, and you bolt into the dark. There aren’t any good hiding places, so you plaster yourself against the first wall you brush.

The door opens a crack, offering almost no light, no perspective, except that the singing gets louder again. It seems to rattle and resonate from the room around you, somehow. Then there is a little light around you, but not from the door, something red and coming from below you.

Your pocket! The gem is hot and bright there, like a baby star. You shove a hand inside and clench it in your fist to kill the light.

”Too late for that.” This voice is deeper than the last one, unexpectedly conversational. Someone in the room with you, maybe someone right in front of your face!

You yelp, turn to shield yourself with one shoulder, and start running again. Only, you can’t. Your feet are stuck to the ground.

You look with panickedly-adjusting eyes, and see two black clamps over your shoes. There are no more words, only a throaty woman’s chuckle in your ear.

“｢Year Without Rain｣!” Your Stand appears and pummels at the restraints with its good limbs. They hold, and it sets in after your rash action that you just gave up the effect on the blue one for that. There’s been no attack yet, and you don’t wait for one.

Fuck shoes!

You push against the wall and lift out of them, socks and all. Then you bolt away from the voice, away from the door. You’re quieter without them, at least! Dimly, you hope that you don’t step on something and get tetanus.

But there’s something in the distance after all, a corner! Past it, defining it, a light. Light, and a hope of escape! You hear the laughter again, hardly laughter at all, more primitive. The music swells around you, and you push through it.

You turn the corner at a stumbling run, and see the source. A light, hanging in the air like a will-’o-wisp, between yellow-orange hands. A long, catlike smirk, underlit by your own hope. Long hair casting shadows that could eat the world.

And the singing, that omnipresent omnificent omnivorous voice you can still feel when the palms close and the light goes out and oh, oh Flitter, why didn’t you warn me about this?

Care

Here you are, standing in front of the popular girls. At some point you would’ve shrunk away from this, even though you didn’t care about them; drawing attention to yourself would’ve been a bad thing, to avoid at all costs. Standing here, you can still feel some echoes of how that might’ve affected you - a slight shiver.

Their eyes are already flitting to you, so you squash it. It doesn’t help that Trixie’s all but hiding behind you. There’s no point talking to the Rainbooms all at once, you just need answers, so you make eye contact with Twilight Sparkle, and say her name.

“Princess Twilight,” you start, and she looks more nervous when you call her that, but you've started so you go on, “Could we talk for a moment? I need to find some answers about what’s going on.”

”What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow says, from your periphery. You don’t react.

”I don’t think Twilight needs to go anywhere she doesn’t feel comfortable going.” Sunset says that, taking a seat next to her shifty friend. The rest are silent, looking either at you or the purple girl.

She shakes her head, like she’s just collected her thoughts. ”No, girls, it’s fine. I’ve been waiting to talk to Care. We’ll probably need his help soon.” That shuts them up, and you too. Even Trixie stiffens behind you.

”If you want to talk one-on-one, why don’t we go over there?” She points to an unoccupied flagpole planted on one end of the sidewalk.

You nod, but an answer comes over your shoulder before you can talk. ”That will be acceptable. But Trixie will be a part of the discussion, too.”

Twilight’s mouth purses. ”I wouldn’t mind talking to you either, Trixie. But if you’re going to join in, I think Sunset should come too. That way it’ll be even.”

You look to Trixie, only to find her looking at you, and you answer. “That sounds fine.”

So agreed, the four of you move over.

Twilight starts. ”Before anything else, I want to clear a couple of things up. First, I don’t have a Stand, so if you use yours to do anything you’ll probably have to tell me. And second, I’m not Princess Twilight.”

...She waits for some response. You look to Trixie, who’s come out beside you. She looks back at you again, hesitant.

Fine, you'll bite. “Uh… Who are you, then?”

”I’m Twilight Sparkle. But I’m not the same Twilight Sparkle as Princess Twilight. She comes from another universe that runs on Equestrian magic. I’ve never met her, but people have been telling me we look the same since everything that happened at the Friendship Games.”

Okay, that’s a lot to parse. You leave your thoughts on magic and other universes to one side for a moment.

“What happened at the Friendship Games?” You weren’t there, or you don’t think you were. Were they a mandatory event, or just something a lot of clubs did? Most school spirit things pass you by without so much as a whisper.

Sunset takes over, touching Twilight’s shoulder. ”Twilight was a Crystal Prep student, and she invented something to detect and absorb the magic that my friends and I use. When she did, it worked a little too well, and the whole thing turned into chaos.”

Trixie pipes up. ”Trixie remembers that.”

You turn to her, and she looks at you like you’re accusing her of something.

“She didn’t realize that there may have been two Twilights. Eheh,” she says nervously.

You turn from your ally to the other end of the proverbial table, and you ask the first thing that comes to mind. “Is that where Stands come from?”

Twilight bites her lip, and Sunset answers again. ”We don’t know. Magic’s… well, magic. I knew a lot about it when I lived in Equestria, but-”

“You’re from the same place?” You cut her off.

Sunset sighs.

And so you get a brief primer in what Equestria is, and how it’s cut off from your world in another stretch of the cosmos far away, and how magic can be done there, and how portals can be opened to it if someone has enough magical power. Trixie nods her head at some of it; Princess Twilight’s alleged earlier visits fit in with her versions of events. The parts about Sunset taking over the school ring true to you, even though she never really bothered with bullying you...

”...and Equestria’s where the Dazzlings come from, too. If they stole back all three gems from us, there’s enough Equestrian magic around that they could conquer the world, or just open a portal back to Equestria and try to take it over again.”

”Which is why we need your help! You can help us get the final gem back from their leader, Adagio, and stop them once and for all!” Twilight looks at you earnestly, and then shifts her glasses a little.

Well, this is… bizarre. “Why didn’t you ask me for help sooner, instead of having your friends spy on me?”

Her face falls. ”That’s, uh… We were worried you might have been under their spell. You don’t seem like you have a lot of… uh, p-people to turn to when things get rough. We thought we’d have to fight you.”

Well, that’s not going to happen. In fact, you feel kind of relieved at how well this is all turning out. You almost thought you’d be having some kind of secret duel right now.

“So everything that’s been happening to my friends has been the Dazzlings’ fault?”

Sunset crosses her arms and nods the affirmative. ”Pretty much. But if we can stop them from getting all of their power together, they shouldn’t be much more of a problem.”

The thought of not worrying about using your power constantly is so good you don’t believe it.

“What do you need me to do, then?” You ask.

Twilight pulls out a buzzing item from her pocket. It’s not a phone - circular, locketlike, and parts of it glowing a faint LED orange. She turns it over in her hands, and talks.

”This is the kind of news I was waiting for. One’s been assembled. If Adagio did it, we’ll let you know where to meet us to help get it back. If not, maybe this will all be over a lot sooner.”

If only. If only, if only.

The first buzzer-bell of the day rings, and you all head inside.

Derpy

it's later, after-school later. You’ve just gotten home when your phone rings, and you answer it while you sort out your things.

”Hello?”

”Derpy?” Care.

You nod, even though he can’t see it. ‘That’s right.“

“Hey.” He doesn’t sound very good.

”Something wrong?”

”No, I don’t think so. I just… want to talk with you.”

“Okay,” you feel your face blush a little, and turn to listening.

Silence reigns for a few seconds while you carry your books to your bedroom. He really doesn’t sound like himself. When you ate lunch with him and Trixie, he seemed a lot happier than usual. Did something happen between lunch and the final bell?

”It’s just, all of this stuff with the Dazzlings and the Shadowbolts and Trixie is all so overwhelming. I don’t know how to hold all of it in my head at once, or think of how to stop it. Everything’s just… so complicated.”

You try to think of something to say. “We’ll think of a way through it.”

”...Yeah.” Silence. ”Can I see you tonight?”

See you?

“Well, I don’t think my parents will mind that much. Where do you want to go?”

”I don’t know yet, I just… I just want to spend some time with you while I have the chance.”

You smile, weakly. “You can spend as much time with me as you like, honey.”

”Alright. Why don’t I come over in an hour and we’ll just... go out on a drive, or something?” He doesn’t sound completely there, and he doesn't react to the pet name. Is he just nervous about something?

“I think I can work that out with Silver and my parents," you say, hesitantly, wondering if he's waiting for some heavier probe into his problems.

”Alright. I’ll see you then.” He sounds a lot more confident all of a sudden. You smile to yourself; was he really still wondering whether he could ask you on a date?

Then, some noise on the other end of the line. A door opening?

”Uh, see you, bye!” He hangs up.

Care

You're on the road and nearing your house, and Trixie’s riding shotgun. She’s still in danger, at least for a little while longer, so you’re letting her crash with you.

She didn’t talk much today, not even when introduced to Diamond Tiara. You’d have thought they’d hit it off immediately, but mostly she kept to herself.

The moment you get off of the grounds of CHS, she speaks. ”Care?”

“Yeah?”

”What happened to your parents?” the words come hesitantly. Oh, that. It’s been a while since anyone asked you, but then again, you don’t know many people.

“They’re Raëlians.” Before she can ask, you preempt her. “It’s a religion. Nothing bad, but they didn’t want to stay in Canterlot forever when there were big convents on the other side of the world. Since then they send money, but they’re too busy trying to make clones of themselves and praying to aliens to really talk to me.” Now you think of it, with all of the nonsense you heard this morning, Raël doesn’t sound so far-fetched after all.

”Mine left me on the side of the road, one day,” Trixie says, after a pause.

Uh. Fuck. What do you say to that?

“Ouch.”

”I don’t know why they did it. They were always happy, or they acted like they were. But by the time I found a way back home, a day and a night later, they were gone. I started to think, and ask myself whether they’d ever been happy. Or if I’d been. Since then, I’ve wondered if it was the Mafia, or the circus, or aliens or something, but I don’t know.” She sighs.

The road rolls underneath you.

”The same day I collected all the loose money I could find and got on a bus headed west, I vowed that Trixie Lulamoon would always display herself to the world as she truly was. And that she would seek to learn all of the devices of trickery and deceit that a person could use to conceal their intentions in this world.” She takes a deep breath while your turn-signal clicks back into place.

The sidewalk ends for a block, and starts up again.

Finally she says it. ”They were lying, today. Not about everything. But Trixie could see that they were hiding something."

Your hands grip the wheel tighter, and your chest sinks. “Do you have any idea what they were lying about?”

She shakes her head in the corner of your eye and looks almost ashamed.

You give her what feels like a smile. “Well, maybe they’re just not as sure as they seemed that this’ll all be over in a couple nights.”

She shakes her head again, now gazing through the windshield. ”No.”

You try to ignore the deepening feeling of dread in your stomach. Trixie was already wrong about one thing, wasn’t she?

“You think they were lying about more than that?” you ask.

”No. Out of everything they said, I know that they were being honest about that. In fact, I’d say they’re one hundred per-cent sure of it.”

Both of you spend the rest of the ride dwelling. Of course, they could have been lying about magic and Equestria… But then again, why would they? They didn’t even use it to explain how you had Stands.

You ponder your conversation, as best you can remember it, until you pull into the driveway. And almost immediately you see your doormat’s upturned and out of order, with the key underneath missing.

You rush to the door. It’s locked, and you jam the key in. As soon as it turns, you throw it open, keys still dangling from the knob. The lights are off, but the afternoon light's enough to make everything out. There's an intruder, standing next to the ancient wall-phone in your kitchen - he sees you immediately, and you get an eyeful of him yourself.

Cream skin, tacky haircut, white dress shirt, pocket protector and bowtie. A pin with your symbol on it. An intent look in his brown eyes. A full copy of you, a clone, a doppelganger.

”Uh... See you. Bye!” He slams the phone onto the receiver, and no sooner has he done that than he faces you and shouts. ”｢Counting Crows｣!”

A pair of black birds appear on his shoulders, and the rush of confused adrenaline you've been feeling abruptly cuts off. In fact, you start to feel woozy, drunken. You wonder dimly if you're in shock as you stagger backwards from your own image. No, it must be them, a Stand, something.

One of the birds alights and swoops toward you, and thankfully ｢Timbuk Three｣ appears between it and you. As it points a finger, the bird curves its path and passes in a circle around it.

You suddenly feel physically weak. Same rules as Snips and Snails, don't give them time to work with. You fire a laser straight at him, and the bird doesn't do anything to stop you. It impacts, in fact, directly into his chest, and you see it disappear and feel the energy being spent.

But he’s not even singed. In fact, you feel worse - your mind clouds with this sudden vibrating energy, skull pounding! It's like you've stumbled into the final act of a horror movie without any of the prologue, this kind of event shouldn't be possible when you're just stepping into your door after a day at your school!

Your image treads up to you, hand outstretched, and you’re entranced by some animal certainty. It’s you, you know it’s you, it’s definitely you, and if it touches you then both of you will fall apart. You’ll equal out, stabilize, combine to zero!

With animal fear, you jump away from him and into a wall. Your Stand fires a volley of lasers, which all hit him cleanly but do no damage at all.

He finally speaks, and it's like hearing your voice on a recording. ”You can’t kill yourself, Care. You could if I was just here on my own. In fact, we’d both be dead right now. But ｢BBD｣’s suppressing that until I finish my mission. No hard feelings.”

He holds his arm closer to you, and you put a screen of hard light between it and your face. The bird still perched on his shoulder alights and swoops through it.

A feeling of supreme wrongness seizes up and down your body as it does, and the light breaks. His fingers, your fingers, come closer.

Then, suddenly, they’re on the other side of the room. Trixie steps in between you and your other self, arms spread like she’s taking a blast for you. Her Stand hangs over her, a curtain of glittering blue star-smoke.

”Stay away from Care Root, you dastardly duplicate! Trixie demands an explanation!”

He scowls, and one of birds comes out of your periphery, glancing against your forehead. The feeling becomes overpowering, and you pass out.

Trixie

The birds swoop away, deeper into the house. Care’s impostor is standing on the other side of the room. Even his stance seems familiar, although his Stand's clearly different: you can sense that this man is either the highest caliber of actor, or -somehow - really Care Root.

Because you don’t open the conversation, he does. ”Hey, Trixie. It’s nice to meet you again.”

You scoff. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has never met a crook like yourself before!” The absurdity of the statement deflects off of your anger.

”Well, not here you haven’t. I worked for you in my universe. You offered me a position fighting the Rainbooms, and my ｢Counting Crows｣ helped you out of a few bad situations.”

“Is this what you think passes for a stalling tactic?” you ask, running through the information. Was he in league with the Rainbooms? It didn't make sense to be told about other universes twice in one day unless they were related, whether it was a con or not...

”No. I’m just telling you that I like you. Not many people ever reached out to me. I don’t want to hurt you, and they’re not making me.” There’s no violence in his face or his movements.

Could it really be, another universe? You decide to test the perimeters of whatever gambit's going on here.

“You’re from Equestria?”

He snorts. ”I’m from here. Just a different here, another CHS. It’s not going to be much different by the time I’m done, but you’ll be fine in the end this time. You’re a scrapper, Trixie. I’ve always liked that about you.” He starts walking for the door.

You shake Care by his shoulders, but there's no flicker of consciousness. For a moment you have to check his pulse, and the voice of his copy comes from near the door.

”He’ll only be out for a few hours, until ｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣ wears off and I get to go back home. That’ll happen sooner if you don’t make me fight you.”

You aren’t going to let this happen! You turn to him, standing up straight, and before he can make it halfway your Stand sets him back to the far wall. He looks at you, his eyes spontaneously tired, like dropping an act. One of the birds careens out of the rest of the house, heading for you. It’s holding something, a can of air freshener.

You create more space between it and yourself, and duck, but it flies over your head anyway, heading for the kitchen. The other bird’s already there, clawing at the dial for one of the stovetop burners.

”｢Abracadabra｣’s a powerful ability, but you can only use it to do so much at one time,” he says.

The can hits the flame, teeters, and stops stably above it. The birds fly back towards you, and then he starts to walk toward the door again. You don’t understand what he’s trying to do, which part of his actions is vital, but you won’t let him leave. You reset him back to the other side of the room as the birds fly past you.

Again, they don’t harm you. It looks like they were a bluff after all! You’re ready to demand another explanation when the air freshener explodes, and a burst of noxious heat smashes into you as churning black smoke envelopes half of the kitchen.

You stumble and have to look; it’s lit through with threads of campfire orange, and you realize you need to get to a-

A-

...

He points to the fire extinguisher hooked onto the wall next to the refrigerator, too helpful but you don't have time to judge his long-term motives - he's probably just diverting you so he can leave. You judge the distance. It’s too near to the fire to grab safely, close to being enveloped already.

”I guess I have a different Stand in this universe, so you wouldn’t already know how ｢Counting Crows｣ works.” The birds settle on his shoulders again, not that you’re really watching.

“｢Abracadabra｣!” You create space between the extinguisher and the fire, and rush over to unhook it. It takes a long, frustrated tug to rip it away, and then-- then…

You could swear on anything you knew how to use this before. Your hands clutch it as you stare, like you're hoping it’ll give you some clue.

”I wonder why I’d have a different Stand here. Especially such a complicated, powerful one. I guess I never really thought I could take center stage like that. You won’t figure out how to use that, by the way. Or the sink.”

That’s right, you don’t know how the sink works either, and you know you knew that! So this is his Stand attack! You cut your losses, discard the extinguisher and move to hit him again, but he’s at the door, already ripping the keys out of the lock!

One of the birds takes off as you summon up ｢Abracadabra｣ again. You flinch as it passes through the cloud of your Stand, and… suddenly, you can’t think of how you were going to defeat him. It makes a circle around your head as you try, uselessly, to snatch it from the air. Then it passes away from you, and lands on his shoulder again.

He makes no attempt to hurt Care on his way out. ”Making enough space to push me into the fire would’ve been a good idea. Unfortunately, it’s over for you now. Better find a way outside.” As the fire rages at your back, he shuts the door behind him.

You can see through the blind-windows at the side of the door that he’s heading for Care’s car. Incensed, you head after him. Except you can’t open the door. The doorknob... you don’t know how to use it!

You pull it towards yourself, fruitlessly. You punch it, you turn the lock, nothing works! His Stand has somehow stopped you from knowing these things!

There’s still a fire behind you, roaring into the rest of the kitchen like a living thing. None of the fire alarms are going off. He must have disabled them already, and there's no time for wondering how early in the moment. What do you still know?

You need water, lots of water! That or foam, anything liquid and dampening. But the extinguisher and the sink are useless in your state. You grip your head with your hands as you hear the car start outside, and dread fills your spirit as your roads begin to close. Below you, Care still hasn’t stirred.

He could die here. He could die as easily as if you hadn’t been around at all!

No! That will not be something people say of you! Wherever she goes, for better or worse, the Great and Powerful Trixie makes a difference! So that one day, her adoring public will shower her with-

That’s it!

You don’t make any move to shift Care from his slumped position. Instead you run deeper into the house, around a corner, straight for the bathroom. Once you’re in, you completely disregard the sink, trying to adjust to your ignorance. You pull the shower curtain away, checking that the door’s still open. To your relief, you realize you know how to use it, still.

Fingers questing and gripping desperately, you rip the showerhead off, tossing it metallically against the bumpy porcelain. Then you turn the cold water on, half expecting that he'd have cut that too, and sighing in full-body relief as it pumps out in a powerful cold froth. Everything's in position, and now the only impossible thing is the movement.

You take a deep, theatrical breath, and flex your spiritual muscles. “｢ABRACADABRA｣!” Then with your whole upper body, you wrench the nozzle towards you. Not one drop touches you.

You make space between the stream and the ground, and the walls, and its ordinary trajectory. Concentrating only on forcing it together, like herding cats, you force it down the hallway and around the corner. Then no more curving, just straight, in a mighty splash, into the newborn fire.

You hold it without looking for a moment, but finally step out of the way as the water starts to make a mess all over the floor. Knowing that you're too drained to try this again, you pass your reflection in the mirror and lean outside to see which fate lurks outside the door.

The kitchen’s a wreck. Everything gleaming and sopping, or black and sooty, strong-smelling and sure to rot. But yes, it's not hiding in any corner, the fire’s gone. With a note of satisfaction, you sink to the ground and withdraw your Stand. After a moment consoling your oncoming headache, you start breathing again.

Care.

You know he’s gone by now, no point being dramatic. Where, though? You count down from ten, and get up just after one. Then you step, a little too slowly, for the only clue he'd left behind him.

You almost dread the thought that he’s made it impossible for you to use home phones, too, but you can navigate it as well as any other. And thankfully it’s one of the later models, with call history built in!

With a few impatient beeps, you pull it up. The receiver clicks to itself for a moment, heating up like an old computer, and then it spits out a screenful of random symbols. Junk data. In the smoke and aftermath, you sink with the phone in hand to the ground, processing.

The smoke’s starting to get to you, so you get up and stagger to a window. Your fingers still work those properly, and the air invites the smoke outside in lazy clouds. Something as precise as moving the water wasn’t usually in your repertoire.

You remember that the shower’s still running, and head to turn it off. In fact, you’re getting your feet back under your control, chastising your wobble, when you hear a soft knock on the door. You can almost convince yourself that you didn’t hear it, but you're too aware right now.

Is he coming back? No, if he were then why wouldn’t he just open it up again?

You step over Care to the window beside the door, make eye contact, and immediately dive out of the way. It’s the girl who grabbed your hand and fucked up your leg. Indigo. And another one next to her, blue-skinned with blue-violet hair, one of the motorcyclists. Both of them are wearing oxygen masks, and something gold and glittering sits in one of their hands.

You dart away, but it’s too late for them not to notice you. They start to pull at the handle, and you feel a sudden relief as you stand back that you managed to accidentally lock it earlier. But they’re not going to give up that easily; with a burst of ｢Abracadabra｣, you shunt them away from the porch.

The effort hurts, but you know you’ll have to use your Stand a few more times. As they collect themselves, you kneel down and try to lift Care. Your body’s not tired really, it only feels exhausted, but the best you can manage is to drag him. And, unfortunately, it doesn’t wake him up. With him to protect, your options are to run away or hide, and the area around here doesn’t have enough cover.

If you broke a window, they could catch up with you at a brisk jog in half a minute. And you don’t want to know what they’ll do to you this time. So, that’s that. You have to conceal yourself.

You search around the kitchen as a muffled pair of syllables comes from behind the door. ｢Abracadabra｣ throws more smoke in front of the door, and then you prepare yourself. Concentrating so hard is painful, but it’s easier than it was before, and it has the extra, easy power of a final effort. This, right now, is the last trick you pull off tonight.

Behind you, the door shimmers, and suddenly there’s a second, matching handle on the right side. Indigo throws herself in a bodyslam against the door, and it topples like the tree that birthed it. As soon as she fans away all of the smoke, she looks around intently for you.

But she doesn’t find you. In fact, as far as she can tell, you’ve vanished completely.

Derpy

The car bumps along the road, and Care’s been silent since he said a passing hello to your sisters. He doesn’t make a lot of eye contact with you, and his shoulders are hunched. You're left with a puzzle. How can you figure out what’s on his mind?

Was it because someone came into his house? You don’t want to think that Trixie might be threatening him, somehow. No, there’s no way someone could threaten him... you’re not sure where you’re going, but it’s not in the direction of the restaurant district.

No, you’re heading through a bunch of nothing. The silence feels way too awkward, like there’s a third person in the car with you, and maybe that's why you feel like he must be in some kind of trouble. Maybe you're just jumpy.

”Are we going outside Canterlot?”

He grunts. ”Yeah. It’ll only be a few more minutes.”

You try to think of what's a few minutes outside of Canterlot.

Nothing, as it turns out. Just orchard country, various used-up acres of farmland. It’s like a buffer between the city and its various mountain ridges. He drives on for a little while, and finally stops by the time you see a couple of dirt roads.

He just pulls over onto the shoulder of the flat dusky road, next to a field. Then, he gets out, and heads for it without opening your door for you. Maybe he just forgot. He really does have a lot on his mind right now, you’re sure, and after all, he’s trying to be romantic. You’re being awfully silly about this, aren’t you?

You shake your doubts away and climb out yourself, looking around at the farmland. It’s cold enough outside that harvest time’s come and gone. All that’s around are a straggling uncut stalks, tall grass and distant fences. It could be pretty romantic, you suppose. You bundle yourself up a little tighter in your trenchcoat, though.

He’s stopped down below, and you catch up to him quickly. He’s not wearing anything warm at all, just the regular uniform he always sticks to, without the one jacket he seems to have set out for boring days. He never seems to mind the weather.

When he doesn't do anything, you decide to make the approach. ”What’s eating you?” The only answer you get is a sigh, still not facing you. You reach an arm around his back and rub his upper arms through his sleeves.

He twitches like you spooked him, and then relaxes just as quickly. ”Derpy… We need to talk.”

“What about?”

Then he steps to the side and turns to you. His eye contact is shaky, not like normal, switching eyes.

”Us," he says, with a special gravity.

You blink. “Okay. What about us?”

”Just. Where we’re going. What I’m doing here, after all of this. I’ve… lost a lot of our future already.”

You relax a little. Neither of you are very vocal about that, but maybe you should be. “It’s okay. You’ve given up so much for me and my family, and I’m going to pay it all with you. That’s… only right.” Your voice drops off when you see him shake his head.

”No, I shouldn’t even say ‘our future’. It’s my future. And I’ve burned it up, for... what?” He spreads his hands. He’s acting so strangely it doesn’t even look like real pain on his face.

Your heart squirms, and you rush forward.

Trixie

You can hear them searching the house. If you listen well, you can hear them talking; apparently they forwent the masks. ...Were they planning on coming inside after the smoke had filled the house?

”No broken windows, no back door. She’s in here somewhere.”

”Well, who’s to say she didn’t just phase through a wall, or something?”

”No. Trixie’s good at getting one over on people, trust me. Her and this guy’s other buddies are the ones who roughed up Sugar, Lemon and Sour.”

”He has a name, you know.”

”Not ‘til I’ve sized him up, he doesn’t.”

They start rifling through other rooms, looking around. Then they move to cabinets, above the sink, below the drawers, and they don’t find you. Care’s still out, and you don’t know if getting him awake is a good idea in your situation; if you can hear them, they can hear you.

”What if she really did get away, hmm? We have to be nearby to use the arrow!” This voice’s unfamiliar, lilting and pacing and a little shaky. ”We should just activate it. It’ll help us locate him.”

Indigo hisses back at her: ”No way, Sun! If we use it before she’s out of the picture, he’ll set his lasers to ‘kill’ automatically.”

”What, like things will work out that smoothly? How do we know he’s even in here?”

”He’ll be in here. She can’t have moved him too far away.”

You pray silently for them to leave. It’s taking the last of your current stamina to maintain the space around you right now. It’s like a phone battery, draining at random intervals, lingering dramatically on the crumbs. They begin to shuffle through the house again.

If you could just make a break outside, then... well, you don’t know. Especially not if you still have to worry about Care, and if his car’s not out there. Uncertainty grips you, and you hunker down. You have to wait for some signal, some opportunity, or for them to finally turn paranoid enough to leave.

Derpy

The hug is hard enough that he stiffens, but you don’t break it. Wind blows gently behind you, sending loose strands of hair to stick to his buttons.

Your voice is quiet, simple, and honest. “You did the right things.”

His hands find your shoulders and press into them. When you don’t move, he presses harder, and you give by necessity.

”No.” He pushes you off of him, and you have to take a step back to not fall over. ”No, I didn’t. I’ve done it all for nothing.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” Did you do something wrong?

”I mean I’ve burned up my own reasons to live getting into battles and trouble and pulling myself into some giant battle over things I shouldn’t even be fucking worried about, and it’s all for, for…” He gets more agitated as he goes on, voice getting louder. ”Two brats, a girl who’s too loud in her English classes, and a, some, some wannabe vigilante with wall eyes who thinks she knows what’s best for everyone! I thought I could do it, I could try, but I can’t live that way!”

...Wall eyes? The second time you saw him outside of school, ever, he said, you thought it was... He said they were beautiful.

You come closer so he’ll look into them again, at least just one. “I-is this a S-Stand attack, Care? Did something af-f-ect you?” The Dazzlings? Yes, he must have brought you out here because he’s trying to escape their range. A-any second he’s going to whisper something that makes all of this-

He turns to you, now plainly annoyed. ”No. I’m not crazy, or under attack, or anything else. I’ve just realized that some things aren’t worth fighting for.”

Something cold stabs into your heart, and claws at your shoulder. ”Pl-please.” It’s your voice, but it feels like someone else is speaking through it. ”Please, Care, don’t do this. I-I’ll, I c-can-” You feel your eyes tearing up.

If there’s something wrong, you can make things different. You can do something, maybe make Silver and Golden be nicer to him. It’s the meaning of the lemon tree, running away together into your own future! Who else would, would do everything he’d done for you?

His voice slices into your building reverie. ”It’s over, Derpy. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life barely living because some lonely bargain-bin high schooler didn’t know when enough was enough.”

You don’t want to break down in front of him. ”B-, but, you said we had a future t-together, both of us, p-please! I…” You can’t keep a whine out of your words. “I don’t know what I did wrong...” The words dwindle, the last syllable becoming wet and pathetic.

No, take control, steady. Something’s wrong, and you can make it right. Just, just, believe. Believe. You draw closer to him, trembling despite yourself. He’s looking out on he horizon, angry.

”Pl... please, honey, just, please look at me.”

He wheels on you, voice raised. ”Haven't I done enough for you?!”

His hands shove you away from him and you fall backwards, onto the dead grass, staring up at him. His voice echoes overhead, across the barren field, and flies away into the evening sky.

The first drop marks its ugly snail-path down your cheek and onto your neck. Like rain on a bus window… Standing in a vacuum of silence, your heart falls in on itself.

Your body takes a deep, gasping breath, and breaks down completely.

Care

Something in the universe just gave out.

Your eyes shoot open; you’re somewhere dark and wood-smelling, but it doesn’t matter. On a level you’re used to, you can see your lights, and you can tell without any questions that they’ve reverted.

That is, they’re the same as they were before you met Derpy.

You cry out under the half-dozen lights. There’s rustling and movement outside, outside of whatever this is. You don’t care. Something’s happened to your girlfriend.

You remember in flashes what happened just before you were knocked out. The dots connect in your mind automatically:
him. Your blood boils, and you realize that someone’s with you.

The whispering finally penetrates into your head. ”-can’t stop them if they find out where we are, so if you have any big ideas-” Trixie. Alright, not a threat. This whole area’s cramped, now that you’re noticing things.

You don’t have time to suss all of this out. Derpy’s… She’s in trouble, she must be in trouble, she fucking has to be. It’s his Stand interfering with her or something, you don’t have time for this. You reach out and push at one wall. Trixie sees what you’re doing and tenses, but doesn’t stop you.

It takes a shove, but you force it open. The light shines in as you kick your container free, and Trixie’s Stand snaps.

You’re both jettisoned out from the sudden non-space, crashing onto your kitchen floor. Behind you, the empty drawer falls out, thunking dully.

Your kitchen’s black and dusty and bad-smelling, and there are people down the hall. Your front door’s not even on the hinges. You expect Trixie to be getting up by now, but when you glance back to her you can see she’s unconscious.

So this is how everything collapses in on itself.

The two girls come rushing up, one of them’s holding a golden arrow. She points it at you, and suddenly it rips into you with incredible force. Like it’s piercing your skin, without coming within ten feet. You feel it rip into ｢Timbuk Three｣, and one of the points of light vanishes completely - your acceptance into Everton.

Another goes out just after it, your graduation. The power comes surging out of you uncontrollably, without your say. It runs out of your arms and explodes into complicated icosahedrons and detailed holograms. All just light, raw useless light, forcing the girls to cover their eyes but doing them no harm. Somehow, with that arrow, they’re burning away your power.

The blue-haired one rushes you while you’re processing that, hand outstretched. ”｢Nails for Breakfast｣!”

No. You burn up another light, not paying attention to what it represents, if you fail here it doesn’t matter anyway. And, with straining control that rips your voice from your throat in a yell, ｢Timbuk Three｣ envelopes her hand in blue light.

The wound’s cauterized before she can scream, and she stumbles past you. Something about that makes you lurch internally, but you ignore it. The arrow.

You focus again as the room fills up with pointless designs and wastes of your ability. She’s stunned at what you just did to her friend, and then realizes that there’s more where that came from!

She backs up when the light appears on her arm, stumbling and trying to keep the arrow steady. You fire a laser through her calf, and she topples. Then you wrench the arrow from her with a globe of light, holding it away from you. It’s golden, deeply engraved with designs like little starbursts, but no real symbols.

It thrums with energy, a cousin to the bird that interfered with your Stand. This, though, this is empowering. You feel like you could just reel it in and this, all of this horrible mess, would be over…

Derpy.

You let go of it, and no sooner have you done that than it disintegrates into the air. It’s a blip on your current map of reality; you’ve got… three of these lights left.

The blue-haired girl jumps at you, hand outstretched. You turn and grab her by the collar in mid-lunge, pulling her face up to yours. The ferocious face she’d been making freezes, and becomes a mask of fear.

“Where is she?” you shout into her face.

She just stares at you. This is a waste of time, seconds could be critical here, it could already be too- No. You let go of her and pull out your cell phone.

Your thumb’s too slow, but you manage to call her after eight grueling seconds. The number rings, while your two attackers try to recover themselves.

And keeps ringing...

Derpy

Your phone rings, and you’re in no state to answer it. But you realize after a moment that it might be Golden checking in, or your dad, and you don’t want them calling the police. It could even be someone in trouble. You could still help, even without-

You’ve got to. You’ve got to answer the call.

Care hasn’t said anything. You don’t look up at him, just fish for it. ｢Spinal Tap｣ appears in a clump of grass, clutching a small uninflated balloon. You don’t waste time looking at it, and it deposits it nicely on the ground. After a moment, a crow swoops down and carries it away, and you feel like that moment sums up this day for you.

The phone’s still ringing. You pull it out, and another crow flies past you. The pain on your shoulder goes away as you shoo it, halfheartedly.

He could be walking away now, for all you know. He’ll at least drive you back, right? Or should you call your sister? You don’t know what you’re supposed to do.

And there’s no caller ID for this number. In fact, it’s just displaying gibberish. Maybe a telemarketer. You stare at it until it stops ringing, going apprehensively silent again.

Pointless. You lower it from your eyes, and it falls from your hand into the soil.

Footsteps. Care comes closer. Is he going to take you home?

”Well, I’m glad that’s done.” He sounds completely at ease, now. Did losing you unburden him that much?

It’s getting harder to ask questions right now, it’s all become so overwhelming. You feel like you’re about to cave in.

”｢Counting Crows｣,” he says, and a crow lands on one of your shoulders. When you feel it, in the brief play-shock your body puts you through, you notice the other. It’s already on your other shoulder.

He continues. ”The last time I did this, you were with the Rainbooms. I removed your power to navigate, and then Snails finished you off when you ran right into him. But he’s not here now, so I’m going to take something simpler from you.”

You look up at him. This isn’t right, it doesn’t make sense and it’s not how he talks. You realize the crows don’t make an awful lot of sense either.

”I’m just going to make you forget how to breathe. That’s as painless as I can make it.” He looks down at you in somber earnest. You try to stand up, and can’t.

Before you can panic, your phone shakes on the ground. A burst of radiant blue light engulfs it, and then, it dims. All that remains as it trails off is a spider-thread of light protruding from the back.

Wh-what’s…?

Care

The phone in your hand didn’t get a response. You were worried about that, but it still rang, and that’s all you need. You give up a lot of your third-to-last light doing it, but it works: you put the phone signal on the visible spectrum. Where it finally lands, in Derpy’s phone, you concentrate your energy.

Time to get a look...

｢Timbuk Three｣ dutifully notes all of the light within thirty feet of the phone. Around you, it moves and bounces the photons to match. A perfect real-time hologram extends into your house, and through it.

Derpy’s looking down at her phone, surprised. You want to break through the light and appear down there, but you can see the birds on her shoulders. And the lack of identifying landmarks; you'd half-feared that she'd be in an alleyway somewhere, or the trunk of a car, or the phone would be separated from her.

The other you is standing over her, and the birds being affected by your Stand gets to you. The light’s going out in your mind, but you hang on. He’s talking to her, but you can’t read lips. She isn’t looking at her phone any longer, just looking at him, and you realize that this isn’t enough. You have to get a message to her!

”｢Royals｣!” One of the girls comes at you with a knife, lunging through the light-scenery. You throw up two spheres of light in front of her eyes, and she stumbles. Then you materialize little hard-light cuffs on both of their ankles, and you fling them with extreme prejudice back out of your front door.

They go flying, and suddenly they’re not your problem, but the light goes out completely. With it, your hologram glitches, tears, and starts to fade.

Two left.

You grit your teeth and break out another one, holding it steady.

Derpy

You feel dizzy, and your mouth’s dry.

Your head’s spinning as your phone continues steadily pulsing with light, but it doesn’t do anything else. Are you just seeing this? Is it simply that dark outside?

”I wonder what could’ve happened in this reality to put me and you together.”

As he speaks, you only barely pick up on his words, like fragments of dreams. Even the light begins to fade away at the edges of your awareness. You can feel yourself becoming hollow.

”Trixie taught me a little acting, you know. After she did all of the other training. She insisted it was going to help me out in battle, and I didn’t believe her,” he laughs softly, and sighs. ”Your side won, of course. I only made it out alive because I picked my battles. ‘Victorious warriors win first and then go to war’. ...Not like that helped us.”

You aren’t looking at him any longer. You feel faint, close to falling over.

”It’s nice to tell someone this stuff. I don’t think you’re really listening, but I wanted a chance to talk to you about what I did. It gives me a little, I don’t know, closure. Thank you.”

You’re floating. Your lungs start to tighten, and your eyes flutter. The pain of the claws digging into your shoulders mingles and mixes with your own body.

You let go and fall back onto the ground, and see something in the sky that shouldn’t be there. Words, laid across the evening. Large and glowing, right overhead, like the stars themselves rearranged to give you some final farewell.

DERPY HE ISN’T ME
I CAN’T FIND YOU
USE SPINAL TAP
TAKE MY PHONE

And to the side like a footnote, a heart in a mathematical radical.

It's like smelling salts. You come to your senses, enough to realize you’re under attack. Of course it was a Stand! With a thought, you send ｢Spinal Tap｣ to grab Care’s phone. You almost smile, until you realize that it won’t help; it can go find him immediately, but it won’t be able to bring it to you until sunrise.

｢Spinal Tap｣’s gift for tonight already came, and got taken away by… one of these crows.

With distant anger, you shoo them off of you and sit up a little. You need to fish in your pockets. Care - no, Not Care, looks down at you with wide eyes. You weren't supposed to get up, and you figure out too late that there was cover you could've milked.

Then he looks up, studying the words, and blanches. Yes, he was telling you about all of this, wasn’t he? You don’t know if he’s a clone, or a disguise, or something completely different, but he tried to tear up your heart. You pull out a trusty old popsicle stick.

And then, you--

You...

You don’t remember how to activate your Stand.

Well, at least get up and away from him! You try, and your legs wobble and give out from under you.

”So that’s it.” Not Care picks up your phone. One of the crows lands on it, and the lights spasm and blink out. ”I was prepared for that, too. So long as he didn’t know exactly where we were, it wouldn’t matter if he used up his powers or not, so long as he only has the handful he started out with. He has to be close to you to set his destiny in stone again.”

How could someone know that? Even you didn’t know that! Maybe he’s just faking you out.

His Stand begins to circle around you again. ”But that’s no reason to be overconfident. You can’t stand up, break things to summon your Stand, walk or read now, but maybe there’s some hidden ability you learned, or a secret weapon...” He gets a look of cruel enjoyment you could’ve lived your whole life without seeing on that face. ”I could wait for you to forget how to breathe, but I do have a car. I’ll end this before anything tricky can happen, just to be safe. Blame him if it hurts.”

As he walks back up the slope, you try to bat away the birds, but your arms stop responding correctly. They just circle closer, taking things from you, things you notice now that he's spoken. You fall back down again, looking up at the wordless sky as he climbs in.

It revs to life, and he gradually thumps it down the way you both came. Your fingers brush over one of the gifts as tears come to your eyes.

This is the end, staring up at a big, pinkish sky.

I-I’m sorry, Care. I love you.

Wait. Wait.

...Pink?

Yes, pink and turning orange very quickly, and it’s not just your imagination. Something bright is coming up over the Canterlot horizon. Out of that sheet of sudden flashing, glinting light, there comes a shooting star. No, it's more than that, you can feel it tied into you.

It curves furiously towards the earth, and hope explodes in you. ｢Spinal Tap｣ is flying for you, holding the phone. And attached to it, a prismatic coffin of pure light, Care himself.

You can see as the giant light behind them rises that it’s not the right size. And you realize.

It’s completely crazy, a holograph or something with the same effects. He couldn’t have known it would work, but it did. He used his power to create a…

A sunrise!

And as he rockets for you, you really do start crying. The light fades into night, and the protective barrier around him shreds itself. He holds onto the phone with one hand, wind-buffeted for the final drop. When ｢Spinal Tap｣ stops, he rolls and comes up dusty and breathing heavily.

You’re so choked up you laugh like he's just done a trick for you, and he rushes over to you. Once he's closer you try to sit up, pressing against the earth uselessly.

“C-Care, Care, I thought for sure--”

He holds you by the shoulders, pulling you up the rest of the way, and kisses you. You don't have time to close your eyes, and behind him you see ｢Timbuk Three｣ materialize, for an instant glowing white-hot.

He pulls away and looks into your eyes for a moment. ”I’m here. We’re here, now.”

That’s all he has time to say, before the car revs up.

Care

You spin around, and yes, it turns out he did take your car. Your double sits behind the wheel, more tenacious than scared. It’s big, but not meant for offroading, so you're not sure how likely a threat it is.

The birds are on you immediately, latching onto both shoulders. They make your head swim, but you make no attempt to remove them. No more wasting time.

You take a half-step closer to him, just to bridge the distance and make sure your aim's perfect. Then you point a finger at him, and fire a laser through the windshield. It’s intense enough to smash the glass, and hits his forehead.

He shows no sign of damage, and instead the swimming feeling intensifies. You have to take a knee between the car and Derpy. Beside you, ｢Timbuk Three｣’s new energy flickers.

He backs up and prepares to run you down, and you ignore the noise, turning to Derpy and putting your hand on hers. “Grh. He may have some tricky powers, but nothing can stop the bond we built up together. The things we’ve done for each other, and given. Now...”

She smiles up at you, past the birds and the noise and the exhaustion.

You focus on that smile, and squeeze. “Use them.”

She stares at you for a moment. And then comprehension dawns on her face all at once.

Your doppelganger slams on the gas, only to be slammed himself through the door-window. The car wrenches and stops, violently.

As the other you rolls, he finally gets a look at the full form of ｢Spinal Tap｣. It comes sliding out of the car, the car she brought to CHS for you. The gift you didn’t even consider possible, after that crash. You’ll burn that up for her! To make your future a reality, torch it until there's nothing left!

It bears down on him, and the birds leave you to swoop over Derpy, but it’s too late. ｢Spinal Tap｣ is already on him. Its first punch leads into five more, each taking out a chunk of him - inside, there’s just vector patterns and glittering light.

You overcome your own morbid curiosity and look away. Derpy doesn’t do the sound effect, sadly, but your head begins to clear in the silence. She manages to sit up as he gets pummeled down, falling apart. The birds twirl dizzily, and one explodes into dust and feathers as it falls from the air.

Then she stands, and you stand with her. Both of you lean on each other until you’re almost dancing, and when the other bird goes you feel so much more solid.

Then, just like that, ｢Spinal Tap｣ disappears. You walk over to where he landed. Apart from the disturbed dirt under the night sky, all that’s left is your button. Or, his. Even that glitters and fades after a moment, leaving only the wind.

You exhale.

It’s a little nippy out, now that your blood’s stopped boiling. You're back in a state of mind to notice temperature, to feel the air on your skin, to use half of your senses. ...You've made it. On the last dregs of your final lights, risking a future of half-living for a chance at happiness. And it might not pay off in the end, nothing could be said for certain, but-

Derpy tackles you to the dirt from behind and hugs you. You roll over, destroying whatever was salvageable about your shirt. And you look up into those beautiful eyes of hers, crowned with wild hair and stars.

You’re tired, but you try to match the size of her grin. For one cavernous moment, you simply stare into each other.

And then, of course, the phone rings.

Yours, over in the dirt where you stopped thinking about it. While you internally debate whether to take the trouble to answer it, so does hers. She looks at it, and back at you, and both of you laugh.

When you get to them, you’re surprised to find that both are from the same number.

The first six words out of her mouth hold your attention.

Twilight

When both of them answer, you speak into the phone. ”The Dazzlings have made their move.”

In front of you is Cloudchaser: stock-still, dead-eyed, unresponsive, although she would probably act in self-defense. Is that Adagio’s game…?

She came and gave you the message, and you give it to them in turn. Place, time. They don’t have much to say, and they can’t exactly thank you. Especially not Care.

If there’s any hope or justice in this world, this is the endgame. If not… you put off thinking about it.

Indigo Zap

It's hard to be stuck in a dead tree, but you manage.

Sunny’s next to you, and she’s going to need some help climbing down. Probably never tackled an oak in her life. It takes a minute of her touching you to put your missing hand back, and the burning only dies down a little when she does.

You’re really not looking forward to telling Flash about this.

“Hey, at least now I know that the whole phantom limb thing’s real.” Heh.

Sun’s not having it. Whatever. ｢Royals｣ is more powerful than the rest of the ‘Bolts give it credit for, but it can’t affect the user.

So you save her the trouble. ”｢Nails For Breakfast｣.” You swap hands with her and lay them on down. The feeling of another Stand through your fingertips crackles like static electricity.

After another minute, she’s healed up. And, knock on wood, the city hasn’t burned down. You might just be able to call this one a success, even if it went totally to shit!

Suddenly, your phone rings, and you nearly fall to the ground and break something new trying to answer it.

“Y’ello?” you say, then after a minute, “Okaaay... Yeah, sounds great.” Then you hang up and shift more on the branch, nearly snapping it.

Sun holds it, and you hold on as it droops. Okay, the last thing you need after that call is two broken legs. Any damage you take should wait for tomorrow!

Suddenly the branch gets longer, still drooping. On the other end, a whole other tree appears, at an angle. Thanks, Sun.

You could absolutely monkey-bar this shit, but you don’t. You’re extra careful, and you wait around for her to prim-prissily remove herself, and then you wait even more for Lemon Zest to get you without doing anything even kinda exciting. Your bike’s still in his driveway, but you can’t risk heading back for it on such low intel.

Damn, does it hurt to even think something like that.

You take a deep breath. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, it’ll all be decided.

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Year Without Rain｣
User: Cloudchaser
Ability: When a target is touched by the user, the environment becomes more and more inhospitable to the target the further the two are from each other. Puddles become bottomless sinkholes, earthquakes strike single city blocks, strange forests get in the way of the rest of civilization, and at a certain distance the environment becomes completely unsurvivable.

Stand: ｢Counting Crows｣
User: Care Root
Ability: Takes the form of two moderately-sized black birds, usually perched on the user's shoulders. Both can move independently of the user at any range, and steal information from the things they pass, which they transfer to the user by touch.

Stand: ｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣
User: ???
Ability: ???

Stand: ｢Royals｣
User: Sunny Flare
Ability: Makes anything the user touches symmetrical along one axis of their choosing. Anything the user touches for more than one minute remains symmetrical unless the user consciously dismisses the effect, or can be made symmetrical only in part.

The City Is At War

’Sunset, Sham Factory, front entrance. Just the two of you. Bring your gem or you won’t get in’.

Silver Spoon

Last night Derpy and Care came back home and told you a long and strange story. This morning, to make up for it, they rescued you from going to school on time.

You’re eating in a breakfast buffet, surrounded by the elderly and a wet mess of badly-scrambled eggs. A muted TV on the corner wall’s broadcasting a local report about the sun being sighted over Canterlot City at night, but you can’t read lips to figure out what the talking heads make of it.

Care’s talking, poking at a piece of french toast. ”We’ll need Trixie to drive. She’s an expert at getaways by now, and her Stand could help if we need to escape quickly.”

Trixie, who’s almost slumped over the table, nods with closed eyes into her overcreamed coffee.

He addresses you next. ”Silver, it’d be a big help if you could fix my windshield again.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Seriously, why hasn’t this guy been pulled over yet?

”And what about me?” Your other older sister asks across Derpy. Golden’s still banged-up, but she’s not wearing a cast any more. She joked with you that she’d been stealing nutrients from the other patients.

”We… I, need you to keep the rest of your family safe and away from this factory.”

”Except for my little sister, who’s going to walk straight inside,” she deadpans.

He grimaces. ”I can’t help that. If we don’t play along, things might get even uglier.”

”And why, for the love of everything in heaven and Earth, should we play along with them? Can’t you just blast them to pieces and take what they have?”

He makes eye contact, and speaks clearly to match her rising voice. ”I don’t know. As far as I can tell, everything we’ve fought up to now has been because of these three girls, and they seem ready for me. I don’t know what they’re capable of, what they do or don’t have, or even who’s on their side. I’m just trusting Twilight and Sunset to have a plan, and trying to work out what to do if everything goes wrong.”

Ha, if.

Golden leans back, arms crossed. ”Then fine. But you’d better keep her safe.”

He doesn’t even answer, to avoid cliche, but Derpy does. ”After last night, you don’t need to say that any more.”

She huffs, and grumbles inaudibly about missing English. You’re next to her and you can barely hear it. While they wake up, you take the opportunity to do some surreptitious texting under the table.

Care’s nice, powerful too, but he’s not very street-smart. Diamond should be between classes just now, in a perfect place to answer you. You tell her you’re going to need a ride tonight, and then you stash it back in your backpack.

And notice Golden’s eyes on you. You turn to her, and an eyebrow raises between the two of you. You nod, minutely.

She doesn’t react, except to look bored and rejoin the general conversation.

Anonymous

You're making the rounds.

The building is slightly winding, built almost like a labyrinth. It’s not the factory itself, more a set of conference rooms, service areas, offices, a cafeteria. The whole place is a mess, and it’s why you’re scouring your way through all of it.

You glance askance at Aria. ”You sure those are gonna hold?”

She pulls tighter with ｢Electra Heart｣, reinforcing the shadow-briars. ”Nothing’s broken them before.”

“Even after last night?” You remember how she looked when she saw the sky light up with words, and a second sunrise.

Plates of muscle tense in her bared arms. ”He won’t be here. I’ll deal with him if I have to.”

You’ve been blocking out a path, piece by piece, from the entrance to the center. One or two dead-ends won't be an issue, but for the main flow you want to force it forward to the middle. Adagio’s preparing there, and Nata’s getting the hang of the rest of the area. She has a habit of running loose in any wide-open space, with her hair flying behind her like a flag.

It’s been weeks since you last broke into a building with her.

You send three of ｢Nowhere Man｣’s specters out to patrol the outer edge of the building and alert you to anything living. The last you send to keep track of your gemless sapphire. If this ends with her and Aria getting their gems back, you’ll have done your job. Maybe she’ll still visit you, or find a way to communicate from home. Or, more hopefully than you’re willing to jinx by saying out loud, she’ll take you with.

Aria grips another thick patch of darkness and dapples it with thorns.

Sugarcoat

Indigo’s parents don’t really care who she has over, so she lets you use her living room. Everyone else is here, which is a terrible idea.

Even Lemon notices. ”Shouldn’t we have someone guarding the, uh, storage… crate?” She really needs to work on using filler-words.

Your leader answers. ”She’s not going to go anywhere. She’s there of her own free will.”

Yeah, just like the rest of you, this zoo of dispossessed student-competitors. You’ve been promised to have all of your missed days and failed assignments erased from your record - you’ll even have a nice future laid out for you at a school of your choosing. Not that you do it for that, of course, you’re not shallow, but all these actions aren’t done out of driven-snow selflessness either. You’re not sure you’re allowed to stop fighting.

”Poor girl.” Sunny chimes in, mostly to herself. Don’t people understand the purpose of speaking out loud?

You latch on to what they’re not saying. “So this is it, then? Our big climax?”

Flash nods, hesitantly. ”If we play our cards right. The Dazzlings are making their play tonight, and we’ve all got to be ready.” He types at his phone for a moment, and all five of you receive a time and place. ’Sunset, Sham Factory.’

”Isn’t that abandoned?” Lemon.

Flash answers. ”As far as I can tell. But it’s not defunct yet. We’re working on a floor plan, but we haven't figured an entrance.”

”Pff. We’ll just go in through the front!” Indigo calls from the kitchen, where she’s scarfing down something unhealthy. Everyone looks at each other with varying degrees of exasperation.

Sweetie Belle

”This won’t be touched by ｢Timbuk Three｣.” ｢Steam Powered Giraffe｣ smashes into the focal point between the three of you.

The others are getting tired by now, but it’s still more powerful than any one of you alone. You spent most of the early morning at the school doing this, and it’s not any more fun now that you’ve changed locales, or barred some people from noticing your hiding spots for the day.

Apple Bloom consults the list. ”This won’t be touched by ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣.”

With part of your soul and part of theirs, your Stand shunts away another possibility.

Scootaloo takes her turn. ”This won’t be touched by ｢Year Without Rain｣.” Smash.

You’re narrowing it down, on orders, to only the Stands you can absolutely trust. Even people who have no reason to show up today are being blacklisted from this arrow for the next twenty-four hours; this is the emergency measure. If the arrow disappears early, you know you’re in the clear, and you need to get out.

If it doesn’t... you have your orders.

You crack your knuckles and call out the next name.

Derpy

The sun's setting on your day. You skipped school with Care, and it didn’t make you feel much better.

Well, of course, being around him makes you feel something you can’t quite describe - you have a cord in your chest that pulls you towards him. But… you didn’t have much to say. Both of you are holding your breaths.

After this, after tonight, it’ll probably be different. You worry he’ll be haunted by all of the fighting. The way he tells you he burned off a girl’s arm, when the two of you are alone and not as love-drunk, the worry about this ｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣.

Whatever happened last time, the Rainbooms won out. If you place yourselves on their side, it should all go the same way. Right?

｢Spinal Tap｣ flies alongside his newly-fixed car and hands you the gem through his backseat window. You’re sharing the back while Trixie drives, and Care looks at it. Voila. You hand it over to him, and he shoves it awkwardly into his pocket. No use leaving it out in the open.

Then, with surprising force, he pulls you into an embrace. His head resting against your neck tickles a little, but you hold still. He’s starting to sweat, even in the cold.

You wrap an arm around him and rub up and down his spine. “We’ll make it through.”

He doesn’t let go for a couple of minutes. When he does, his face doesn’t look much better, but his eyes are clear. You smile at him, hoping to draw out a smile of his own.

But Trixie’s voice comes from the front. ”We’re just about there.”

Anonymous

Aria fumes. ”They only have one of the gems. They didn’t reclaim the other one.” You’re about to ask whose it is when she answers, ”Sonata’s, obviously. Mine’s just now arriving. And he has it.”

Well, at least there’s room for a happy ending after all. Ari looks ready to rip something open with her teeth. Normally you might poke at her, but at this moment, you take a couple steps away on weak mammalian instinct.

“Who?” You ask, and then realize it’s a stupid question.

If you were in any doubt, her nails gripping into your shoulders certainly remedy it. ”The lightbringer!” Even though she didn’t raise it, her voice echoes down the dim corridors in three directions, screeching with distance.

Well, fuck. “M-maybe Adagio knows what she’s doing.”

”Of course she does! She just didn’t think it was important to tell me!” She lets go of you to throw her hands up in the air.

Then, without a beat, she begins working more furiously with ｢Electra Heart｣. Your conversation ends as quickly as it started, and you stand well out of her way for a while.

Care Root

Trixie parks a little ways away, and you get out. She had to drive through a gate and into an oversized parking lot, toward the very back. You and Derpy can see the front by the person standing there.

She’s familiar, but you’ve never spoken to her. Light blue hair, slightly dirty, and extremely light lavender skin. Only the dead eyes are new.

She’s brainwashed, but you can’t hear it in her slightly nasally voice. ”Show me your gem.”

You put a hand in your pocket, and debate whether to take it out or not. After all, they might be able to take it, or teleport it, or who knows what. But... well, if you can’t put this foot forward, you aren’t going to go anywhere! You have to take this risk to get any further in!

Come on!

You produce it and let her see, and then swiftly pocket it again. She doesn’t move for a moment, and then she reaches out for you and Derpy. You take a half-step back, and then hold still. ｢Timbuk Three｣ creeps at the edge of your being, ready to pop out.

”｢Glamorous｣.”

Suddenly, you can see a glowing light in Derpy’s stomach, yellow, and a blue one in your own. Through the towering brick, you can see the faint sparks of two others, red and purple. Twilight and Sunset, probably.

They’re here. You feel some comfort knowing that you haven’t walked into a trap - knock on wood.

”Head straight down until you meet them.” The door-guard steps out of the way, swinging a thick metal door inward for the two of you.

You both walk down a long hallway. There’s weak light, concrete walls and flooring, doors here and there shrouded in darkness. It's like you’re stepping down the Industrial Revolution’s esophagus, and almost everything around here is dead silent except for the light-flicker. Long before you’ve thought of anything to say or do, you’ve reached the open door at the very end of this snaking tunnel; through it shines full-on electric light, bright enough to burn your eyes from around the bend.

You can still see the lights with your eyes closed, and you head through the doorway. Inside, there’s a conference room. Really, it’s more like a lounge or a break room, with a water-cooler shoved in one corner, but the center is dominated by a giant rectangular table.

On the far head, right in front of the only other exit, she looks at you. Orange hair, the same outfit as before, down to the newly-reattached pendant. Those eyes that pierced you, a head resting on the hand that touched you. You thought once that it might be your only human contact before you died... And, in another world, you were most probably correct.

Adagio Dazzle smirks at you. ”Well, look who’s here.” She waves to the chairs set around the table. ”Have a seat. We were just making introductions.”

On the left side of the table, you see Sunset and Twilight, and someone behind them. Sunset’s frowning, but steady, while Twilight looks uneasy. The third person looks like the door-guard with more elaborate hair, and she stands silently behind them like the third point of a triangle.

You sit parallel to them on the right, with Derpy sitting to your left. You’re shielding her, you suppose.

Adagio waits, and only speaks once you're situated. ”Now, I can understand why Sunset Shimmer and her friend might want to take my sisters’ gemstones, but I don’t know why you would do it. What’s your final goal, Care Root?”

Derpy’s hand squeezes your knee from under the table. You take a deep breath and scan the room for funny business. Nothing.

”I want to spend as much of my future as possible with Dernier Piege.”

She looks mock-sympathetic. ”Well, what’s stopping you?”

You growl. ”The people you’ve been sending after me.”

Now she tries on mild shock, as if she wants to hold up a big sign with the word 'Moi?' on it, and says, ”I haven’t lifted a finger to hurt you, Care Root. I wouldn’t even have been able to if I wanted. The only time I’ve tried to talk to you, you ran away from me.”

Derpy squeezes harder.

”Yeah, because probably you were going to use him to do something awful to somebody!” Sunset snaps from across the table.

Adagio barely affords her a look. ”I’ll get to you in a moment. But first things first, I want to make it clear that I haven’t made any attempt to hurt you. All I’m interested in is taking back my property and going back to where I came from. That shouldn’t sound too awful, surely?”

Derpy picks up the thread beside you. ”Why did you want to talk to him?”

Adagio splays her hands. ”I thought he could help. I can sense Equestrian magic, and he’s got it in droves.”

”You mean his Stand?”

”That’s right. If I’d known he was going to blind me, I would’ve gone about it more subtly.”

Derpy frowns, and you pick up from her. ”What’s different from when you had all three gems before?”

She stifles a laugh. ”All of this delicious conflict, of course! We haven’t had an opportunity to gain power like this since our last war. Not to mention Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight and the rest of you are all dripping with Equestrian magic. It’s only fair we should use a little of it, since it was probably helped along by our gems to begin with.”

”She’s not a Princess.” Sunset gets everyone’s attention.

”Hm?” Adagio asks.

”She’s this world’s Twilight Sparkle, not any other’s. Whoever you’re getting your information from, they don’t know anything about the last couple months at Canterlot High.”

Adagio looks smug as ever, but leans forward a little. ”Enlighten me.”

”The only portal to Equestria is gone. It was destroyed during the Friendship Games,” Twilight speaks, ”I-I turned into a monster, and almost destroyed the barrier between the two universes. Now, nobody can go from one to the other.”

She... definitely didn’t mention that earlier.

Adagio shifts, considering. ”And I suppose that’s your explanation for where all of these nifty little abilities came from?”

Twilight thinks on the words for a moment, and then nods.

A tight grin over tangerine skin. ”That sounds very logical. Maybe you could explain something else to me, then.” The smile disappears instantly. ”What’s the arrow for?”

Trixie

You’ve stopped crouching into your seat, which you’ve had to readjust several times now. It’s clear that Flitter’s not going to attack you. She was on your shortlist, but she never seemed interested in being a team player.

Just as well.

She doesn’t keep your attention for long, because a few minutes after Care and Derpy head in, two more cars have the time to arrive. The first parks away from you, in the same aisle, and you don’t recognize it. It occupies your attention, but you can’t see inside from where you’re sitting.

And, just now, a car which stops just in front of the door. Blue, a little big to be fashionable - you don’t know much about cars. Flitter doesn’t move, but out pile six people. Even from here you can see that they're trouble.

You sink back into your seat and start mapping out the way you came in your mind. You should’ve known, but... you peek over the dashboard to get a better look at them.

There are two you fought with personally. No sign of Snips or Snails, but the sixth person there is... huh? Flash Sentry?!

They stand in front of Flitter, talking animatedly with each other. Finally the yellow one with pink hair raises her hand, and steps closer. A fast black fist arcs from over her shoulder, and fells Flittter with a single hook.

They all, collectively, look down at the slumped body, and then they file inside.

Care

”Arrow?” Sunset asks.

Adagio looks at her like she’s telling a transparent lie. ”The source of magical energy I can feel from here? The one which is only second in intensity to Care here? Are you really going to pretend you don’t know about the epicenter of your school’s magic surge?” Her eyebrow could hit the ceiling.

Neither Sunset or Twilight answer in words. They just look confused.

Then Adagio’s breath hitches, and she sits up straighter. The lights, which you were just getting used to, flicker.

She growls at the edge of hearing. ”It looks like we have an intruder.” You turn around at that, but the door’s still closed, and she answers your silent fear. ”Don’t worry, we have things taken care of. I wouldn’t try to leave if I were you.”

You look back to her. “Why not?”

”Because my sister Aria has used her Stand to barricade us inside here.” When she sees the look on your face, she puts her hands up and looks at you with wide violet eyes. ”What? If anyone has a right to be upset here, it should be me. I’m outnumbered four to one!”

Something touches your hand. Derpy. You calm down a little, and sit again. Things are starting to go wrong, but what’s important hasn’t changed.

“Is that what you’re doing?” you ask.

She stares at you, as challenging as quizzical. Sunset sends you positive vibes in your periphery, but Adagio's eyes command your vision if you look too long.

After a second's composition, you go on, “You want to keep us contained in a small area so you can-”

”-turn the four of you against each other? No.” She leans back and kicks her feet up, clicking familiar spiked spurs onto the table. ”To be honest with you, I could wait for a few more decades until the rest of you die of something, if I wanted to get my sisters their gems back the easy way. I’m only putting in this effort because I’m curious, and there’s an opportunity to go back to Equestria in the cards.” She turns to Sunset and raises her voice, as if she’s further away. ”That is why you want to collect the three of them, isn’t it? Or is it just for power?”

Twilight continues to look insecure, and Sunset answer for both of them. ”It’s to keep you from having them. Just from seeing you trying to turn us against each other in this room, I don’t want to imagine how much damage you could do if you unlocked your full power.”

When Adagio smiles, she does it with her whole face, but when she frowns it’s concentrated and snarling. There’s certainly something unworldly about her that draws in your attention - if you hadn’t met someone like Derpy, her gravity might even have felt like love.

Her composure returns. ”Really? And why are you so worried about whether Care here is on your side, if you’re so certain you’ve got things in hand?”

”Because turning people against each other is what you’re best at, and you nearly destroyed our school trying to take over the world. Everyone you meet is just a means to an end! And yes!” She gestures at you. ”Care could take all of the gems here and use them to create a new sun, if he wanted to! But it would destroy his future!”

...

Adagio’s face is a mask. ”Is that a fact.”

”Yes! You heard him say it himself, he just wants to have his happy ending! The fewer times he has to use his power, the better!”

...

You look at Derpy, and worry dominates her. The room is silent.

”What? Am I wrong?” She asks, looking directly at you and appealing for some ounce of support.

”...I never told you how ｢Timbuk Three｣ works.”

Indigo Zap

It’s mondo dark in here, but with Sour at the front you’re not worried. So long as you don’t hear any singing, things should be okay.

Lemon tries to investigate one of the doors along this huge hall, and then yanks her hand back, bleeding. You lean in to investigate, and you can make out sharp spikes, outlined in a spatter of blood. It’s like a rosebush or something, and the light glints off of it all along the hallway.

You’re about to mention this when you notice the rest of the group’s stopped. There are two people coming down the hallway for you. The taller of the two’s wearing dark clothes, and you can only make out an outline, but the gunshot’s loud and clear.

Sour’s in the front, and ｢Message Man｣ saves the bullet being fired at the same time you hear the gunshot. The further figure hangs back, not reacting, but the purple Dazzling steps forward.

Sour rushes for her automatically. ｢Message Man｣ appears for a moment, firing the bullet straight for her in a five-second finisher, and it hits! Right in the stomach, she staggers! But then, like some kind of zombie, she straightens up and comes closer.

Sugar and Sun make the eminently wise move to keep their asses out of the line of fire. Purple comes close to Sour with almost no expression, raising a hand toward her face. Then ｢Message Man｣ swats at her twice, using up those two saved punches. They kick up dust with their sheer speed, and they land right in her face!

Direct hits! Suck it!

The Dazzling gets knocked back by the recoil, stumbling. But then she's not the one moving. Sour’s lifted off of the ground, floating for a moment. Purple spins, and you see the thick black cord in her fist - it’s coming out of Sour’s mouth.

You run for her, but something grabs your leg. The tripping comes naturally, and you fall correctly, but it still doesn’t move. By the sound of struggle, something's gripped Sugar and Sun behind you. Above, the enemy swings your teammate around her like a ragdoll. For your part, you spin the rest of your body around until you’re close to crabwalking.

On your ankle, there’s a ghost.

No, seriously, a literal ghost. And two more behind you, choking your friends. Sun and Sugar are grabbing at their throats through the clear wispy biceps. ｢Lemon Demon｣ smashes through Sugar’s, and... it actually dissipates, for a change.

Before you can get back to business, Sour comes crashing past you and into all three of them. Flash ducks her, but not the bullet that catches him in the leg. He winces, and you switch legs with him before the pain sets in. The ghost loses its grip during the changeover, and you kick it, which actually works!

Meanwhile, Lemon’s caught Sour, and slowed down her knockback. She has to drop her as soon as she stops moving, though. ｢Lemon Demon｣ makes short work of the next ghost, but fuck she’s right on top of you.

The purple bitch reaches into the wall and pulls something out of the darkness. It’s a knife. Then she looks at you with stone-cold measuring eyes and rears it back, giving you your opening.

You’re not in a position to charge her and throw an elbow into her stomach, but you switch hands with Lemon and make a fist. Blood sprays into her eyes, and she staggers back.

You wish this weren’t such a clusterfuck.

Sunny rushes over to Flash, keeping low, and you switch back his leg. He winces and grabs at it, but ｢Royals｣ is already activated. Everyone’s bouncing back!

You pump a fist at them. “Yeah, Shadowbolts! Let’s give ‘em what for!”

”Worry about fighting!” Sugarcoat yells as she turns on the flashlight on her camera. Above you, another sword crumbles into the air.

You look up at the space where it used to be for a moment, and feel kinda impressed. This is a girl who gets back on her feet fast, huh? Well, you’re not going to be shown up by an out-of-towner!

“｢Nails for Breakfast｣!” You hop to your feet in one swift motion, reaching for her hand. Another gunshot sounds out, this one going wild, and Lemon runs past you at the long-distance fighter.

Then the woman in front of you moves. She doesn’t jump out of the way, or dodge, or turn. She bends. She does the fucking limbo without even bending her legs, and your arm goes wild through the air.

You keep your momentum and hop straight forward with both feet. Just touch this chick’s hand and you’ve got her over a barrel!

Sugarcoat’s got her light at your back, and your enemy looks up at you, bored, from where her hair’s spread out on the concrete. And then, like lightning, she puts her hands underneath her head.

She’s not. Bullshit.

Her muscles stretch as she presses down, and she executes a handstand, grabbing your body between her calves. You lift up and then stay in the air, as easily as if you were made out of tupperware.

And then, to make it even better, she spins, like it’s no harder than throwing Sour. You ignore the rapidly dizzy blur and focus, grabing onto her ankles and try to crack them in opposite directions. The grip's the easy part, but it’s like trying to snap a statue with your bare hands.

After a few seconds you know you just have to hold on, even when she lets go, swinging around one leg to decide your landing. Her other foot jabs you in the ribs like a truck backing up, but before she can land another hit, a black fist smashes into her leg.

｢Message Man｣! It knocks her back, and she backflips. The world tumbles away, and then she’s standing on you.

Sour goes for another hit, and then trips. There’s a black rope stretched around her ankle.

Sugarcoat sees it immediately, and shines her light, but it doesn’t go away. She notices too late that the darkness stretches backwards, back to the shadow on the dark side of her phone.

The enemy snaps her hand backwards as the curve completes itself in her palm. The phone flies out of Sugar’s hand, arcs and lands perfectly. It crumbles in her fist and drops to the ground a second later, completely useless, as she steps off of you towards Sun and Flash.

Trixie

Nothing’s happened that you can see. You assume that if it’s a Stand conflict, you’ll be able to see it.

Although, it might be that they’re all there to team up against Care! But if they’re there for some reason and you burst in, you might jeopardize it all. Care can handle himself, can’t he? He could handle anything you can, you’re almost certain. But what if this is some sneak ploy? What if he doesn't even know about it?

Two knocks on the passenger window, and you shriek. The only reason you don’t fall out of your seat is that it’s physically impossible. ｢Abracadabra｣ immediately phases the interloper twenty feet from your car, and only then do you recognize the face.

Golden crosses her arms and looks irritated with you. You relax your vicegrip on the steering wheel and stare dumbly back at her, in a way not at all becoming a mistress of the mystical arts. She motions at you, hurry up!, so you get out of the car.

”We’re going in there after them.”

“Why are you here?”

”I had to keep Silver safe.” She hooks a thumb at the car you didn’t recognize; circling around it is a black, armored-looking bird, and in the backseat, arms folded, are Silver and her friend Diamond. ”Now come on. If things aren’t working out how we want them to, they’re working out the way someone else does, and that’s no good for us! Make us a path!”

Having said that, she turns and heads for the entrance at a brisk run.

“W-wait!” You’re not used to having your melodrama matched, but you run after her.

Derpy

Sunset shifts in her chair. ”Yes, you did! You must have, or maybe one of your friends mentioned it. How else would I know about it?”

Care thinks, hard. Did you ever mention it? ...No, you couldn’t have, no one would ever ask you something like that straight out. He only started to reveal it to you himself when it was life and death.

He shakes his head. ”No. I don’t believe that.”

Sunset scoffs. ”Well, I didn’t get it by reading your mind, or-”

”Magic?” Adagio asks, and her voice sounds like you're all talking over coffee. She definitely looks like she holds all of the cards here, and it sets you on edge even more. If she was just as confused as everyone else was, maybe things would feel a lot safer here in the dark, metal middle of nowhere.

Sunset grits her teeth. ”You see how she’s trying to make us work against each other?”

”Yes, I’m just incorrigible, aren’t I? Not as if it matters. Do you really think you could stop me from taking your gems if I really wanted to?” Adagio relaxes some more. Her eyes haven't left Sunset's for the last minute.

Care stirs. ”I need answers, Sunset.”

”Now’s really not the best time, Care. I’m sure I can explain it all when we’re out of here.”

”After she’s taken your gem, I’m sure,” Adagio says, a smug cat-smile spreading across her face.

Sunset stands up. ”That’s enough!” She turns to Care, her eyes pleading for sanity. ”Whatever happens, we have to make sure that this power doesn’t fall into your hands. Apart from that, we can destroy them, hide them, anything. So long as they don’t get to use them to take over the world!”

Twilight sinks into her chair, quiet. This isn’t her or your fight, really.

But then Sunset does something that wipes the smirk off of Adagio’s face. She takes a red stone out of her pocket and tosses it across the table. ”Here. You can give it back when you’re convinced I’m telling you the truth.”

Care grabs it, weighing it in his mind.

“I think she means it,” you say, and hope you're being helpful. If anything goes wrong - you check - none of ｢Spinal Tap｣’s gifts have been broken yet, and you still remember how to use them. You’re still okay.

Care nods, and stands up himself. ”I’m only in this for my friends, and my future. If you weren’t lying about being able to wait, then you can hold on until all of us are gone.”

Adagio sneers, and finally takes her legs off the table. ”And do you think you’re going to take my gem that easily?”

｢Timbuk Three｣ appears behind him. ”Yes.”

She leans in, looking close to angry, eyes slitted. ”You’d have to beat me into the ground to do that. You don’t have the nerve.”

It charges up, and he points at her. ”Don’t I?”

Sunset watches tensely from across the table. You know you could stop him from doing this if you really wanted to, but…well, you don’t. This person, who sent Fido after you with new powers, who’s hunted Trixie and you for the sake of collecting some silly magical rocks, who’s threatened your entire future, she deserves to go down.

She puts her arms behind her head, submerging them in her hair. ”No, you don’t. I’ve seen violent people. Soldiers, criminals, tacticians. You don’t have that talent.”

And he fires a laser into her shoulder.

It hits, and she stumbles back, wide-eyed, falling out of her chair. A small barrage of light-fists pummels into her before it can hit the ground. The scuffs and bruises stand out against her clear skin for a moment, and then she’s unconscious. Easy as pie, except for the other two of them still running around the building.

Another moment passes as he tries to pull her gem off with his Stand... but it doesn’t budge. Then he exhales, and ｢Timbuk Three｣ falls back into him as he makes his way around the table. You follow him a few feet behind, and even Twilight’s standing up to get a better look.

He reaches down for the gem, and suddenly all of the bruises disappear. They turn into little piles of... orange hair?

Adagio’s eyes open, and she gives another Cheshire smirk as her hand grabs Care’s, and twists. He cries out, and she gets to her feet, still holding him by it.

”You did have the nerve. I’m impressed," she smiles, and her eyes are victorious. "Too bad I’m indestructible.” Then, with two fast jabbing motions, she twists him and snatches the gem from his hand.

A look of complete triumph flashes across her face - and then the gem flies out of her hand like it’s been greased and shot from a gun. It clatters back onto the table as you snap something in your pocket.

“｢Spinal Tap｣!”

And then you blow her into the wall.

Indigo

The purple girl motions with one hand, and the thorns part around the nearest door. Then, with a single, smooth motion, she completes her stride by kicking Sunny through it. The girl flies through like a wet sack of potatoes at the Olympics, and the thorns snap back into place.

Flash bolts down the hall. Down past him you can see Lemon fending off more ghosts. You rush for the shadow girl before she can do anything else, grabbing her around the waist.

Suplex, baby! Suplex! You lift - only for her heel to stab into your stomach. She turns in time to see Sour coming, and pulls the thorns in again, blocking the whole hallway.

Satisfied, she turns towards Lemon, still busy fighting off too many things at once. ”｢Electra-”

A light breaks through the thorns. You almost expect it to be another phone, but no, it comes from ｢Message Man｣! Sour saved the light from the phone when it passed over her! And even better, instead of going for a straight one-two combo, her Stand grabs the Dazzling by the throat and lifts her clean off the ground.

You whistle. “Damn, we good.” As much as you want to watch what happens next, you're needed further down, so you pull out your own phone, hit the flashlight and throw it to Sugar. She catches it pretty solidly, although she has to bend her whole body to do it like a rookie, and then you run to Lemon.

She needs to go in with Flash, that was the plan. He’s already mostly there, by the sound of his footsteps.

When you get a few feet closer, you can make out the gun knocked onto the ground. An endless regenerating stream of ghosts pops up behind the man in the suit as he tries to grapple her. You don’t recognize him, but he’s green all over, and doesn't look like the type for a business meeting.

Her constant attacks are the only thing keeping him still. And fuck, you realize you swapped hands back with her at some point during all of this excitement.

“What’s up, Lemon?”

”These things are Stands! You can only touch them with one of your own!”

Finally! “Then it’s a good thing my Stand’s wherever I want it to be! ｢Nails for Breakfast｣!” Another hand-switch, this time your left - your hook’s a little rusty, but it’ll have to do! As your borrowed knuckles sweep through the ghosts, Lemon breaks and heads away.

You take over her post, and the green guy shouts, ”｢NOWHERE MAN｣!”

Nothing to it! While he’s preparing whatever he’s going to do next, you lunge for his hand, and you actually get it! Fuck yeah!

He shoves you awkwardly off of him, and you move with the momentum to put a few feet between the two of you. No point engaging him when he starts calling up more ghosts, especially not when you've got an ace ready to go. You rip the syringe out of your pocket and uncap it with a single, thick plopping noise. This is going to fuck him up six ways to S-

Something cold and slimy crawls through the skin of your back and into your ribcage.

A hand squeezes your heart, and for a second you know what it must feel like to be unhealthy and forty years older.

You try to spin around to get a better fix, but it doesn’t let you. As the green man walks down the hallway toward his ally, another lifts up his gun from the ground. You fidget with the syringe, turning it towards your arm.

Sugarcoat stares at you, helplessly, close to bug-eyed. You feel like you just can’t get enough air in, no matter how you breathe. You thrash as best as you can, more like wiggle.

Come on! You’re too cool to go down like this!

Ghost #2 raises the gun to your forehead. From this close up, it looks like a pirate.

You’re cold, now, too cold. The syringe falls out of your hand.

You c-can switch backs with him, hearts, maybe then you can-

Your Stand is there, but it doesn’t answer. Its only pull, stronger than ever, isn’t towards him at all. Wh-

It pulls the trigger.

Lemon Zest

There was just another gunshot, but you don’t have time to think about it. You rush with Flash, pulling ahead, and then stop at the end of the hallway. There’s a light under the door and a set of jet-black brambles in between it and you.

Flash catches up and sees them too.

“If you try to clear them, my Stand can-” you start, but he shakes his head as he catches his breath.

Then, on the third inhale, he raises both arms and makes matching finger pistols, aligning them into two corners of a square. ”｢Beat Street｣.” You catch a glimpse of a pulsing highway in that square running along underneath of them, and they’re suddenly gone in a current of high-velocity asphalt. Whoever owns this hallway just had them... integrated... into their history.

It’s usually not fatal, and anyway it’s probably someone who buys up old properties so no one else can use them. The point is, this is your chance! You run ahead and throw open the door.

Flash treads behind you, dusting himself off, getting ready. This is going to be a big moment for him, while you're just there to use your power. You keep ｢Lemon Demon｣'s teeny eyes focused on grabbing the gems.

Everyone in the rooms wants all three of them, so it’s not difficult - you can feel yourself getting better at it as soon as you enter the room. One’s just on the table, and you leap on top of it, glimpsing the surprise in most of the room. You even recognize Derpy, the girl whose sister conked you on the head.

She also has that fuck-off powerful Stand floating next to her, and it throws a fist at you.. You jump over it and towards the gem in the corner, attached to the siren monster. She’s standing up from the floor she’s been thrown to, shaky while she’s at it, and you lunge.

As all eyes turn to you ｢Lemon Demon｣ propels you even further, and you rip it off of her neck! Where’s the third one? Derpy’s relented from her attack, but the third one’s not in plain sight anywhere.

｢Lemon Demon｣ lights up around you, and you see its yellow-green aura in his pocket. He’s distracted with grabbing at his own wrist, clenching his teeth.

Everyone else is watching as Flash enters the room. It’s about the best opportunity you could ask for!

You sprint to close the distance and put an end to all of this before any of the 'Bolts get hurt. ｢Spinal Tap｣ smashes against your Stand, and you hold it off, sacrificing your stamina. You’re only a couple of feet away!

And then his arm lights up beneath the surface, like holding a camping flashlight against your fingers to see the bones. It snaps like teeth chipping. His breathing hitches, heaves, and then gets better, and the light dies down.

”That’s better," he says, still looking at his arm like there's no one else around, and then his Stand kicks you in the stomach. You roll with it, sliding backwards and heading for Flash.

Then a sultry voice whispers to you, two inches from your ear. ”｢Gold Guns Girls｣.”

One of the gems explodes.

Diamond Tiara

”Ready?”

“Ready.”

You didn’t tell your father you were going here with Silver tonight. You’re not even worried about regretting that, because your phone’s off, and you’ve got a more in-your-face problem to worry over just now.

”Set…”

Golden didn’t talk much, just made sure you both knew she’d string you up if you went inside. That hasn’t stopped Silver from vaporizing the child-locks on both doors, though. You brace yourself on your side as the bird swings by overhead.

You absolutely loathe birds.

”Go!" You fling your door open and run outside, summoning ｢Pink｣. Your Stand smashes the bird, cracking some of the disgusting black gooey stuff on it, and it’s already after you.

You turn around the front as it dives for you. ｢Pink｣ punches it in the beak, and it’s knocked back but not destroyed. You can feel your own lack of experience in its punches.

If you could pull up your Stand at home or school without worrying about it becoming a federal issue, you might’ve been able to utilize your own strength by now, but you’re not doing too bad!

You slide over the hood and land on your feet. Silver throws her door open, bolting away while you keep the attention on yourself. And then, with a final motion, you grab her door and jump inside, slamming it behind you.

The bird hovers, but stays focused on you She’s safe, but it swoops around to the door you left open.

You rush over towards it, across the seat. There's no doubt in your mind that Golden thinks it’s okay to peck out your eyeballs to save your life, you've had caretakers like that during some of your father's longer vacations.

But it swoops through the door before you can make it over to close it, and then it’s in the car with you. As it flaps in the tight space and rakes it supernaturally-sharpened claws for you, you smile.

“｢Pink｣!” you erase almost the entire journey, up until you first jumped out.

And then, spinning on the spot, you slam the door shut on the bird, still trapped inside.

You feel a sense of pride at doing something no one else could. “Stupid bird. Did you think you could overcome the power of a truly skilled Stand user?” Then you realize it’s not even looking at you, and stop dignifying it with gloating.

Silver’s already waving at you from the door. You recall your Stand, shake off the latent sore-winnerhood, and head after her.

Sour Sweet

SHIT. FUCK! Sugarcoat’s just fainted next to you, dropping the phone. Indigo’s brains have been blown out on the fucking wall and you’re hyperventilating. Your blood’s like an army of ants crawling through your arms. ｢Message Man｣ squeezes, but the bitch won’t fucking die! It’s like she’s made out of concrete, except your Stand can CRUSH concrete!

She throws a limp arm back forty-five degrees and pulls a whip out of the darkness. You save the impact before it hits you, and your Stand rips it away from her with its free hand. The other guy’s coming, getting his gun back from his Stand. He’s strolling toward you like he’s hot shit, lining up a shot.

Fuck that.

The Dazzling produces a sword from the darkness and swings it for you. You save it on reflex, and then spin around. ｢Message Man｣ throws her right at tall, green and ugly.

You wait forever for the moment of impact, but it never comes. She seems frozen in the air, peeved and catching her breath. Looking closer in the shadow, you see his Stand, two of them, supporting her. They duck out of the way as he fires at you.

｢Message Man｣ catches it between its thumb and forefinger. Then it throws it back, as hard as you can manage. It might actually penetrate the skin at that speed, but it doesn’t matter - all that’s important is that the chickenshit thinks it’ll hurt him, so he ducks out of the way.

And then you run. Not away, not to try to wake up Sugarcoat, not to get to the exit and escape. Right towards them. You leap over the other-worlder, who swings for you with something you can’t care about right now. You stop holding back the whip impacting you, and it jumps to the present, smacking into your shoulder in mid-air and forcing you to change trajectory.

You fall correctly and keep running, straight to Indigo. Looking at her, you feel like you’re going to puke - she was such a sweetheart...

You try not to look at her face, and instead scan the floor around her. Yes, there! A simple motion, and then another, and then- Shit, you feel your center of gravity being moved to another person.

She grabs you, just with a hand, and spins you around. Then she raises you up, choking, a good foot off of the ground.
The man levels his gun at you, but there’s suddenly noise down the hallway.

”abracadabra!”

Your two enemies look at each other while you run out of oxygen. She talks. ”Look into it. I’ll finish things up here.”

He nods, and heads down the way you came. She’s sending him away! 'Awesome'. That’s what Indigo would say right now, probably.

And she turns back to you. Her grip is steady, and she makes no special movements. If you tried to kick, an impulse you’re suppressing, it would make no difference; you’re almost completely sure that this girl, this whatever she is, is unkillable.

With the last coughing dredges in your lungs, you summon your Stand. “Mmmm. ｢Message Man｣.” It squeaks coming out, and your Stand doesn’t appear. You dangle in the air helplessly as she grits her teeth and tightens her hand on your throat, fingers seeking your windpipe.

But one of your slots burns out, and your hand slams Indigo’s syringe into her outstretched arm at full force. With your Stand to drive it in, it punctures the skin.

And then, no matter what comes next, everything nasty she had ready is in this fucker’s system.

The Equestrian keeps holding onto you, and your vision swims. You’re laughing silently as she tears it out, and you see that she’s really honest-to-goodness bleeding.

Victorious, you go under.

Care

A third party just entered, or a fourth if you want to be technical about it. One of them tried to grab your gem, and several seconds later another of them exploded on her. She’s missing most of her forearm, and she’s passed out.

When you see everyone else staring at it, you cauterize the wound with a brief flash of heat.

Adagio surveys all of this with mute amusement. ”Flash Sentry, I remember you from the Battle of the Bands. Loved your work. I have to wonder who you’re working for now. Or maybe I shouldn’t wonder at all, since there’s only one duo here that you haven’t attacked yet.”

Twilight looks as shocked as Derpy.

”I’m just here to make sure that this ends tonight," Flash says, crossing his arms. Your old dislike of him seems a little ridiculous now that you're all standing around a table together. "My team and I have been trying to wrap this up for weeks, and now we can finally finish. And I don’t appreciate what you just did to my friend.” The threatening words are slightly undermined by the fact that he’s not looking at her, checking something on his wrist.

It takes you a moment to unpack the word 'team', and then it hits. The girl with the neon hair you just saved from bleeding out. Shadowbolts.

”It’s a shame that you couldn’t anticipate my Stand, then. If I were a CHS student, you’d probably be able to recite it to me backwards.” She strides over to the scrapper and pulls the remaining gem out of her hand. ”｢Gold Guns Girls｣ sculpts matter into what people desire most, without changing its properties too much. It took me a while to hunt down some C4, but it’s done the trick admirably. Although I did hope to get a more serious casualty.” A nod, and the girl standing behind Sunset and Twilight jogs out of the room.

Then she holds up the gem, and it flies out of her fingers and back onto the table.

At the same time, Flash comments without looking up. ”It’s beneath her feet, level to the ground.”

Adagio startles, then regains herself. ”You’ve planned this out pretty well, Shimmer. But if Cloudchaser gets too far away, you won’t be going anywhere very quickly.”

Sunset looks at her, and stands up. ”I don’t need to go anywhere. I know where your gem is, and I’m going to win this here and now!”

Adagio’s about to say something when a car appears over her head. Your car. It pins her, crushing, and shakes the room with the impact, smashing into part of the table and upending the rest.

Like the Wicked Witch, her shoes are sticking out from under it, and Sunset runs over to yank at them. The stiletto part of the left one comes off, and inside is a bright red glow.

She turns to you, her hand thrumming with red energy. ”Care, I need yours now. Hand it over, and we can have our happy endings.”

Derpy’s frozen next to you. Flash hasn’t moved. Twilight’s stood up, but moved away as much as possible from both of them.

You look Sunset in the eye, and you can tell from everything that's just happened that she’s trying to hurry you. She's the one who's been in control of this situation from the start. “I’ll give you this gem if you answer two questions first.”

She’s on the verge of shaking. ”Fine! Just ask them quickly! I don’t know how long we’ll have before one of her sisters shows up!”

“Why do you really want them?”

”To go home! I want my own happy ending!” It’s clipped, but it comes automatically, and she doesn’t say anything else. Whether you believe her or not...

”What’s your other question?”

You look at the car and not at her. “What,” You really hope she doesn’t answer this like your gut’s predicting... “...is your Stand's name?”

You expect her to ask why you'd want to know, or make some kind of last minute diversion, but she doesn't. No one jumps in to help her out, either. From where she's standing follows your eyes to the car, then you, then the ground.

Then she calms down. Stands up straighter. Almost inaudibly, she speaks, ”Fine, we’ll just do it the hard way.”

Then the car disappears, and something faint takes shape in the air around her.

She shouts. ”｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣!”

“｢Timbuk Three｣!” You fire a laser at her spine, ready to disable her, at least temporarily.

But she doesn’t react to the strike. In fact, it apparently did nothing at all.

Right, she’s from Equestria too, isn’t she.

Her head’s crowned with a halo of energy, and a pair of animal ears sprout from it. And then, with a burst of light, your own gem rises from your pocket and floats towards the other two. You grab for it in midair before it can zip away from you.

Agh! It burns your palm like a smooth stone left in an oven for a day. You let go on reflex, and try to catch it again with ｢Timbuk Three｣, but the box of light you create around it just breaks with the feedback.

Next to her, you appear. Another you, that is. Your head reels, and you don’t want to believe it.

You’re not even sure what it means. Where did things go wrong, to bring you here?

Sunset has all three now, glittering around her with red electricity. Your other self comes closer, and you can already feel the existential nausea, the wrongness.

Adagio, uncrushed but still on the ground, lets out a clicking, high-pitched cry. Not You is silent, and there’s a look of understanding between the two of you, like you're the only two people in the room to each other.

Then Derpy smashes him in the face with ｢Spinal Tap｣, and grabs your hand.

Flash doesn’t stop you; he’s too busy staring at some readout. ”This isn’t something I’ve ever seen before. Are you alright?”

”Yes.” Sunset answers from at least six distinct areas of the room.

Twilight holds the door open, urging you out as she cowers against the wall, and you blow past her. You’re debating pulling her along with ｢Timbuk Three｣ when you’re stopped again. There’s no barricade in your way, but three young girls, maybe Freshmen or younger, are standing in your path.

They look up at you, raising something between them. Gold, glinting - no! You fire a laser for it, for them, but it inexplicably arcs away, like it’s magnetically repelled!

It goes wild into a wall, and the three point the arrow at you, and your power begins to burn itself out.

They use it with more finesse than the blue-skinned girl, starting at the present and working their way down. By the time the next week has been called out of you in rippling blue energy, thrown at them and the ceiling and the walls, you can shove them a little further ahead.

Even in this situation, you’re still trying to hold onto it! The whole hallway’s bathed in light, a kind you feel even when you don’t see it. You can’t hit them. Derpy runs ahead to smash the arrow with ｢Spinal Tap｣, and its fists miss completely. They don’t even impact the girls holding it.

And then, between the three of them, a Stand emerges. Made of ringed plates of iron, or lead in this lighting, and two heads taller than Derpy’s. ”｢Steam -”

”- Powered -”

”- Giraffe｣!” It blows her Stand backwards, and she falls onto the floor.

She looks up at you as she pushes herself to her feet. The energy’s still being torn out of your soul, and you try to work with it, like swimming with the current. It burns.

Just stop them! Stop them and it ends! You spray lightning into the ceiling, and some of it collapses on them. Their mega-Stand reduces it to powder before it can impact them.

This wasn’t a trap set by the Dazzlings at all. Or, at least, not one they could keep control of.

Your shots can’t even hit their Stand, and as the arrow nears the important points, you begin to scream.

Anonymous

There’s no sign of anyone yet, or of anything being disturbed. You definitely heard something, though. Some kind of Stand user... an invisible one, maybe? You try to feel out with the ghosts you have on-hand.

But they don’t find anything here. You let them spread out while you head further down, but all that’s down there is the... entrance.

Oh, come on. Now?

At the end of the hallway, halfway between the doors and you, there they are. The discount brat pack. You seethe, but you’re excited at the same time. They’re not escaping this time, even if they can both teleport.

They see you at the same time you see them, and they scurry in opposite directions. Ectoplasmic hands grab their ankles. Diamond Tiara falls face-first, and you step over to her.

If she’s here, she’s trouble. And, in this case, she’s trouble you can deal with. Nata believes in you.

So you point your pistol at her head, and fire.

Derpy

Care’s skin is pulsing with energy. It’s flying out of his fingers and his mouth, and he’s shaking and starting to rise off the ground, and they’re wringing him out like a wet washcloth! His light intermingles with the red encroaching from behind you, the buzz in the air.

He speaks, and his voice is strained and distant. ”Derpy, help me! I can’t stop it on my own! Please!”

But you-

No, there’s a way. Yes, you have to. You don’t wait or prepare yourself, just break something.

“I’m sorry! ｢Spinal Tap｣!”

And with a single, well-placed hit, you knock him out. The light stops, and he crumples to the floor. You rush over to him, barely comprehending what you’ve just done.

It’s for your future, for your... Tears come to your eyes as you kneel over him. The three girls approach you as you hug his unconscious form against yourself.

And without warning, and all at once, the lights go out.

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Steam Powered Giraffe｣
User: The Crusaders
Ability: A joint Stand between three users, which gains in power when all three are together. When the Stand strikes something, it can remove or rule out an event or destiny for it for the next twenty-four hours. If all possible destinies are removed from a thing, it is completely unaffected by the pull of fate in any direction.

Stand: ｢Glamorous｣
User: Flitter
Ability: The user can tag anyone they touch with a colored light in her vision, which is visible as long as they’re within a mile of each other. The user can also share any active lights with the vision of any target.

Stand: ｢Electra Heart｣
User: Aria Blaze
Ability: Pulls, shapes and molds shadows, turning them into solids. The larger or darker the shadow, the more manipulation it can take, and the user can make more precise changes if they use their hands. Shadow-objects disintegrate in light unless they’re connected to a point or area of darkness.

Stand: ｢Gold Guns Girls｣
User: Adagio Dazzle
Ability: Manifests a replica of a target’s desires, either in the moment or in general. This replica can be fashioned out of any material in range, but will look subtly wrong upon close or careful inspection. For more abstract wants, this Stand creates the closest objects it can, sometimes with an apparent sense of humor.

Stand: ｢Beat Street｣
User: Flash Sentry
Ability: By covering an item completely in something the target owns, the user can “integrate” the item with the target’s history, making it a retroactive part of their lives. This only affects the target; everyone else remembers the original timeline, and if the integration results in their past death, they simply seem to disappear. The more unique the item, the more significant a role it plays in the target’s history. Cannot affect the user.

Stand: ｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣
User: Sunset Shimmer
Ability: Summons things from other universes which have killed some versoin of the target. Only one thing can be summoned at a time, and can be dismissed at will. The user has no control over what’s summoned, but cannot be harmed by it. Instances of the target killing themselves are not summoned, and when people are summoned, this ability prevents them from experiencing the negative effects of meeting their alternate selves.

Harsh Lights

Anon

”Do you know why Dagi and I have different eyes than Aria?”

Weeks back, you and Sonata were laying together on the couch in your resident shithole, and she asked you that. Her head was kind of buried against you, so you had to stop and put the hairbrush aside before she could repeat herself.

’Different eyes’...? You hadn’t really noticed, you guessed, but afterwards you could tell. Aria’s were a dark purple that matched the rest of her, but Adagio’s and Sonata’s were pinker, violet. Cerise.

“Why?”

She smiled a secretive smile and put her head back against you. ”I’ll tell you when we go to Equestria.”

That was another interesting thing. She always said “Equestria”, but her sisters said “home”. But it was hard to notice that with her powder-blue cheek against your ribs and her shoulders against your ribs. You hadn’t run to do laundry yet, so she was wearing some of your lay-about clothes, and those few inches you had on her meant the world.

She occupied the small, sleepy space between cuddling and napping, with the faint scent of strong flowers humming in the background. Eyes closed, mouth twisted a wide feline smirk, face scrunched against your chest. It was top cute. God, you'd never thought a girl would be... like that, so close to you.

”You’re excited to find out what it is, aren’t you? Your breathing’s picking up again,” she notes.

You stop, involuntarily trying to calm your heartbeat, and she giggles. Embarrassment swells up for a moment before you shove it back in the corner, and grasp the brush from the carpet. After giving it a solid once-over to ensure there’s no rug-fiber mixed in, you return to the long, sweeping strokes down her beautiful fountaining hair.

”Mmm, Nonny...” She’s still smiling as she falls asleep. You keep running it along her, watching it leave a glossy curtain of lamp-light in its wake. She seems so peaceful, despite everything she’s been through. That smile...

You have to protect that smile.

Diamond

You're here, now, and Anonymous stands over you like a man possessed, gun on your temple. Time moves in slow motion. C’mon, ｢Pink｣...! Erase just a few steps, maybe getting out of the car! Then you can jump in the front and run this guy down!

The ghost touching you creates some kind of… of interference! It didn’t do that last time! Has he gotten stronger, or have you just--?

｢Nowhere Man｣ keeps you planted while he pulls the trigger. Behind him, the lights go out, and he becomes less than a silhouette while the gun glints faintly in the evening light of the entrance. ｢Pink｣ struggles, trying to outpace his forefinger, but it isn’t fast enough. He fires.

Click.

He’s out of bullets. As that moment clicks into the tapestry of fate, time starts again - think, Diamond, think. If you can just escape the hold of his Stand, you can summon your own and --

He rears back and smacks you across the cheek with the hilt. You feel the persistent sting of a developing bruise. He’s breathing heavily now, like he's about to cry, and then the words come from behind you.

”｢Tin Cup Chalice｣!” Silver shouts, before a burst of energy singes its way past you and smashes into his ribcage. It doesn’t pierce the skin, but he’s sent sprawling sideways, and the gun flies from his fingers.

The air goes out of him in a moment, and you see Silver, holding two pieces of her Stand. Between them, dust coalesces into a fresh pair of glasses, and the implosion dissipates the ghost on her.

Right! The glasses float in mid-air and start breaking down again, while you angle your own assailant closer to it. The ghost lets go of you, and flies around to Anonymous, who regains his balance just as quickly as he lost it. Unfortunately, with a single roll to the side, he forces her second shot to go wild - but he's given you an opening even so.

You summon ｢Pink｣, feeling its metaphysical weight beside you, and then you dive for the pistol.

Scootaloo

The all-encompassing red throws deep shadows.

Your allies inch closer, Sweetie wringing the arrow in her hands. Derpy’s crying breathily over Care Root’s unconscious body. It isn’t pleasant to look at, but it’s better than the alternative.

In the room beyond, the final moments should be playing out just now. The gems have come together, and the portal opened. You’ve done everything in your power to bring this about.

”W-what?” That’s... Sunset’s voice?

”No! No, that can’t happen! They’re complete! They’re all COMPLETE!” And then, a mighty, arcane thundercrack. You stop being able to hear things at the same time as waves of pressure run up your arms. Something’s gone wrong…!

A crimson wind smashes against the three of you, and Sweetie puts the arrow between them. Red, glittering light punches through something hard enough to rattle you, and then disappears. Your eyes go wide, and you run past the cross-eyed girl and into the conference room.

Twilight’s frozen next to the doorway, and Sunset’s laying on the ground, propping herself up with one hand. Flash is looking up at the giant holes in the ceiling - each one is the size of your head, and there are more than a dozen. Sixteen, seventeen... before you can bother counting, you notice Sunset climbing to her knees.

Smoke is coming off of her clothes, like she’s been struck by lightning. ”W-we didn’t have all of the gems.”

Flash comes over and helps her to her feet. ”I don’t think any of them were fake. We checked them, thoroughly. There was no time for a switch.”

”No, all three of them were real. I know that for sure. But they weren’t all there.” Sunset breathes a little, patting down her leather jacket.

”You mean, a piece was missing?” you ask.

She nods. Who wouldn’t have brought them together tonight? Adagio’s had to be complete to use her singing powers. Yours was definitely altogether, unless someone made a really stupid mistake, and the one Care got from Trixie was complete to begin with, right?

As you ponder this, a blur of motion blends through the darkness. All the light’s coming from outside the door you entered from, so you have to squint against your own shadow.

Apple Bloom sees it first, and cries out. ”｢Steam Powered Giraffe｣!” She takes over the Stand, stepping forward and away from both of you, and it smashes a fist against the form. Adagio goes sprawling back into the dark, and Flash and Sunset go on the alert.

Sunset takes the lead. ”They’ve scattered again. We’re not safe here, and there’s no advantage to fighting. We have to retreat.”

Aw, crap. What you just did to Care might not have been a wise idea. But as long as he makes it out...

”I don’t think so.” The low purring voice comes from behind Sunset, and a clawing hand tears at Flash.

The two separate, each moving backwards, but the attack abruptly stops.

Adagio steps into the dim starlight. ”Sunset Shimmer may be as tough as we are, but none of the rest of you will be leaving tonight.” By the door, Twilight’s frozen, and you can’t tell if she’s terrified or calculating.

Adagio makes another swipe at Flash, this time drawing blood on his arm. Then, she steps away from him into the dark of the room. ”Maybe I should start with your unconscious acrobat over here?”

Flash grits his teeth. ”Leave her out of it!”

”How chivalrous. Why don’t you give me some answers in exchange for her life?” The voice comes from another part of the room, now. Is she throwing it? Is that something she can do, without the gem to help her?

Sunset moves toward the table at the center of the room, looking around into the darkness. She doesn’t see anything more than you do, but she speaks. ”Don’t ask him. Ask me what you want to know.”

Silence. Then... ”Why are there Stands in CHS, and nowhere else? And why is it that the only Crystal Prep students who have them are the ones who are expressly helping you?” Sunset is stone, but Flash is nervous. ”I know that you have the answer. If it’s worth more than a girl’s life...”

Okay, you really, really need to shed some light in here... Wait, that’s it! You motion to Sweetie, and grip the arrow.

Flash opens his mouth to speak. The arrow’s power runs up your arm, drawing in a current of energy from you, and forcing a Stand to activate.

｢Gold Guns Girls｣ powers up, and along one wall, your enemy is illuminated, holding Lemon Zest’s body. Above her there floats a giant orange light, created by her own ability. Her eyes narrow as they find yours, and you see a look of murderous frustration on her face.

｢Steam Powered Giraffe｣ speeds towards her, but she’s too nimble - even holding Lemon in a bridal carry, she still leaps out of the way. The light follows her in the air, and then hits a wall. She’s retreating through the far door!

Flash yells and throws a hand out, flinging his energy after her. ”｢Beat Street｣!” Then reality goes wonky where he’s motioned.

A massive chunk of the wall gets caught up in endless high-velocity blacktop, and then the doorway extends out into a rip about four times larger. Beyond is only darkness.

Sunny Flare

The lights went off a couple minutes ago, and your eyes are only now adjusting. You’ve been separated from the group for too long, and ultimately you just feel very alone, and weak, wandering these halls.

They could be getting slaughtered back there! You want to call them, but your gauntlets aren’t getting service. You’ve already resolved to find an exit and come back in to help them, however long it takes! If you could only find a door, or an opening, or anything remotely window-shaped... Labyrinth rules, you’ve followed the left-hand wall wherever it goes, and you haven’t doubled back, but this building seems mostly made of intersections.

It’s only twenty seconds ago that you heard the humming. Faintly vocal, definitely muffled by something, but present, and not in the direction you came. Someone else is around here - probably a Dazzling. The point was driven home to you, more than once, that they have superhuman hearing; if you can hear her, then...

You keep your breathing silent, fighting the urge to stop completely. Then you kneel down and pop off your flats, one at a time. You realize belatedly there might be broken glass around, but it’s too late. Thankfully your socks are silent against the floor, and you plod forward.

So, out of the three, it can’t be the ringleader or the one you already fought... it's the blue one, Sonata. Like the other two, you have no idea what her Stand is, but she wouldn’t just be standing in a corner somewhere. You meander closer to her voice, your back to the nearest wall.

The hum’s punctuated with breathy clicking. Like her voice is cracking, sans actual talking. Did something happen to her? Yellow electrical warning signs begin to populate the walls, and at the next intersection her voice leads you rightwards.

You’re in the guts of the building, doors lining the walls this way and that, unhelpful laminated signs on the walls, and as you round the corner you can hear her even more distinctly. The completely unwelcome impression of plodding into the underworld comes over you. If you died here and everyone else got to go home happy...

Well, maybe you just aren’t meant to deal with danger. You’ve been testing fate, first against Care Root and now against this whole labyrinth - you’re lucky you didn’t sustain long-term damage from it.

All you want is to be with your sweetheart in France. She told you that if you helped, a full life would be arranged for you: plane tickets, a comfortable bank account, general happiness, even a cure for sterility, which you didn’t know you had and didn’t know how to feel about taking. But it was there, from that other world, along with the rest of their pile of wonders.

You suppose everyone wants children eventually. Well, excepting your Aunt Cinch, though. But to breathe the air of Lorraine, to finally try those oursins along the coast. You and your dearest Aligot Truffade... What was that?

Movement, or the hint of it. It’s hard to tell out in the staticky sea of black, but your ears don’t mistake it. The humming-clicking is louder, punctuated by silence, and the sounds of thick vinyl boots tapping away at the floor. You freeze, pressing yourself against the wall, but nothing about the sound changes.

She hasn’t noticed you yet. No sooner do you think that thought then she stops.

This is a four-way intersection. She’s coming back from somewhere, going somewhere... those are likely to be the places that matter. You could retreat back down your hallway, but it wouldn’t be important; right now you need to make a turn, right or left.

”Listening chair.” The words are a whisper - and then, sleepily, like a reminder: ”Someone’s hiding...”

Derpy

｢Spinal Tap｣ has fallen away, and there’s just the light. He’s still okay, still breathing. The Crusaders ran past you into the room, and you don’t bother looking back at the noise.

The concrete burns your knees, and you fumble for something to break. You can’t stay here, you have to escape, and you have to open your eyes. Against the brightness you manage it, blinking wetly and trying to focus. It’s real brightness, something between your chest and the ground.

You reach into a pocket and snap something. ｢Spinal Tap｣ scoops up Care, whose head is starting to bruise with a rash of red. He’s not bleeding, but you still don’t look at him. What’s this thing beneath you?

Light, solid, almost flat. You touch it, expecting it to burn, but it’s cool and glassy on your fingertips. A ball. You lift it, and it buzzes against your palms as something twitches in your mind, like an extra muscle. Like a hand pressing into yours...

“｢Timbuk Three｣?” It presses against your mind. An image: you and him, much older, somewhere top-rate, with little masquerade masks over your eyes. Slow dancing, perfectly postured, looking into each other. You’ve always wanted to slow dance...

You shake your head, and it diminishes before it can show you any more. The orb is a little less bright now, just enough to notice.

He gave you one of the orbs to light your way out. He’s letting you burn up his future on his behalf.

...Your. Your future, too. You look down at the orb, and then up at the way out.

And then, gingerly, you set Care back down. They could’ve finished him, and they didn’t. Plus they completely ignored you.

You can’t just run away from that! You won’t!

Anonymous

Luck is not on your side tonight. Is your life just a shitty comedy, or something? A cosmic joke?

No, no more thinking like that. You have to fight, for Nata! ｢Nowhere Man｣ summons up the twenty-third, twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth people to commit murder with their bare hands. Shit, and these ones have pecs. With a gesture you set them on the girls.

”Silver!” Diamond shouts to her friend. She’s holding your pistol now, not that it’ll do her any good, but she’s got a point. You redirect the ghosts, sending them to mob Silver.

One gets smashed by one of those waves of energy, or whatever they are. The second you feel it dissipate, you summon it back to ｢Nowhere Man｣. “Go for her Stand!”

Silver throws something at #24, and it passes straight through. Diamond rushes forward, but her friend’s already held back. The two square plates clatter to the ground, and #23 plunges a hand into her heart. There!

And then, against all odds, a gunshot. It cracks a few feet from you, and you’re stunned. So are the ghosts, temporarily.

Diamond’s facing you, holding it up, a wisp of smoke over her eyes. ”Call them off.”

Fuck. It went wild, but not by much. Was there an extra bullet in the chamber? You thought you ran through the whole cylinder, but maybe there was, or else one of your helpers reloaded it to be useful. You know there’s definitely not another one in it, but just to be safe...

23 takes a break from stopping Silver’s heartbeat to glide and take the gun. Diamond adjusts her grip and pulls the trigger again. Bang! And another time! Bang!

The first bullet nearly hits your legs, and you throw yourself out of the way of the second one. How did this bitch have ammunition ready?

23 goes for the gun, and you hear the smacking sound of her Stand pulverizing it. You breathe heavier and summon another, throwing your head back and forth in search of cover. She fires again, over your head, and you remember almost too late that Aria blocked off all of the exits!

As time creeps by around you, you try to calculate some solution. How many bullets has she fired? Four. She fires another one at you, and your latest ghost grabs it out of the air. It falls to the ground, and you make your move.

The two holding Silver lift her off of the ground and position her between her friend and you. Diamond hesitates; she has one shot left.

The ghost in front of you flies to grab it. Her Stand appears, a tiny inky thing, and your ghost dodges around it. Diamond’s eyes go wide, and she dives out of the way, flopping onto the floor. She aims for her last shot, and you run out of the way.

Bang! It clangs and sparks against the wall behind you. You breathe easier at the clear fact that she’s obviously never used a gun before.

And you keep an eye on her to make sure she isn’t reloading. She’s still, just aiming towards you, lining up a shot with one eye closed. Trying to act tough so you'll back down. Bullying bluster was enough to scare you as a kid, when you still didn’t know that people were just not worth the energy, but you’ve healed since then, and it doesn’t impress you.

Your ghost pins her to the ground, reaching through her back to grab her heart. She gasps, and the pistol wobbles. To her credit, she doesn’t let go, but there’s no way in hell that she could reload that thing now. She’d only barely be able to fire it, if there were something in the barrel.

You saunter over to her. She threw herself close to her friend’s… shards, or whatever they are. '｢Tin Cup Chalice｣'. You don’t want her pulling some last minute trick with them, so you pick them up, gingerly, between your forefingers and thumbs.

Then you have the important choice between turning on your heels and hurling them outside, or just smashing them onto the ground. Your eyes meet Silver's for a moments and she winces, turns her head away and shuts them tightly. You almost wish this weren’t so satisfy-

BANG!

The shot’s close, and you can feel the echo that comes with it - your body ripples with it. Like you’re suddenly underwater, not completely solid.

The feeling has a center. The ghost falls away from her as you run two fingers down and find it. Red, just above your hip. It looks like when you ripped out one of your baby teeth a little early...

Your ears are full of cotton and now the world’s moving. Her friend falls to the ground at about the same time you do. Seven. How could there be seven? And then the hard metal of the bullet vanishes under your fingers, just plinks out of existence, and Diamond stands over you, gun in hand.

Sunset Shimmer

You planned this! You planned out all of it! You were careful, and your Stand let you run it through with all of the survivors! Care Root, a less powerful version, granted, explained Trixie’s death, and Derpy’s. Other Flashes told you about what casualties you might expect, if you convinced the rest of the Rainbooms to come along.. You knew it couldn’t be perfectly predictable, because Care was bringing the gem instead of Trixie and her group, but... but how could that have affected anything?

It worked in the other universes, you were successful, everything was worth it! Now it’s all back to square one, someone shook up the puzzle and dumped it back into the box. And your allies, not to mention the little sisters of your best friends, are in danger because of it!

Okay, okay. The important thing is to regroup. To regroup, and not to panic. So. You’re going to have to come back the way you came, and hope-

”｢Spinal Tap｣!”

The voice comes from behind you, and the fist immediately follows it. You smash into the conference table, sundering it in two with a primordial crack. Splinters fly, and by the time you can roll over you can hear another impact. Flash hits the wall.

Standing in the room, angry and crying, is Derpy. Under her arm is something unfamiliar, some kind of giant light bulb. The light it's casting leaves none of her feelings to the imagination.

”You attacked my boyfriend who never did anything to hurt anyone, and you made him give up so much-” her Stand appears in front of the Crusaders and cracks the floor with its elbows, making them stumble.

They summon ｢Steam Powered Giraffe｣, which levels a punch back at her. But ｢Spinal Tap｣ punches back at it, holding back its fist. Reversing it!

”And then you though you could lie to trick him into doing whatever you wanted! After you hurt my sisters and made us think it was someone else! There’s no reason for that! He would’ve helped you, any of you, if you’d just asked!”

She’s making it very hard for you to stay cool and think ahead. Flash is getting up.

"But you didn’t! You didn’t ask because it was alright to make him suffer! It was okay!” ｢Steam Powered Giraffe｣ has to throw up both arms to block the following strikes. They’re faster than her Stand should be able to move!

In the light of what she’s carrying, she’s the center-stage of this scene, her motion the only motion.

“All of you, all of you, all of you, all of you, all of you are evil!” The final hit lands, and something cracks. It’s not ｢Spinal Tap｣.

Still clutching the arrow, all three of them flinch and back up, shoulder to shoulder, and then the Stand dissipates back into nothing.

Flash takes his opportunity. He’s positioned himself behind her, and he slips something out of his pocket - a taser. You’re proud of the selection, and keep your eyes pointed away from him. If you can get through past her, you still have to worry about getting Lemon back, and Care...

He pulls the trigger, and twin prods fire from the end. You wince, but then they stop, caught in a field of light. The orb under her shoulder pulses, and her free hand reaches into her pocket. Flash lets go as the light travels up the lines, but it encases his hand, holding him fast.

Without turning around, she produces a popsicle stick, slides it into the corner of her mouth, very nearly smiling if not for her eyes, and then snaps it in half with her teeth.

Sugarcoat

“Uhhhhh.” You clutch your head and wake up, eyes watering. Cold, floor.

You can’t have been out for long, they haven’t tried to check that you’re dead. Why did you- Oh, yeah. The corpse. Past Sour, who’s at least in one piece, there’s... Zap.

You… honestly can’t say that you liked her very much, but there was something admirable about her anyway. Something that stirs in you, now... Your eyes adjust, adding wobbling depth to the darkness. Are you being attacked by a Stand?

You scramble for your phone, and its light slices through without an issue. (It better, considering it’s only a week old.) And catches someone supporting themselves against a wall with one arm.

You realize who, and lower the light too late. She looks over her shoulder at you, and her glinting eyes are lost in the darkness. You nearly drop the phone, and switch it off as you scramble to the far wall. Giving up your light source is death, here.

Something wet slops around the area you were just in, slithering. You resist the urge to look at it, just planning a route to take when it quests near you. What can you do? You have ｢Pavlov’s Daughter｣, so if you can make her tell a lie, then you can force her to eat... concrete?

Or, if you tell a lie and make it work on yourself, which you’ve never tried before, you can make yourself eat the… the darkness. Oh, this is hopeless. You saw Indigo, Sour. Flash and Lemon probably didn’t even make it to the end of this hallway.

And whatever they did to wind her, it’s not as if your Stand will even attack her! She’s an immortal, and you’re essentially in a giant empty room! Sure, you carry a baggie of sleeping pills on you in case you need to use your Stand on someone, but it’s not going to work on her! Something slides blindly around the room.

You choke down a shriek and hold still as it touches your shoe. It wraps around your ankle, and then you’re forced. You have to give a flash of light from the phone, briefer than a lightning-bug.

It disintegrates, but then immediately another one’s gripping your arm, inches above the phone. So much for discretion. You switch hands and shine a light on it. Switch... hands…? Why does that sound so right to you?

More are already coming, and you turn the light on them. Aria’s standing there, shoulders hunched, striding for you. Her fists comes right at you, but all you have to do is catch it! Your hand moves with the thought.

Huh? Why did you do that?

Her fist connects with your palm, obliterating your phone. You feel the cracking, locomotive force of the punch disperse up your arm in little dark-red explosions. Bones creak, and then your Stand bubbles up to the surface. But that’s…

No. It becomes clear to you - clear as crystal. Yes, right when you were passing out! A name just came to you!

Aria Blaze holds you against the wall just by pushing your fist. And then over her shoulder, with her free hand, she pulls a scimitar out of the darkness.

With deathly speed, and mad eyes, she slices it down for you. If you tried to grab her arm, you would never overpower her, even in desperation. If you tried to make your phone dissipate it, you’d die in seconds even if it worked.

No. There’s only one path forward! You throw your free hand over your head, and catch it!

Aria’s face doesn’t even register your reaction - until the blade stops. Then she jolts, eyes running down the sword to your hand. Possibly noticing that it’s the wrong color for the rest of your body.

In fact, both of your hands look that way. And, even in the low light, hers don’t look right either. She tries to make a retreat, but her body won’t pull away. She’s being held in place, her fist locked in your grip.

“｢Nails for Breakfast...” You tighten your grip. “Demo｣.”

With her hands you can output incredible force. Your crush the hand you’ve switched with her in a single, mean movement of muscle. Except this time, she feels it. She cries out like a child falling off a bike for the first time, and collapses to her knees, letting go of the sword, in time for you to wrest it from her.

The hands you took from her grip the blade and bear it down on her, straight into her chest. She gasps at the power of her own Stand, and throws her head up for a moment, and then passes out.

Even in the low light, you can tell that she’s breathing. Nothing here can kill her. Which means there’s no reason to go easy on her! Go team!

That thought really didn’t seem to come from you. You look at your borrowed hands and wonder why in hell this happened to you. You have so many questions... But you understand where this came from.

Indigo. Somehow, Indigo’s still with you.

You nudge Aria with a foot to make sure she’s out. Then you stoop and pick up Sour, making sure to put all of the weight you can on your fingers. You have a team to reunite.

Silver

It’s a relief to not be hoisted into the air like a pinata.

You didn’t think that you’d get out of that one, but you guess you didn’t count on Diamond. When she was near the gun, you recreated the bullet Anonymous shot at you when you first saw him - it had been in ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣, half-forgotten. But even you thought it had only given her one chance to hit him!

No, it was her own strength that saved the two of you. ｢Pink｣, undoing the pulling of the trigger so that every shot was the first shot! You feel something swell in you, like pride but less fatherly. Your friend’s starting to see the power of her own potential!

But she’s also about to shoot someone. You don’t feel as bad about that as you were expecting to - you mean, he did try to murder both of you, more than once, and your whole body is still sore from hanging in the air.

Anonymous speaks, looking up at Diamond. ”Why?”

She doesn’t move the gun, or change her expression. ”’Why’ what?”

”Why are you here?! Why would you bother trying to make my life more miserable?! Why do you want to take away the only good thing that’s ever happened to me?!”

You... have no idea what he’s talking about. Diamond doesn’t either, but she answers. ”We’re here for the people who matter to us. And you’re the one who tried to shoot us.”

He gnashes, going on like he hadn’t heard her. ”I worked forever just to track down that one speck of her gem, and you stole it from us! You did it just to give it to… to that geek and the only woman who could stand him!”

Actually, you remember you didn’t. You hadn’t… gotten around to it.

Oh, dear.

Anonymous keeps going. ”Well, what did they need it for so badly?! What was so important that those two had to keep their grubby hands on the one thing that would make her happy?!” He pushes himself up, kicking out of his pooling blood, right for her.

Wait, what’s that he’s holding? Oh, no.

Diamond fires, right for his heart. But the gun is caught between two tiles of ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣. You try to stop its effect, pushing against it, but you’re too panicked. It senses your fear, and works faster.

The bullet doesn’t even make it all the way out of the barrel before it turns into dust. Diamond tries to use ｢Pink｣, but by the look on her face it doesn’t work, and then the gun disintegrates just after it. Anonymous turns, drawn up to full height, and punts her back towards the door.

You run after her, but she disappears before she can make the impact. She’s back where he kicked her from, and she sends out her Stand. Its surface is mottled and cracking, and it moves slower than normal - she’s abusing it too much.

When it strikes, one of his ghosts flies out of the sleeve of his suit and absorbs the hit. It takes a second attack for it to dissipate. Your heart’s beating so fast that you can’t stop ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣ from activating, and there’s more of that interference, grabbing at you like pulling hair.

Your Stand spits the bullet and the gun back out, and he snatches them up. Another ghost grabs the two pieces of tile and flies closer to the ceiling, playing keep-away. You’re not interested.

He kicks for her again, but her Stand helps her leap out of the way. Then a swipe with the pistol, and she’s back where she started, panting. Then, from under the floor, one of the ghosts reaches up for her.

”Diamond!” You shout, but it’s no good.

She tries to use ｢Pink｣ to dodge it, but there’s nothing for her to erase. Another reaches for you out of the ground, and you hop away from it.

Not again. You won’t let yourself be helpless like that! If Diamond’s going to save you, you have to save her too! You run for the far wall, staring up at the ghost stonefacedly holding your Stand.

Anonymous strides over to you. That ethereal hand grabs your foot, holding you in place - but that’s alright. You can’t stop ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣, but you can definitely do the opposite! In your mind, your hallway’s laid out, including the lockers. And everything in them!

A moment of force, and the storm starts. A maelstrom of paper and pencils, binders and backpacks, magnets and memorabilia. A wave of textbooks pelts Anon, and he covers his skull with both arms.

The force of the summonings blows apart the ghost, and as you throw your arms out the shards fall back into your hands. Anonymous wades through the refuse, bleeding over the paper. He’s still not stopping!

It takes only a few more items to throw off the one on your foot, and then you bring over a pencil. You grab it as he reaches you, and jab it straight into the center of his red wound.

And it deflects, glancing off of a momentary blue barrier. Wh- What was that?!

He growls, and a hand reaches out of the blood to grab yours. It holds you fast, and then the barrel swings at your skull. The impact cracks your neck with the sudden turn of your head.

Think through the pain! There has to be something else to summon! You feel around your Stand, grasping for anything-

Another strike, and your consciousness whipcracks out of existence.

Sunny Flare

Sonata’s drawing nearer down her hallway. It’s way too wide for you to dash across to the other side unnoticed, and she sounds like she’s closer to the opposite side than you are, which means you’d be running towards her. At this point you’re going to have to face facts.

She’s tracking you somehow, but she doesn’t know where you are yet. And running, even without your shoes on, makes noise. Nervously, your hand stays plastered to the wall.

Sonata talks to herself, breathily. ”Dagi told me to turn all of the lights off, and Aria closed off the hallway. How could someone wander all the way out here…?” You tense, and she continues. ”Ah, right around this corner...”

Your internal fight-or-flight switchboard is at full power. You can suddenly feel yourself sweating in the cold; there’s no way you’re making it out of here alive. Not if you try to take her on. You don’t even know what her ability does!

But you can escape. For your allies, your friends! Your Aligot... You do your best to buck up, taking in a deep breath. It doesn't stay in your lungs for more than three seconds, but you push on anyway.

She’s almost about to see you, and, true to your title, you bolt. Hand still feeling out the wall, you turn the corner you’re already on and pass by her. She sees you, automatically. There’s no jerk of the head, no motion to suggest she wasn’t waiting for you. And over her shoulder, there’s... is that really a ghost?

Oh, you hate ghosts! But you only give them a glance. No turning your head back, as you pass over closed doors and into the deeper darkness. The feeling of being pursued underground wells up inside of you.

You hush the chorus of inner voices begging to wake up right now as she comes after you, and trust that you’re faster. You can hear each of her footfalls, and you know you’re not. But you have the slight advantage of starting distance, and you press it for everything it’s worth.

If she came this way, then there should be a way out. Reasonably, if you just kept running in one direction, you should eventually find an exit. It’s just one building!

She doesn’t talk, which is reassuring. If she monologued at you while she chased you, you might panic and slip up or something incredibly stupid like that. You can almost relax as you work through your marathon.

There comes another intersection, this one without a left-hand path. You can’t tell anything about them from this distance, but your legs sawing through the air won’t give you time to deliberate. Right or straight?

Right. Right is your lucky direction, the way that’s given you a hope to stay alive! Go right! You turn the corner, and there are a lot more doors than you were expecting - all closed, all the same.

None of them have exit signs hanging above them. And your fears are confirmed when you come to the end. It’s a concrete cul-de-sac, a dead end.

You press yourself up against the wall and turn the way you came. She’s walking towards you, steadily. No.

No, you’re not in a dead end! In fact, you’re close to escaping her for good!

“｢Royals｣!” You rasp out the words, voice ripped up by fear and exhaustion. But you’ve had your hand on this wall for well over a minute. And, at your request, it folds itself further into the universe. The whole hallway, doors and all, and the intersection at the end.

You take your hand off, and it holds, and then you sprint through to the intersection, heading straight. Sonata picks up her speed on your heels, but you turn on the spot to face her and snap your fingers, smirking. Her darkened form lunges out of the darkness for a moment, and the walls spring back to their proper shape.

As the rightful spaces reassert themselves, your intersection fills up with machinery. And, in the corner, windows! Big, industrial things, like everything in this choking oily-smelling place. You can taste sawdust in the air, and you do your best to ignore your less essential senses.

Outside you can already see the dinge and grime you were expecting. You run over, careful for any sharp objects on the floor, and feel around for a latch. Your hand passes over one, a foot higher than you can see, and you wrench at it.

It eventually comes loose, and then with both hands pressed against it, you force it up. Shakily, creaking, it obeys. As you put a leg through, something grabs you.

You yelp as it twists you around by your shoulder - but it’s not Sonata. It’s the ghost. Up close it’s almost comical, a sneering face with the illusion of a stubbly beard. Through it you can see poles and switchboxes and big rusty monsters of machinery.

You hate everything about ghosts: the whole stupid Gothic idea of them, the concept of someone’s soul persisting in the world and doing nothing but tormenting people. Things like that shouldn’t live in the first place. You concentrate on your Stand and press a finger on it, which holds.

Suddenly the wispy half of it folds over, and it’s a ball of indistinct greenish energy. Not enough. You tap a second finger onto it, and it becomes more uniform, spherical. A third, a fourth, like tapping at an air-piano. Your fingers buzz like they’ve fallen asleep, and then, under the strain of supporting itself, it pops out of existence.

You smile at your achievement, and let ｢Royals｣ relax. Sonata doesn’t appear, and you don’t wait for her. You hook a leg over the windowsill and jump out.

Then you shut it, slamming, behind you, and run around the perimeter, in search of where you came in.

Derpy

This time, when you hit Flash, you mean it. He goes flying through the hole that wasn’t there the last time you were in the room. You hope he breaks something.

Then you take the guilt that comes from thinking that way, and crush it like turning a car into a tiny cube. Your family might not be here if these people had their way.

Sunset can’t be hurt, and whatever the arrow is, you can’t seem to touch it. You have no illusions, you can’t keep this up for long.

But, just then, Twilight Sparkle steps in front of you, hands up and placating. ”Derpy, I didn’t know any of this was going to happen! Please, believe me, there has to be some sort of an explanation! Sunset wouldn’t just-”

Sunset weighs something in her mind, and snorts. ”Give it a rest, Twilight.”

Twilight startles, looking at her, as she stands up and dusts herself off.

Sunset speaks to you directly. ”I’m not going to make this any nicer than it is, Derpy. I want to collect those three gems. And I’m going to use whoever and whatever I can to do it.”

Want to…? “You just did.” Your voice is too tight and angry to let it be a question.

”Apparently not,” she sighs.

“But it doesn’t matter. I wanted to make this easy for everyone, but it wasn’t meant to happen. If you get in my way again, then I’ll do more than knock him out.”

Before you can respond, one of the Crusaders screams. Sweetie Belle. You see a blur of orange heading for her. Sunset throws out a hand towards her, and then, in a bright flash of light, a figure blocks Adagio.

In the brightness, another Adagio, a perfect double, knocks into her. They’re frozen, staring at each other in momentary shock. Then, immediately, the summoned Adagio disappears, and Sunset bridges the distance, her fist smashing Adagio's cheek.

The Dazzling actually slides off of her feet with the force of the punch, and the Crusaders, bouncing back, summon their monster of a Stand. It smashes against her, and she backflips, sliding against the floor.

Sunset turns to you. ”Go.”

You sense ｢Spinal Tap｣ fading. You snap something else in your pocket, and with it, all of the others crack, simultaneously. Scootaloo's pointing the arrow at you.

You make eye contact for a moment, and then your Stand’s summoned for its two minutes. Your options just narrowed.

They turn back to Adagio, and you prepare to throw ｢Spinal Tap｣ at them. Maybe you can get the arrow and figure out where it came from.

And then, out of the darkness, comes Sonata Dusk. She moves towards Sunset, who goes on the defensive. You don’t know whether to help or not.

”-cadabra｣!” You turn around, and see Trixie through the door you came through. And behind her...

“Golden?!”

But that means--

Trixie

Next to you is the unconscious body of Care Root; unconscious twice in as many days, in fact. His face looks red.

It took too long for you to get through the thorns back into this one hallway, but now you’re here, just too late. Derpy comes out of a room where utter pandemonium's reigning, blinding light shining from under her arm.

She runs up to her sister. ”Where’s Silver?!”

”In the car. Something go wrong?”

”We’ve got to leave right now! I’ve only got a minute and forty seconds!” ｢Spinal Tap｣ lifts Care up.

Golden nods, and with her eyes closed, Derpy puts a hand on the light. A solid wall of light appears, blocking the room from the rest of you.

Someone pounds on it. ”Wait! Please! Don’t leave me back here!” ...Twilight.

Derpy turns to look at the searing block of energy. She regards it, for a moment. How much time does she have left, again…?

Then it disappears, and Twilight comes stumbling out. ”Oh, thank-”

”Come on!” Derpy grabs her arm and pulls her, and both of them blow past you and Golden. You trade glances with her, and then the light-shield goes up behind you again, and both of you head after them.

｢Abracadabra｣ pushes you to the head of the group, and Golden catches up on her own merits. Derpy casts light ahead of all of you, throwing your shadows against the walls. You’ll have to ask her about that as soon as you’re out of here.

Most of the conflict’s moved into that room, so it might even be a straight shot. Once you’re inside the parking lot, you can use your Stand to jump everyone to the two cars. Who’s Twilight going to ride with? Suddenly, the light shines on someone coming up the hall. Two people, one unconscious in a bridal carry.

It’s her. Sugarcoat. She stops and squints in the light, and when she sees you, she straightens, ready for a fight.

You don’t have time for this! But before you can blast her against a wall with your Stand, she squints closer to the light. And then, eyes lighting up, she runs straight past you.

Golden looks over her shoulder at the retreating figure, but there’s no attack. Then you see the body of the one who nearly killed you. Despite the bloody mess behind her, she looks like she’s just having a nice dream. And further on, the body of one of the Dazzlings, the one who never gave her name.

She's skewered, eyes fluttering. You resist the urge to vomit. This could’ve been you, you realize. This is what you were running away from. You keep moving, trying to put those sights out of your head. In your mind’s eye, they seem to reach out for you...

You all jog the rest of the way, keeping up without endlessly passing and falling behind each other. Glancing backwards occasionally, waiting for some surreptitious backstab. But your trial turns out to be much more straightforward than that.

You see the limited natural light of the door outside at the same time you start seeing sheets of paper. Pencils, folders... You part the detritus with a couple waves of your hand. But as the light illuminates the final stretch...

”Silver!” Derpy screams.

Hanging in the air are the two kids, and then her light finally goes out, dissipating in the crook of her arm.

Anon

They were right. You hated to admit it, but they were right. They’re just fighting for Care, and the girl. You can’t let them get away with it, but you can still sympathize with them. And being down to one bullet, and on the edge of consciousness, narrows your options.

Get to the root of the problem, right now. The fact that you can see them and not one of your employers makes your heart sink.

...You won’t be getting out of this at all, will you? For the first time, you see Care Root, passed out and floating beside Derpy. You can hardly even remember seeing him around CHS. Different circles.

But you recognize her just fine. She sees you, and her entourage gets ready to attack.

Doesn’t matter. You lift the gun and aim - your final ghost holds it up with you. It does most of the lifting, to be honest. Heh.

A pair of birds fly for the two girls out of the hands of the orange-haired one. Didn’t you used to be in a class with her?

Nevermind. A third comes at you, and you don’t pay attention to it. Even if it gores you, you’ll still take your pound of flesh.

Line up the shot... breathe in... squeeze the trigger.

It heads out, moving flatly away from you, spinning angrily. Oh, time’s slowing down. It picks up speed as it goes, and its path sends it straight for Care. The hulking monster of a Stand carrying him lashes out with its tail, and the bullet goes flying away, harmlessly.

No! You’re about to make an ill-advised shamble to pick it up, but you can’t walk, and it’s unnecessary. The bullet bounces off of something. It ricochets in the air five or six times, off little shining panels of glass, or something like glass. It's bright and blue, like sudden odd-shaped flashes in your vision.

You wonder, for a moment, if you’ve developed a new Stand ability. But even in this small doses, you know it’s not you. It’s fate.

Everyone freezes in their tracks to watch it, then it goes flying for the orange-haired one, who shouts. ”｢Fineshrine｣!”

A tree springs up between it and her. It bounces again off of more of these blue screens, twice, thrice, coming around the trunk for her.

”｢Abracadabra｣!” It moves out of its path, back closer to you.

There’s more shouting as it gets sent back towards the group - you can’t make out the words any more. In fact, you’re falling, faceplanting. Oof.

A voice cutting through the gorge of the panic. A shout, an impact. The sound of a body toppling into concrete.

Your ghosts dissipate, but you know you’ve added one more to their ranks, and the sea of trash overtakes you.

Take that, Care Root.

Lemon Zest

Mid-morning. The last thing you remember was a big explosion, trying to get the gems. You sit up, on what you realize is someone’s couch. It’s grey, and sticks to your cheek on the way up.

You’re sweaty, and your hair’s mostly on one side of your body, but you have both your arms. And the room’s a calm blue, like a sky through fog. On the far wall there’s a television playing infomercials on mute. Where are your headphones?

You search around the books on the coffee table and the stand covered in coasters, but you don’t have any of your stuff. When you stand, your back cricks in four places. It sounds like Velcro.

You wander into the kitchen and see Sugarcoat hunched over three mugs of coffee. Must be her family’s house. She notices you without looking up and slides one slightly closer, which you take. There’s a boatload of creamer in it, so it tastes like caramel.

“Did we win?”

She huffs, and doesn’t look up at you. Fuck.

“Did everyone make it out okay?” She turns and looks at you behind those glinting glasses.

”Indigo didn’t make it, and Flash is gone.”

Gone? “Gone?”

”They have him. We don’t know where.” She looks back to the table. There’s a tablet there, in a chunky blue case twice its thickness, and on it is a roadmap of Canterlot.

“Well, we’d… better go find him.”

”There’s something just as important. The gems weren’t complete, so they’ve been thrown around everywhere, but one of the kids figured out where the final piece was.” The gravity of the rest of the task ahead of your group settles in.

A couple months of work since you got these Stands, a chance at really, seriously owning an indie label, and world-saving, of course. “...Where?”

”Somewhere around here,” she slides over the tablet and taps at its center with one finger. The house is huge and looks like people do croquet on the lawn.

Sunny wanders in, wearing last night’s clothes like the rest of you. ”Briefing her already?”

Sugarcoats nods, curt. ”When Sour wakes up, we’ll decide how we’re splitting up.”

You grab a seat, but Sunny lingers by the strangely barren-faced fridge. At your house, they still had your blue ribbons and certificates stuck on there with vacation magnets.

”Filhy Rich has one of the most dangerous Stands around, and he’s not going to go down without a fight,” she cranes her head at Sunny, who stares pensively into the freezer. And then to you, resting when you make eye contact. ”I’d suggest ransoming his daughter, since she’s basically powerless, but he’d kill every one of us. So I think, if we’re going to heist the gem, we need to work together to get past his security and smash his fuckin’ teeth in before we do anything else.”

She adjusts the glasses, as you digest how... un-Sugarcoat she sounds. “Any suggestions?”

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Listening Chair｣
User: Sonata Dusk
Ability: ???

Stand: ｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣
User: Sugarcoat
Ability: The full nature of this Stand is unknown.

Little People Make Big Mistakes

Diamond Tiara

It’s the day after it all blew up, and you haven’t even made it back home yet.

In fact, you only came to school to put that off a few more hours. The morning halls of Canterlot High are just the same as always. Inside ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣, though, the mood is thickly dark. You can’t help but feel on-edge, or maybe that’s just all of the people watching you walk by. That used to be a good feeling, didn’t it?

”Hey! Spoon-fed!” a voice calls out of the mill of grumbling, and you ignore it. Ahead of you Silver Spoon, eyes glazed, doesn’t answer either. You reach your lockers, only six apart by pure coincidence.

When you open yours, you realize it’s empty. Right.

Another Freshman voices calls out. ”Where’s all our stuff?” It’s Rumble, the puny dweeb who’s always around Cloudchaser. Maybe her brother? You have no idea what happened to Flitter, she was still unconscious when you--

No, no need to think about that right now. ”The last time you woke up” is how you’ll describe it.

Rumble’s insistent. ”Silver Spoon!”

He walks up between the two of you, and she does a half-turn to look at him with one eye. Her body’s facing the inside of her empty locker, like she’s deliberating whether or not to climb in...

He’s unperturbed. ”Where’s everyone’s stuff?” His hands splay open in a way you really want to mock. Your best method for handling stress has always been to make other people feel it instead.

Silver turns away from him without an answer, unslinging her backpack. She’s a total robot today, and you don’t blame her.

”Hey!” The puke steps closer while she’s grabbing something out of it - and, before you can intervene, he shoves her against the locker door. It creaks with her impact, and she stares at him emptily.

”What did you do with our school supplies? Give it back!” Other voices start to agree with him. Once they do it loud enough, it’ll be impossible to stop.

Between her fingers, something disappears, and then Rumble starts squeaking. His hands fly to his throat.

Wait, is he choking?! You close the distance, but Silver gets there first. She slams a fist into his chest, and he splutters, throwing his head forward. The noises become muted as he bends it towards his knees, and then he gags and weakly spits out a small, pink eraser. Before he can bring his head back up for air, she’s got a grip on his collar.

She pulls him back up the half-foot to eye level. ”Are you working for Sunset Shimmer?” She asks the question in a raspy just-awake kind of voice. Should you use your Stand to interfere?

You tried calling ｢Pink｣ to you this morning, with no luck. In the moment, you try again, but your aura doesn’t budge.

”Wh-what are you talking about?!” he all but screams.

She stares into his eyes like she’s trying to pull out his soul. All is silent.

You really need to do something before she gets herself suspended. “Silv-”

She lets go. His knees nearly buckle under him, and she speaks before turning away. ”Tell her if I see anyone on her side, I’m going to return the favor.” Then she’s staring into her backpack again, a little more there.

You realize your heartbeat’s calmed down a little. Rumble recovers himself, and backs away; you feel a little bad for him. Everyone’s still got an eye on Silver in case she snaps at them. Some of them are already regretting not having their phones ready.

When she slams her locker shut, loud enough to fill the hallway, they flinch and stop. She turns around and heads to homeroom, not even bothering to put the lock back in. Wordlessly, you walk after her.

Last night...

You’re sitting in the backseat of the car you left not long ago. You only woke up a minute earlier, being snatched up like a football and carried out, and you piled limply into the car without protest.

You saw the body. Derpy’s driving, and Silver’s shivering next to you. And, in the passenger seat, Twilight Sparkle stares blankly through the dashboard. She’s speaking, but no one’s reacted.

”Sunset kept information on all of the Stand users. Anonymous shouldn’t be able to do that.”

”He did.” Derpy says, monotone. She has one eye closed to focus on the road. You realize you may be the only person in this car in a state to drive anything. At least you can process it. If they came for your family...

”No, it might have been... another Stand at work.”

”Who?” Both sisters ask simultaneously, and in the same tone.

Twilight hesitates, and takes a breath. ”Well, she was using some method to learn about Stands people didn’t reveal. She knew about ｢Timbuk Three｣ a long time before Care ever used it...” She pauses to make sure she’s not going to be thrown out of a window, but everyone seems to be listening. ”A-and she theorized that if he used it too much, it would start to block happy things from happening to him. I never knew she took it anywhere, honestly I didn’t, but that must be why the Crusaders made him activate his power.”

It starts to click for everyone in the car, but not quite. Whether for good or bad, you see what she’s talking about. You knew there was some “limitation” to ｢Timbuk Three｣, but never quite what.

You try to help her the rest of the way. “Do you mean that they burned out a specific piece so this night would... end wrong?”

Twilight nods a little. ”To stop him from ever having a happy memory of it.”

”...Is that why?” Derpy asks, not looking at her. ”Just to hurt him?”

Twilight tenses. ”...Yes, it probably was. I-I’m sorry.”

Trixie

You’re sitting in a slightly waterlogged kitchen - fingers folded on a countertop, hair ratty, costume all around you. You're trying to get your bearings, and you haven’t slept since last night. To be honest, you haven’t slept since you passed out around the Shadowbolts.

You were supposed to die.

That’s what Care’s impostor told Derpy, what Derpy told you, what you didn’t dwell on before you were shouldering through unlit hallways next to her, trying to navigate. It was going to end in a big showdown, your group and the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings - except your group doesn’t exist any more. No one would call it yours, it’s Care’s, and he would’ve known that.

Plus it wasn’t the Rainbooms, it was the Shadowbolts. And, although your ribs are killing you, you didn’t die. Nothing happened the way it was supposed to!

You’re a magician, you can sniff out unexpected results. They’re everyday for anyone who loves the stage - and when magic doesn’t work, you can tell exactly why! Only if it works, you never know how it happened. Unless it’s very, very complicated...

No, it can’t be. You haven’t sat down with Care or Derpy and talked it over yet, but... whatever happened here, it couldn’t have had too many moving parts. There were only a few groups, only three gems, only so many factors that could be manipulated. So where did everything go differently, what went wrong? It scares you that you don’t know.

You lost someone without getting that information, and it scares you more to think of the alternative. Maybe this was all someone’s plan after all. Maybe the trick’s still going. Who benefits from all of this?

Your arms are shaking from the elbows down, and your head bows a little, neck trembling forwards. This was so much easier alone!

Behind you, a door creaks and opens. You don’t turn around.

”Trixie…?” he asks, as your head sinks even lower. ”What day is it? What happened?”

“...”

Last night...

You’re driving back to Care’s house - or doing your best. The streets haven’t woken up yet, but you have to put some distance between yourself and... that. You need to pull over and breathe, your chest is constricted. It’s not true that you don’t have time.

You take a turn at random and cut through unfamiliar neighborhoods, and then you realize you’re going fifteen over the limit. No one’s followed you that you can see, but you don’t trust your senses that well. Something just broke.

The bullet’s redirecting itself, somehow. You won’t understand it until you reach home-base again, when Diamond texts you the details. It wouldn’t make a difference if you knew. There’s a sense of finality to the whole thing, and you reach out with ｢Abracadabra｣ for it.

If you can make it impact you in something like a leg, you could survive - Silver would be able to take it out again, and you could take another hospital stay. But even as you do that, it ricochets again off the ground!

Your ability pushes you backward on instinct at it hits the ceiling and then travels down for you. You make space between it and yourself, and keep going. It can be redirected, but it must lose momentum! How far can a bullet travel? None of these are even fully-formed thoughts, and yet you can see it deflect again, and head for Golden.

Shouldn’t it be raining? Someone’s dead! The stars should flicker for a moment!

You’ve faced the possibility of dying, the danger of it. But you didn’t have to worry about something like this! There’s no terror here, nothing heartpounding or dramatic to it. It’s just… real. Another inert thing, in an inert world.

You pound the steering wheel once and blow a stop sign.

A feeling of intense foreboding swells the more you see it move. It doesn’t even strike you as odd that you can watch the bullet in motion. Your perceptions can’t continue at this rate forever, though - trying to see in the dimness is hard enough.

But you know what all of this is. Fate’s coming down on you, and there’s a gravity to this event that you can feel in your shoulders. So, perhaps, there’s only one real way to make a difference.

You make a note of that silver flight-path, and then push yourself directly into it, so you can stand in front of the rest of your friends.

Only to smack into something thickly solid. A tree? Panicking, your Stand pushes back the bullet a little further. How are you going to--

”｢FINESHRINE｣!” Golden’s voice cuts through, as vehement as it’s ever been.

Something impacts you, a deer. Thick antlers lift you up under your arms, the pain blocking out your attempt to figure out what’s happening, and then it charges forward, throwing you like a bull to the far wall. ｢Abracadabra｣ takes over, and the only sound you can hear is your clothing dragging against the concrete as you minimize the impact.

When you’ve stopped rolling, it’s over. The bullet’s stopped zipping around.

Golden Harvest is dead.

When you finally reach Care’s street, you’re moving at twice the limit. The sleepy houses ignore you.

His driveway’s at a right angle and sloping slightly downward, and you know you’ll never make it going like this, but you’re too angry to slow down. In fact, you speed up instead, and you lift, slightly, like being on a rollercoaster.

“｢ABRACADABRA｣!” you scream the name inside of your metal box, rattling the wheel, taking a foot off the pedal. And then you’re on the driveway, oriented correctly, slowing down along it like a landing plane.

When you stop, you finally look in the back, and find that he’s still unconscious. You suppress the urge to raise your voice more, and you get to work on getting him inside.

Dernier Piege

You don’t know who to blame for this. Anonymous? Sunset? Those are the only two that don’t hurt to think about.

Sunset’s conveniently not at school today, and no one’s mentioned it, but the Rainbooms are around, at least a couple of them.

...Why? Why wouldn’t she just ask? You want to smash the desk you’re sitting in. Then the floor, probably, and then see how much further you can get in two minutes. How long until you’d reach the center of the Earth, just with your Stand’s fists?

You don’t have any gifts with you. It’s not safe, but you really don’t care about safety right now.

Well, no, you have one. ｢Spinal Tap｣ already brought you one of the shards this morning, not that you’d asked it to. And you couldn’t leave it inside the house, not after that.

...She got up early.

You had stumbled in, bruised and deathly silent, and you sat in the kitchen while she woke herself up and waited for an explanation. Dad was still asleep, it wasn’t a workday for him - you still haven’t seen him yet.

Silver let you do the talking, you had to. You were the... the oldest sister, now.

And you lied, your little sister stood there and let you lie to your own mother. You lied because you couldn’t tell her about Stands, about everything that really happened, you couldn’t give any kind of synopsis.

You told her that Golden was attacked, and at least managed to include it was Anonymous who did it. You leave out that you could’ve killed him. He looked like he was most of the way there already, but... you didn’t have the stomach, maybe. It was easier to say to yourself that he was a goner anyway. So long as you didn't have to do it yourself.

She called 911, and she didn’t listen when you said that Golden was already done for. You had to give an address, had to lie that you were heading home from a party and you saw him on the road. You'd thought he needed a ride, until he pulled out the gun.

Diamond was quiet as a mouse for all of this, but you could feel the waves of shame coming off of her. Silver didn’t speak either. You two still haven’t talked with each other. You don’t know if you can.

It’s a thought you don’t even want to notice thinking, but you were always technically the oldest sister. The start of the family, the “Last Trap”. Golden was adopted when you were two, at the same time your mom was going to have Silver. It’s why she got that name.

Catcher Pouch had loved the world with his traveling, and he gave it up in love for his wife. In exchange, both she and the world gave him a daughter. ’Les trésors.’

You don’t know why you’re here. If you could summon ｢Spinal Tap｣, you could probably crush that gem into dust in your
bag, and then... what would happen? The whole game would be over, and they’d all have to leave you be. Or would ｢Timbuk Three｣ stop you, somehow? Would it punish you for trying to jump off of the ride?

You don’t want to do this. You believed that there could be a happy ending to all of this, that it would all work out. Now you don’t know if you believe much of anything, any more.

Class ends, students get up. It takes energy to lift yourself up and gather your things. You go to lunch, and don’t eat.

Care Root

When you get to school, the day’s halfway over already. Trixie stayed behind. She was clearly wiped out, especially after talking to you. She stayed up all of that time just to break the news to you.

｢Timbuk Three｣... It takes more effort to consciously ignore your power than it does to drive this car. You think you can still feel it, but you wouldn’t check if someone paid you. You just have to see Derpy, and find out what she thinks. And if she doesn’t want to see you again, you don’t blame her.

This is what happens when you try to take things beyond your station in life, when you have to destroy the things that you love just to stay alive. You remember the battle under the lemon tree.

Maybe he had a point after all.

When you enter the school, it’s through the side. The doors aren’t typically locked, although you’re supposed to report to the front when you come in late. You can’t quite bring yourself to bother right now. It’s one more thing you might be doing wrong, one more way things can get worse for you, but after a certain point you get too much perspective to feel anything about things like that.

You enter and the halls are full. Is it lunchtime? No, wrong direction, it just ended - which means you won’t be able to sit down and talk with her.

At least you might be able to see her. You walk against the crowd, some people cutting off their conversations to look at you. Where, where…? You’re walking through ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣ when you see her a ways away. She’s talking to someone.

Yeah, beside her is Twilight. They round a corner and leave the front hallway. What’s her next class?

You’re not sure, you would usually split up just after lunch ended. You wade through the student body after her, and even turn the corner and continue, looking for another sign of her.

But she’s gone.

Diamond Tiara

It's the end of the day, and you don’t really like the schoolbus, but you take it for anonymity’s sake. Right now it's better than calling for a ride. You know Care would probably drive you if you asked, but why bother him about it?

Because you’d like him to be there, mostly. You’d like someone to be there, at least.

When you arrive, your dad’s standing on the front porch. It’s a lavish porch, white and girdered, decorated by an unbroken sequence of gardeners. He’s in the same suit as always, and you’d hoped he’d still be at work.

His expression isn’t one of worry, though. No, you’ve seen this kind of anger and disappointment before, just... never aimed at you. It’s the look he gives a person before he tongue-lashes them, but why now? You didn’t text him anything after you told him you’d be over at Silver’s.

Did her mom call him? She didn’t seem like she was in a state to. She would’ve sent you home if she’d even noticed you were there, it was why you made no attempt to draw attention to yourself. You didn’t even eat breakfast in that house, you just caught what little sleep you could and left.

Apprehensive that he knows something you don’t, you make your way past the gate. The cold’s becoming hostile as time goes on, and soon it won’t let anyone stay outside for long.

He doesn’t shout at you as you head for him, but you don’t think it’s a good sign. Even when you get there he doesn’t say anything. Only his imposing aura keeps you from pretending not to see him and heading inside. It’s like... he’s waiting for you to start.

“D-Daddy," you open diplomatically.

”Did I raise a thief, Diamond?” He asks.

You don’t know what to say to that, but instinct tells you waiting to choose words will make you look bad. “What?” You have to shield your eyes a little. The sun’s already pretty low in the sky, and it makes it hard to look at him.

His voice rumbles. ”I thought you were just spending time with your friend to get a little air and have fun. Those were the sorts of things I didn’t get much chance to do when I was your age. I wanted them for you. After your mother, I thought they would help you grow up like I couldn’t.”

You try not to think about Mother. You never had a chance to know her. But...

“I don’t know why you’re saying this to me.” There are a lot of things you could do to avoid being in trouble, especially with him, but you don’t want to think about those. Manipulating your way out of the situation is like stamping “guilty” on your forehead, and you haven’t even admitted to what he should be worried about yet.

A cloud drifts in front of the sun. Belatedly, you see an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

”I know I wasn’t always there for you. I tried to be, but… I must have been too late. Just like I tried to get you a place in Crystal Prep.”

Oh, ugh. You remember throwing a fit over that and barely even understanding why; you hadn’t realized that school was school no matter where you went. He hadn’t been willing to force the extra time onto his drivers when he could give you a spot in the same high school he’d grown up in. You hadn't resented it as much as other things he’d denied you - although, now that you thought about it, most of those were just as petty anyway.

He finishes. ”...Is that why you took it?”

“Took what?”

He growls. ”Don’t play dumb. Why did you steal from those two girls?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

”The ruby! Ms. Sugar Zap and Ms. Sunbeam want it back from you, and they told me where you were last night. I called Silver Spoon’s mother today just to make sure, and she told me one of her girls died while you were out!”

Your heart falls out of your body. You feel like you’re either drowning or about to summon your Stand. Would that help, if he knew? He wouldn’t see it, but you could show it to him by using it, couldn’t you? In your shock, you summon it wordlessly, following that thought - but ｢Pink｣ doesn’t come when you call.

”Things are going to change today, Diamond.”

Your legs shake. “D-dad-”

”I don’t want to hear it. You’re not leaving this house except to go to school, and you’re not staying over with that family any longer.” Not… S-Silver…? “But the first thing you’re going to do is take those poor girls to what you took from them, and apologize, and be glad you’re not in any more serious trouble!” He points to the door.

Stunned, you open it, fighting tears. What’s the way out of this? He wouldn’t believe you if you just told him what was going on. Should you have told him sooner?

Wait. Ruby? You get out of your own head enough to realize what he’s talking about.

You didn’t bring it with you to the factory. That was why things didn’t work, the gems weren’t complete, and it was… all because of you. It's as you complete that thought that you open the door and see them in the entryway.

Two girls in Crystal Prep uniforms, both shades of blue, both with smug eyes behind neutral mouths and crossed arms.
Shadowbolts. Have they hurt him?

No, if they did there would be some sign. They lied instead, probably to keep from dealing with his security, or his lawyers. Even if they killed him, your dad would own their souls from beyond the grave. So what’s their endgame? Walk away with the piece of the gem or get rid of you while they’re at it? You haven’t met them before, or any of the other Shadowbolts. In fact, the only people who have seen your Stand are Anonymous and Silver - so, with any luck, they don’t know about it yet...

Your mind races as the door moves away from you. Your dad’s holding it open, now, and your mind races, but you pull your jacket tighter around yourself and step inside.

They look far, far too well-rested compared to you. Weren’t they all fighting for their lives as much as you were, last night? ”Sugar Zap” uncrosses her arms and gives you a tight, intentionally fake smile.

”Miss Tiara.” Then she extends a hand, which you don’t take.

”Diamond.” Your father says, behind you, and then you do take it. The contact is surprisingly cold given how long you’ve been outside, but brief.

You’re trying to think of what to do. Denying that you have the gem is pointless, they have some way of tracking them, but you need to get them as far away from your dad as you can manage. With each breath you take, that purpose crystallizes in your mind. Get them away from him, get them away from him... but, also, keep them from the gem.

You have to disrupt things somehow. ...｢Pink｣?

It doesn’t appear. You don’t strain for it yet, you don’t want to waste it if it does appear, but you wonder if you've used it up somehow, hit some limit. Maybe you’ve made one mistake too many.

Sugarcoat

It was difficult deciding which of the four of you would arrive here. Originally you were going to break in, but you realized it was suicidal. From what you could tell, even Sour wouldn’t be a great match against Filthy Rich.

Part of you wanted to deck him in the face, grab the gem and jump out of a window, but you ignore that feeling. The rest of you understands that a good lie, however distasteful, can sometimes make the difference. Really, it was Sunny’s idea. You brought her along because both of you could incapacitate him up close, if you absolutely had to.

｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣ is like a mild tug on your muscles, reminding you of who you have to switch with. Of course all three of your teammates, and now Diamond… Unfortunately Mr. Rich didn’t take your hand when you knocked on his door twenty-five minutes ago, and you haven’t found a good opportunity to offer it to him since.

Sunny’s hiding her detector, because if he saw it he would think she was a spaz, but it turns out you may not need it after all. Filthy is going to stay downstairs and wait for Diamond to grab the gem, and both of you are going to go with her.

Even though she doesn’t have a Stand of her own, she’s going to try something. She can’t be gullible enough to take something like that seriously, but she’s taking you up the grand staircase towards her room. You keep your Stand ready, Sunny stepping softly behind you.

Diamond

｢Pink｣! Come on... ｢Pink｣!!

You only feel a slight stir. Does it need to recharge?! It’s been a long walk to get to your room, but if you make them suspicious you have no idea what they’re going to do.

Things aren’t good. If you could call someone… you can’t think of anyone who would be able to help. Even if Silver answered, even if she could get here, it would be too late.

When you come to the door, you push it open. Your room’s all done up in pink, and it’s looked the same for the last five years. The door to the balcony’s as open as you left it the last time you were here. Posters of passing interests litter the walls, things you’ve kept for sentimental value. A high-definition photo album sits on its own corner endtable.

It’s been your sanctum all your life, and now they’re tromping inside it. They’re even wearing shoes. You don’t look back at them as you climb under the bed, feeling for it.

”Why did you try to hide it?”One of them asks. You don’t know which one, but you don’t respond to them. Finally you snatch up the gem and emerge on the far side of the room.

“Here it is.” You stand and hold it up so they can see it - and then, at last, you see it too. It’s not a shard, it’s… the whole thing. The rest of the pieces must have gravitated to this one somehow.

They think similar thoughts, and edge closer, but it’s pointless. You knew what you were going to do as soon as you entered the room. You turn to the balcony and run.

And then, inhaling on the way, you vault over the railing.

Sugarcoat

Shit. You run over to the balcony, peering down. With these ceilings it’s more than a two-story drop, but the lush lawn is empty of anything remotely her color. There wasn’t anything for her to grab onto, either.

So... she’s a Stand user. Why weren’t you briefed on that, then? The Crusaders should’ve let you in on that, it couldn’t have been a secret! It wasn’t like there were users they didn’t know about! Except the Sirens, of course, but they were special exceptions.

You swap your little finger with hers to make sure she’s still alive. ...Yeah. So she’s not suicidal.

Sunny’s looking for some kind of prognosis from you, so you turn to her. “She’s alive somewhere. She’s not stupid, she wouldn’t leave us with her father alone.”

”Not even for the gem?”

Before you can answer, something black and flaking appears in the center of the room. It’s small, but clearly a Stand, a few times larger than yours. It looks like it’s dying, parts of it evaporating like ash being spread into the air, but it zips toward you and throws a punch.

You switch hands with Diamond and block it. After a single crack of force blows you backwards, it fizzles and disappears again. For your part you stumble and catch yourself on the railing of the balcony, and it doesn’t reappear.

Footsteps pound away down the hall, and that’s when you realize the door’s closed.

Diamond Tiara

You’ve got to get as far away from this house as possible. Find Trixie, find Care or Derpy, just... find somebody! You can’t let holding onto this fate be a mistake!

You race for the front door and realize the problem by the time you reach the stairs. They won’t catch up to you if you run, because you know the layout here better than they do. But your dad looks up from the front door, where he’s standing, and sees you - alone, and carrying a large gem.

You had to make it life or death to use your Stand the last time, and now it continues inside of you as a persistent ache. Like shrapnel, maybe. You haven’t had to deal with pain much in your life, you don’t have a real measure for it, but a month ago, this would’ve been cause to go to your personal doctor immediately.

Now, it propels you a little further. He steps forward from the door, noticing your expression, and he seems ready to chew you out. You have to prove to him that these powers are real, and then maybe he’ll listen!

You take another deep breath, and then jump over the stair’s railing. The fall is exhilarating, and just like before you try to focus on it - not on the splat at the bottom, but the feeling. You close your eyes and summon ｢Pink｣.

Then you feel it next to you, ready to smash that action with its fist - but its beetle-black fingers crumble as it pulls back its arm. One fist is already gone, the other disintegrates in the swing. Come on...

Then the arm starts to dissipate. The bright eyes flash danger signals, and then the rest of it unravels. Your power is gone, and you don’t have time to do anything but clutch the gem to yourself as you fall.

”｢Johnny Cash｣!”

The crash doesn’t hurt, much. You wonder if you're in shock, or if you died automatically upon smashing your head onto the floor, but then you open your eyes and see only floral-patterned white. You’re on a stack of mattresses. And in front of the door is your dad, hand stretched out in front of him.

Did he just…?

The Shadowbolts are approaching, you can hear their footfalls echoing in the entryway. Swallowing your relief, you leap off of the beds and run towards your dad.

”You have a Stand?” You ask, and he doesn’t answer for a moment, but it’s clear that he does, so you hurry up. ”So do I! So do they!” You point back the way you came, thank goodness they’re not here yet. ”They’re trying to take the gem for the group they work for! They almost collected them all last night, but they couldn’t because I kept this one here. It’s the only reason we’re all still here now, or else I don’t know what would’ve happened, and they’re trying to take it from me so that they can do things right the second time!”

Once you started talking you can’t stop, and on your final words they’ve already arrived, rushing down the stairs as fast as they can.

”Diamond… I didn’t want you to get into that. I thought it would be nothing but trouble for you.” His tone is sad, almost mournful. The universe has condensed to the two of you.

“I had to! My friends need me! It was wrong not to tell you, but it wasn’t a mistake to help them!” Those words solidify in your mind for a moment, like a brief echo. ’Wasn’t a mistake.’ You're right, it wasn’t, was it?

For some reason, that thought ignites something in you. It collapses a house of cards, or maybe superglues it into place. He seems to feel it too. You push down the urge to try for the hundredth time to summon your Stand, and instead, he summons his.

The mattresses explode into coins, pelting the girls as they reach the ground floor. One of them, the one with white hair, puts up a hand that turns pinkish-red and started glowing lime-green. With precision it catches coins in front of her face, letting her see enough through her spectacles to edge closer, like walking through a blizzard.

Your dad creates a stungun, which appears curved around the contours of his open fingers. Whatever its power is, that has to be the coolest Stand you’ve ever seen.

She’s still all business, unphased. ”We only want what’s ours back, Mr. Rich. If you make any other moves to attack us, I’ll be happy to replace wherever you’re hitting with your daughter.”

To demonstrate, her neck becomes pink, and your own prickles. He doesn’t back down, but he doesn’t fire, either, and the chaos of loose change dies down around you. As the last of the coins roll to a stop, it all goes quiet.

She continues. ”You’re wondering if you can attack faster than I can activate my power. You can’t. She’ll get second-degree burns, or worse, and she might even bleed out if it’s in the wrong area. Your chances aren’t good.”

The one with multicolored violet hair steps forward, and he doesn’t move. She speaks, her voice lilting compared to the other girl. ”If I use my ｢Royals｣ on you, I don’t know what will happen. All I can say is that you probably won’t come out as a whole human being. I don’t want to do that. Tell your daughter to give us the gem and let us be, and we’ll leave you both alone forever.” He doesn’t respond for a moment, and she puts a hand to his arm.

When he speaks to you, neither of them move. ”Run, Diamond. Go to Silver’s family if you can.”

”Diamond, if you do that, he’s not going to make it," the one further away says, and just like that the world centers around you.

Didn’t you used to wish for this feeling, this attention? Were you really that stupid, once upon a time? Hell, aren't you still?

That thought echoes again. ’It wasn’t a mistake’...

“...Okay.” You step forward, in front of your dad, holding the gem out in one hand. It drops eight inches before she grasps it in her free palm, and breathes a small, almost invisible sigh of relief.

And then you punch her in the gut.

She doubles over, almost dropping it, and lets go of your dad. Now that her face is in range you hit her again, bloodying her nose and your coat, angry as hell. Helping Silver and her family was the right thing to do! Going in after them wasn’t a mistake! It was what anyone would’ve done, should’ve done! IT WASN'T A MISTAKE!

She lunges back up for his arm, and you can feel the power of her ability churning towards you. But with a sudden crack of pink, you knock her arm back, jarring it in its sockets. ｢Pink｣ came back to you!

Except, now that you have an eyeful, it doesn’t look right. The black’s completely flaked away. It’s really pink now, pink lemonade pink, and the name doesn’t feel right any longer.

”Not one more movement from either of you.” The dry, deeper-voiced girl says. ”Toss the gem to Sunbeam and lay on the ground if you want to live.”

Your dad freezes when he looks at her. She was carrying a pocket knife, and now she has it to her throat - your throat. You can tell from her face that she’s not bluffing, and your dad doesn’t do anything, his Stand must not be able to stop her.

Everything's frozen as your feeling of triumph fades into the background, as you stare at her and try to think of some solution. Your power makes you different from a regular person being threatened at knifepoint! You're not helpless, not if you can just think! There must be something you can erase...

No. No, there isn’t. Even if there were, if you got out of this by undoing something you’ve done before, you’d be betraying the path you walked up to now. This moment with your father, this feeling of growth… it’s not a mistake. It's not a mistake, and it’s not what you should fix!

”｢Pink ACT 2｣!” Your Stand flies for her as she jabs the knife forward, but it’s smaller now, and faster without that shell to weigh it down, and its punch isn’t aimed at her directly.

After a single strike, it dissipates, and the pink leaves her neck completely.

”Now, Dad!” you shout. He nods, and pulls the trigger.

A burst of crackling wires connects with a very confused prep-schooler, and then she loses control of her motor functions and slams to the ground in a tangle of motion. You feel nothing, but while you watch your Stand flies over to where 'Sunbeam' is trying to stand and delivers another solid punch to her head.

And then, just like that, you and your dad are standing together, over your incapacitated enemies.

You realize that you have a lot to talk about.

Somewhere...

Arms folded behind a head, mouth chewing on a strand of blue energy-drink hair like a piece of straw. ”Man, this is boring.”

Green eyes squinting, arms folded. ”Weren’t you one of the ones we were fighting?”

A look out of the corner of an eye. ”Huh? Yeah, I guess. Wasn’t really about you, though.”

”Just my sister’s boyfriend?”

A mean smile, with teeth. ”Tch. He might’ve kicked my ass, but he’s nothing big. Just plan Z.”

”Plan Z for what?”

Bored now. ”Saving the world. It’s a good cause. Glad I’m still living on a little down there.”

”Yeah, getting your ass handed to you.”

Silence, mulling. ”Sugar’s gonna do alright.”

...Shrug. ”What’s the world need saving from, anyway?”

”Not this one. Uh… you know what I mean. It’s just about putting things back in place.”

”Sounds like you don’t know either.”

A shooing wave. ”Pff, fuck that. My girls are gonna save Equestria. Just you watch.”

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Pink Act 2｣
User: Diamond Tiara
Ability: The user can ‘erase’ any action a person has taken in the last two minutes from causality, causing time to carry on as if they had simply done nothing instead of that particular thing. Erasure does not undo the effects on organic tissue except through undoing the effects of other Stands, and even then cannot bring the dead back to life. Only works once per two minutes.

How Far We've Come

Sunset Shimmer

You're standing in the back rooms of Canterlot High. Twilight's with you, looking as nervous as she's been the last week. Both of you know that this has to work.

You stare down at the arrow on the desk. Gold, intricate, and just as bright in the dark as in the light. You try to concentrate on what you need: a way back, a way home and out of here...

Your mind fills with idyllic scenes. Leisurely reading with Celestia. Autumn visits to the smaller principalities. The fireworks displays that lit up the Canterlot sky in time with each holiday...

Why leave? Stubbornness, arrogance, maybe pride. Not any longer. You've moved past what you were. You've become someone worthy of the high path! Which is why you're going to get this on your first try!

You smack a hand down right on the metal shaft. Immediately, something gets pushed onto you. Through you. The arrow's almost impatient, offloading its magic onto you, and it comes with an identity, a name.

"H-hey, I think this is going to work!" You flash Twilight a smile, and she leans forward with eager eyes.

Okay. Now, how do you make it work? Well, you have what sounds like the name, so maybe it's like a spellcasting measure. You turn away from Twilight just in case and speak to the empty hallway.

"｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣...?" The air hangs still. Hmmph. Your mouth sets in a line. "I'm missing something."

"A volunteer?" Twilight's eagerness has burnt off a little, now replaced with abstraction. You haven't failed yet. This arrow's the best chance, the only chance that's going to come. Unless you can marry technology and magic that neither world's even seen!

You kill your frown and nod to her. "Maybe. I'm not sure. It feels kind of... prickly."

She studies you for a moment, and then speaks, helpfully. "Maybe the teleportation's defensive."

"Yeah, maybe. I just get a bad feeling about all of this. I know it has to happen, but it just feels... off." To your credit, you do have some real experience with negative magics. This isn't black magic, it's not even outside harmony's wheelhouse, but still... it has the potential to get pretty nasty.

She seems to mirror your expression. "I know what you mean. But if it's the only way, it's the only way."

She has a point. "Fine. Just stand there and let me focus on you for a minute." She does, silently, hands clasped in front of her.

"｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣!" You snap your wrist forward to accompany it, trying to fling your power out and onto her. Something works, and you feel the world lurch around the both of you for a second. Everything's moving!

And then there are three people.

"You..." A face you remember too clearly for your own liking stares at you.

Adagio Dazzle, the leader of the Dazzlings, looking steaming mad. She's not even looking at you, but it feels like she is.
Like you both have to be aware of each other. Did you pull her in from... wherever she was and then anchor her to yourself?

Either way, her expression remains absolutely furious! "So you found another way to cheat!"

Twilight answers her, hands unclasping, a little nervous. "...Would you mind telling us where you just came from?"

Adagio doesn't answer. Instead, her eyes glaze over with a soft red light. And wait... she has her pendant on, the one that powered her magic by making the school fight! How could that have happened?

This is all too freaky, and not what you needed to happen. You snap your hand out again, hoping to dismiss it all. "｢Boulevard of Broken Dreams｣!"

But Adagio doesn't react. At least, not to you. She stalks closer to Twilight, and then pounces.

Sour Sweet

For some reason, Lemon does this best, so you leave her in there and stand guard. ｢Message Man｣ would protect you, naturally, but... well, some things take a little finesse and niceness. You just aren't feeling it right now.

It's been hours since Sugarcoat's last update, it's late afternoon and you're starting to get worried. Filthy Rich didn't sound like an easy Stand user to go toe-to-toe with. But it might just be that Sugarcoat's got so much vinegar in her blood that she couldn't be bothered to send you a message, or she had to get a third phone this week!

You turn to the door to the crate. "What's taking so long?!"

Lemon's voice comes back, both loud and good-natured. "We're just talking for a few minutes!"

...You cross your arms and look out onto the horizon. The sun's behind a building now, but judging by the color it won't set for another hour or two. It's getting dark out earlier, now. Soon it'll have been twenty four hours. You notice your teeth grinding, slightly.

Really, what the fuck happened back there? You haven't seen hide or hair of Sunset, Flash is gone, Sugarcoat's voted herself into power, and now you're left scrounging for... anything. Gems, your teammates... anything.

Sunset told you what positions to take, she should've known. You arrived on time, you did everything you could. You even helped knock out one of the Sirens, or so Sugarcoat tells you.

But why didn't you wipe the floor with them? Maybe Sunset had some bad information, somehow. The plan just didn't fit the situation. Or maybe it was exactly what she'd been expecting. You saw the way she was around the rest of the Rainbooms.

There was genuine feeling there. With you, all of you, it was business, like fulfilling a contract. Maybe that's the right way to think about it. And after all, if someone falls off the roof and cracks their skull open before the job's done, you just put someone else up there, right?

You try to be better than this. It's a strain.

You can feel the current of this emotion, and where it'll take you. First some more pounding on the door, hurrying things along, becoming antagonistic... Let them have a minute to talk. You know that what you're fighting for is more important than one person's life - that was how every battle worth fighting was. And she gave all of you every chance to back out before you touched that arrow.

You look out onto that horizon, at the still-steady traffic of cars heading home. They all have their headlights on already, even though it's not even close to dark yet. You hate people like that. But above them, a plane whistling through the air - a big diagonal contrail against the clear sky.

You think of the words burnt into the sky two nights ago. Your fists tighten in your armpits like the knots of muscle in your legs. These things you've been saying... they're all the kinds of things she'd say if you tried to argue it with her. You feel like you're just making excuses.

Fake compassion leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. You don't feel bad for Sunset. You don't feel bad for anyone involved, really. And what's wrong with that? You're in this to get better.

You were all pretty private about whatever it was they were paying you with, but of course everyone could guess. A lifetime without stumbling over yourself. Dignity without anger, control without fear. You felt insulted when they first offered it to you, and even more insulted when you learned that they were just doing it to save the world.

But it was smart. No one else has worked out the threats buried in those promises.'We can keep you like this forever if you don't help us.'

...Your parents would tell you to cheer up right now, probably. You imagine using ｢Message Man｣ to cut off the start of a conversation like that. You could do it, if you seized the exact moment the decision formed in their head - that little bit of electricity would do it.

'But we sent you to the best school we could find, we made sure you kept in touch with your friends, your father works extra hours to pay your prescriptions, not that you should feel guilty-' Extra hours, extra hours.

You shake your head. You hate psychology. That and the city. One day you're going to go live in the woods somewhere no one goes. Or, you don't know, be a camp counselor or something. There has to be a market for that in the summer.

You remember Sugarcoat trying to make you read some book about that. "Waldo"? She never really offered things to anyone, but you had a bad spot one night and tore half the pages out. Didn't have the heart to tell her afterwards, not that she'd have cared.

...You really need to get out of your head. So you turn back to the only entrance to the crate. It's a huge shipping container, the kind that mostly gets turned into an eighteen-wheeler. Metal ribbed with copper or brass, something that looked half-rusted coming off of the production line. You step closer.

The door locks from the outside with a sturdy, thick bolt of iron. It's jammed into place now, more symbolically than anything. Anyone in their right mind would think of this as a prison, but it's willing. Even all your Stands combined wouldn't be able to trap her here. Not that you're really afraid of her or anything, it's just the truth.

If you press an ear up to the door, you might make out the conversation inside. Don't old ladies do this with glass cups, or is that just in sitcoms? You debate whether it matters, and whether you should be more careful as a guard, but the truth is that it doesn't matter who shows up here or tries to get in. You're only now facing the part that's actually in need of security.

So, bored, you try. It's grimy and freezing, and you take extra care not to get any part of your mouth stuck to it. Lemon's voice comes through more clearly, being a lot higher-pitched and closer-by. It doesn't have its usual squeal energy, though.

"...t's not your fault, really. Everyone else is fine."

"B-but i...een there I could've - no, yo..." So she sounds the same... The one time it was your turn, she'd been sleeping.

"It can't be any fun being here. ...It's not gonna be for much longer."

"-don't know if I can...uch longer. It's jus..."

"Two months. And everyone's hurting, believe me. We all thought it was gonna be over last night, but things got way too hot too fast."

You can't hear any part of the next reply, but the inflection tells you it's a question. Lemon listens to it without interrupting.

"No, they're totally fine. So are their little sisters, and believe me, they helped out big time. It was just Adagio - do you know Adagio?"

Mumble mumble something something?

So just news of the world beyond. You stop listening.

Lemon gets along with her, although you have no idea why someone like Sunny or Sugarcoat didn't do it even better. That, and she has ｢Lemon Demon｣, which nearly guarantees her safety in a one-on-one. You need to head out before the sun starts to set. You're finding your way to Flash, tonight.

If they planned this out, the Sirens will already have some of the gems collected. Two birds with one stone. But in the dark, the purple one will have an even bigger advantage. It took the most savage attacks you had to hurt her last time, and she'll expect you. No more fighting fair, or pulling punches.

Two knocks from the inside of the crate. You nod your head, and ｢Message Man｣ undoes the bolt. A distinct chemical smell washes out into the lot, along with the breathy hum of a whispery generator. Lemon steps out, and then nods to the side. Her Stand closes the door faster than you could open it, and smacks the bolt back into place.

"Come on, we've got a couple of places to search while everywhere's still open." The way you say it makes it sound like you're trying to hurt someone. She nods and lets you lead the way.

Derpy

It's the end of the school day and things aren't any worse. Time keeps slipping ahead, leaving dark patches you barely remember. Class, hallway, class.

Care didn't come in today. You're taking the bus home, but knowing your mom, she'll want to drive you here and back from now on.

"Are you feeling okay?" Twilight's voice comes from beside you. You haven't really talked much, only in the hallways, but she's been around you all day. It feels like she really doesn't know where else to be.

The teachers don't know about anything yet, people will probably find out on the news. Will they say her name?

You blink. "No."

She adjusts her glasses and looks apologetic. "I... I honestly didn't know--"

"I believe you." The words grind out on autopilot. You're not angry with her, but you clearly haven't conveyed that. Just, what else could they throw at you?

You're both standing under a barren flagpole in the cold as the others file onto buses. Half-pint Freshmen mingle with the upperclassmen, hurrying for the doors as if nothing's wrong. How many directions do you have to protect your family from? Is there some trapdoor in your power, too, that Sunset can use whenever she feels like it?

Twilight might know.

"What is that arrow? Where did Sunset get it from?"

She hesitates, now, making an effort to choose her words. Or her apology was rehearsed a few times. "It's some kind of a magical relic, like the Dazzlings' gems. I don't know for sure, but I think she might have brought it from Equestria? It has a lot of magical power in it, so it works weirdly around Stands."

"Like forcing them to activate?"

"Uh, well, I didn't know it could do that until last night, but it does seem good at supercharging any Equestrian magic that already exists."

Of course - that's probably where Fido got his special upgrade from. But why would this impossible-to-go-to land of talking horses need something that beefed people up like that? In fact...

"Is there Earth magic?"

She watches a bus leave, and lets the answer sit on her palate for a while. "Hm... I don't think so. If there is, there's never been very good evidence for it. But I'll admit I haven't done a lot of deep studying into it."

Even she seems kind of... untouched. It all just rolls off the rest of the world. The riptides come for everyone, one person at a time...

You don't like thoughts like that. "Why do you say 'Equestrian magic', then?"

That perturbs her. "What do you mean?"

"Isn't it just 'magic'?"

She opens her mouth, and then closes it. "I... guess it is."

Your bus shows up, and Silver gets onto it. There were rumors running around that she hurt someone today, maybe multiple someones. You don't know what to say to her, and her attitude doesn't give you a chance. She just bustles into the bus and lurks in the back, staring intensely into the middle distance, tasting the air - she doesn't even have her backpack.

Twilight sits down next to you, and you look at her, curious. She's definitely never taken this bus before.

"My house is actually pretty close to yours. I can make the walk afterwards," she says. You smile a little, on the inside.

She lowers her voice as the doors close and the whole contraption takes off. "I've got a question for you, too, actually."

"What?"

"Well, just... what's next?"

No one's bothering Silver, and she doesn't seem to notice your glance to check. Across the bus other conversations are popping up, and hidden handheld games and music players are being produced in droves from deep pockets.

"Next?" You ask without looking at her, and then catch with one eye the plaintiveness on her face.

"Yes, are you going to... keep up the fight with Sunset, or just let her do what she wants and try to, uh... get away from it?"

Oh. She feels a little conflicted about your burgeoning feud with her sister-killing former friend.

You look at her firmly. "I have to stop her."

"But... wouldn't it be safer for you to just let her be? N-not that I'm saying it would be ideal, but couldn't we just call the police on her or something?"

You feel your normal kindness drain out of you. "All of those girls have families. The Shadowbolts, the Crusaders, even Anonymous. It could've been any of them last night."

Twilight remembers the sight of that one body, unplaceable for you, and she shudders. From the little she's told you, she used to hang out with the Crystal Prep girls.

You go on. "All of them had families, and all of them were fighting because they were brought to that place and forced to. She knew what was happening. As long as she uses them as pawns in some game to jump between the universes, I'll never forgive her for any of the pain she's caused." She looks kind of taken aback, and you have to make sure that you didn't put so much feeling into your voice that the entire bus heard it.

"But... how are you going to find her? And if she has the arrow, how are you going to stop her from using it on you?"

"Care and I will think of something."

Her eyes go wide with shock and she almost splutters, before she remembers to keep her voice down. "C-Care? Isn't he the reason that all of this happened to you?" Then she sees the expression on your face. "Well, I'm not saying that it's his fault, but-"

"Care's done everything he can for me. He's given up everything else he could be. If Sunset grabbed his arm and hit me with it, I wouldn't hate the arm. That's exactly what Sunset would be looking for, anyway, a chance to demoralize us and keep us from gathering the gems together." Golden wouldn't let that happen, and she wouldn't rest well if you let it happen either. You won't let that passion die inside of you, not when her body isn't even cold yet!

Twilight listens to you. She looks nervous, but not about you.

Then you remember that she doesn't even have a Stand, the way she stood in the background in that room, saying nothing. Her cry for help just before you escaped.

Your demeanor gets a little gentler. "Sunset was really close to you, wasn't she?"

She nods. "I never got a good chance to know the rest of the Rainbooms the way I got to know her. She's... a good friend."

"Then why? Why would she do this?"

"I... I don't know. I really don't think she meant for anyone to get hurt. I'd never seen that green man before, when I was with her or anywhere."

Anonymous. If what Twilight said to you last night was true, that Sunset had made it impossible for Care to have happy memories, maybe she didn't control how they became unhappy, like making a wish to the monkey's paw...

But she could have asked. She took the risk, she had the accident, and now someone's missing from the world. That's not just some mistake. Not with the way she was acting, the way she'd planned everything. Wherever she got that arrow from, she must have known how dangerous it was.

Twilight's turned inward, and the frost on the glass across the aisle blocks your view of the trees.

Your voice draws her back out. "What are you going to do, now?"

She makes eye contact with you, looking kind of glum. "I-I don't know if there's anything I can do, Derpy. I don't have a Stand or much special information, I can't fight, and I messed things up so badly that all of this started in the first place."

Yes, she said something about that, but you missed it. "What do you mean?"

"During the Friendship Games, I took all of the Rainbooms' magic and turned into a monster called Midnight Sparkle. It took them and the Shadowbolts to stop me from breaking open our universe and the one Sunset came from, but once it was over I'd done enough damage that I... uncoupled them."

That gives you a strange mental image. "Like train cars?"

She nods, looking a little guilty. "If we could just create a bridge between the universes again, there must be a way to make it stronger. That's what Sunset's been trying to do. Without it, she can't go home, and there won't be any more Equestrian magic in the whole world."

It surprises you how passionately she talks about Sunset's mission, but you remember the Friendship Games, vaguely. You didn't participate much past the chemistry section of the decathlon, and you were really only let on because a few Freshmen voted you in. But at the end, things did go really wonky. There were no big announcements or anything, but huge holes did start to appear.

Bright lights in the sky, big pulses of energy. It wasn't normal, but it was like a fire, you knew to get to cover. No one really talked about what happened afterward. Did the Rainbooms and Shadowbolts just keep it to themselves?

They must have been willing to help Sunset afterwards, but why? Did she really befriend them that quickly?

Another important question comes to mind. "You said that there couldn't be any more magic after the portal got lost, but the Dazzlings said that Care's Stand was Equestrian magic, and so is that arrow. How could that happen?"

She opens her mouth to recite something, stops herself, closes it, and thinks. Finally she answers you. "...I don't know. I think the amount of magic in the world has to stay about the same. We're still running on whatever was leftover from all the trips people made back and forth to Equestria. When it runs out, this will be all we have."

"Then couldn't you use it to turn into Midnight Sparkle again and fix everything?"

She winces. "That's... not a good idea. We tried it, before she used the arrow. I'm not even strong enough to use a Stand, I don't have that kind of willpower."

Now she's just being self-deprecating. You can't stand to see someone like this; the opposite of Sunset, a person whose mistakes were bad, but who tried to make them better. Someone who thinks that she might as well stay out of the way instead of getting too involved.

"You know, you can always come help us the same way you helped her."

She looks a more than a little surprised. "But... all I really did for her was track your phones and mix some chemicals now and then."

"Didn't you build those gem trackers the Shadowbolts had?"

"Yes, they were modified from the one I used to take the magic from the Rainbooms."

"We could definitely use those, if we're going to get back the gems and keep them out of anyone else's hands. ｢Spinal Tap｣ is bringing them to me twice a day already, but it's still going to take a couple weeks to get them that way, and that makes me a big target. I don't want to take any more chances."

She absorbs that. "But... why?"

You blink, and refocus your eyes on her. Why? "What do you mean?"

"What are you going to do with them once you assemble them?"

The question seems to echo in the noise of the bus. It comes to a stop, and the first herd of kids shuffles forward.

"Well, we'll keep anyone else from having them."

Twilight looks horrified. "For how long? The Dazzlings are indestructible Stand users. They might really be able to wait until you die to take them back! And Sunset's never going to give up unless you find some way to destroy Equestrian magic completely!"

Yes, destroy Equestrian magic... that, or her hope.

You are, very often, a woman of common sense, and here it leads you to a single conclusion. "Then we'll use them to help Care, or break them all the way."

She shakes her head. "The last time they were even shattered it took a pulse of harmonic magic so powerful that I was still measuring it for days after! Even Care's power wouldn't be able to destroy them for good! The only way to stop anyone from getting to them would be using more Equestrian magic to push them out of the universe, and that's exactly what they want anyway!"

You suddenly feel like you've wandered into an argument. The busgoers have cast you a few glances, although most of them are at the back of Twilight's head. None of their eyes seem to glint with malicious understanding, and they move on as soon as they come.

On instinct, you take a deep breath. "Twilight..." You wish Care were here. He convinced Trixie so easily, when she had been the one out to recruit him! Maybe it was because he knew where he was going. He had such a sense of direction, a tie to destiny... "I know that there are a lot of details that we haven't figured out yet. I... I don't like knowing the whole future in advance. We've done too much of that already, and it's only hurt us."

She's listening to you intently, waiting for some moment to interrupt. You keep up the pace enough to not give her a chance.

"I don't know what we're going to do once we get all of these gems. But we don't know everything about them. Maybe there is a way to destroy them, or use them up. If we drained them of all their magic, or hid them away somewhere no one else would find them..." She really, really wants to interrupt you, but you plow on. "No matter what we really can and can't do, I know for sure that I can't just leave Sunset to gather them on her own. I can't let her have what she's going after, or the Dazzlings, or anybody else who's fighting these battles. Once we have them we can decide what to do with them, but that's the only acceptable ending."

The solitary, crooked path to the base of that ｢lemon tree of the future｣...

"But I need your help to do it. Care won't be able to do much for the next two weeks, and that might be all the time we get before things come back to a head. Without you, we're going to be in the dark completely, and we'll only be able to grab the gems by taking on other Stand users."

You've realized something, now that you've been through that dark night. A strategic line of thought has sprouted in your mind. The more fights you have, the more risk, so any situation that you can get through without a direct conflict is an automatic victory!

Besides Care, none of your Stands are suited for direct combat, and if it's true that the gems are unbreakable, it's wasting your offensive to gather them with your Stand. You're still safe in that area, you have a small stockpile, but that's for emergencies only. For everything awful that happened last night -

Golden's death flashes through your mind, in a way you realize it will for the rest of your life, in happy moments and sad -

You've seen who your enemies are, and you know you can't win by relying on just your own Stand.

The Crusaders had a Stand powerful enough that they could take yours head-on. Sunset's was unpredictable, and you couldn't even tell what Flash's was. With the Shadowbolts on their side, you can't just charge in.

Twilight speaks again, and you struggle to center your eyes on her again after this torrent of planning. "...If that's really how you feel, then I'll do my best to help you. You got me out of a bad situation, and you didn't leave me behind even though I'd been helping to make your life harder..."

Okay! Maybe you're a bit better at this than you thought!

You smile at her, and then put an arm around her shoulder in a light sideways hug. And to your credit, she even returns it! "Aww, I knew from when I saw you that you didn't have anything bad in mind."

Yes, some people in the world are evil, but some don't have a drop of it in them. Their aura seems to radiate goodness. However she acted in the past, that's the kind of feeling that you get from being around Twilight. To someone else that might be a mystery of its own, but it's the kind you kinda like having in your life. There are enough bad ones on your plate to last you the rest of it.

The bus stops at your street soon enough. Twilight and you discuss plans for the rest of your short time together. Silver brushes past you with her head down on her phone, and you don't call out to her. The back of her head reminds you...

You're doing something about it now. You and Twilight, your newest friend.

You're not finished with this war yet!

Anon

”Do you know why Dagi and I have different eyes than Aria?” That question echoes in the room.

Sometimes Sonata will say things that only make sense a lot later. Jokes, sometimes. It makes her pretty amazing at breaking up a boring, samey conversation. Even though you don't understand all of the things she says, you can always talk with her about something.

Before her, you could count the number of girls you had an extended conversation with pretty easily. It was one conversation each, typically. A girl on a train who started one out of the blue about television...

None of them were like her, which was why you missed her dearly whenever she was gone. You nearly couldn't stand it.

It's like you're the main character in some awful romance novel - of which, again, you've only experienced a handful. Right now it's getting particularly bad. She patted you on the head before she left, telling you to make sure to keep your leg up. Of course, you do.

She also made you conserve ｢Nowhere Man｣'s ability, to help your recovery. You really don't know if you'll be able to walk again, but that's okay. Once you go back to where they all live, you'll just learn how to swim. 'Anon the Mermaid.'

Or maybe the portal will fix you, or they'll find a way with their own magic. Sonata didn't seem too worried about your injuries once you came to. The girls have a lot of medical experience, apparently. Frankly, nothing about them should really surprise you any more.

You always assumed that if you were dying, no one would come for you. That was the fate of Anonymous; you would break off from people, losing more and more along the way, and eventually leave the world alone. And who knows, you guess there's still time for that, but the idea that someone would save you from those bullet wounds... (Or that she would get her sisters to smuggle high-powered painkillers for you.) It's incredible.

Your leg's currently splinted and bandaged, with the bullet removed. You kind of wish they'd kept it. The reason was originally that it would've been cool to show off, but you realized that everyone you would show it to had already seen it. Now, you'd just like to have touched it, understood it. What happened to make all of that possible last night? Were those girls really going easy on you until the end?

According to Sonata, this was how the night happened:

She locked out the back doors, and things were calm. Adagio signaled in Siren for her to come to where everything was happening. But before she could do that, one of them was back there. She ran away after a lot of rigmarole, and Sonata lost her, and then when she came up on the group, things were already in chaos. She came in finally, just as things were really getting heated up, and she got Flash Sentry knocked out and away from where anyone would find him.

But before she could go for seconds, ｢Listening Chair｣ alerted her about you. She broke off from terrorizing Shimmer's squad and ran to where you were with all her power. And oh, Nonny, you looked like the biggest mess.

You smile to yourself, staring at the ceiling. Fuck, you miss her. Apart from Aria being in an especially bad snit, the other two haven't said anything about what happened yesterday except about the gems. Which are now an academic point to you, because of your other responsibility.

Flash Sentry groans and chuffles a bit before he wakes up completely, so you have time to look stern. Mister Rockstar's not hurt too badly, but you've figured out how to keep him unconscious. If ｢Nowhere Man｣ summons a ghost and makes it stay still on something, it becomes almost impossible to muster new energy in it. Stands, which are like constant ups and downs of energy, get shorted out. Hearts, which work the same way but much faster, give out completely, and sleeping people, who have low levels of frontal lobe activity, stay sleeping. The last two combined make it possible to put anyone you want in a coma, as long as you have the hands to spare.

In this case, you released him from your thrall about an hour ago. When he comes awake, he's always aware and ready before he opens his eyes. Doing what he thinks, in rockstar land, is a subtle test of his bonds. You hope they chafe.

He's on the couch, and you're splayed out on a big comfy loveseat. Still has enough mobility to put a hand to his face, by design. Sonata looked at you while she and Adagio did the ropework and winked, and you don't know what to feel about that.

You reach down into a thin slit of cardboard at your side, and your target crackles and bumps under your fingers. Then you produce it. "Hey, catch."

Flash's eyes open and adjust just as the cereal bar flies through the air. It tastes sugary as hell and leaves a nasty dust in your mouth, but the Sirens have very picky palates and don't care much about human tastes. Besides, she thought you'd like them; there's a smiley face sun in the corner of the box.

Flash's hand reaches out to the maximum slack of the rope and catches the bar like a fastball. Damn it.

Game for anything, he reinspects the room while his hands Houdini open the food. This is his second time awake, and he seems kind of disappointed. "You haven't moved me yet?"

The room you're in clearly doesn't belong to any of you. There's a clunky, decently old TV in the center, in one of those cabinets you can close up, and a big black shelving unit of mostly boring DVDs, which you've already amused yourself with by having ｢Nowhere Man｣ bring to you. A lot of bric-a-brac, a piano in the far corner, good carpeting worn with age and bumps in the walls around the light fixtures. Wisps of yellow curtain block any view of the backyard, and the hallway blocks any hint of the front door.

It was the best they had on standby. There were a couple buildings like this that Adagio convinced people to leave, just in case things went south. That lady sure bounces back. The fact that the owners haven't come back yet, now that the power's worn off, is a relief to all of you.

"No reason to," you respond. You almost add 'None of your people are going to find you here,' but that would be too thick. Never argue with someone from a position of authority.

Flash keeps scanning the room. Your ghost is underneath of him on the couch, waiting to grab him. For the second time his eyes rest on your bandaged leg, laying out on the table.

"We don't have to keep you alive. If you throw that thing at my broken leg, I'm just going to kill you."

He doesn't look scared, but he does work the bar down to his mouth and take a bite off of it. "So how long until you interrogate me?"

You chuckle. He really thinks he's a captured spy, doesn't he? "We don't need to. We'll use you as a hostage while the girls sniff out the shards again. Once we have one, whoever gets it will just force you to tell us anything we don't know anyway."

He maintains his expression. "You don't really think it'll be that easy, do you?"

"Yes, it will. Now that we don't have to worry about being secretive, the Dazzlings can just find their pendants by being close to them. No one can take them on in a straight fight."

He mulls on that, and then he asks something completely unrelated. "Why are you working with them?"

Your shoulders set. "Because they deserve better than what your little friends did to them. They deserve to go home, instead of being trapped in a shithole of a universe like this one."

He looks at you, calmly. Searching, almost. His voice is low, curious. "You're really not being controlled by them, are you?"

Your blood boils, but your face doesn't change. "No, I'm not. It doesn't take brainwashing to see the world as it really is. You just have to get the right perspective." A perspective someone like Flash Sentry wouldn't have in a million years.

You can tell you're not getting through to him, but it doesn't matter. He used to be "nice" to you, is all, back... well, it feels like a long time ago, now. Walking up behind you and smacking you on the shoulder, ignoring how you flinched every time. Asking you about what you were doing on the weekend. Implying you should come along to some awful football party or something, like you'd never watched Carrie.

It was only a few days before he left you alone again, thankfully. You hardly remembered it, and you'd hoped he didn't either.

"I'm... not sure what to say to that." At least he's being honest, and not hurling some new reason to be all daisies about life at you.

All of that bullshit only serves to make you angry now. If people tell you enough times to take deep breaths when you're ready to hurt someone, the thought of actually doing it starts to piss you off even more. It's a web of bad expectations, ready to snare you the second you speak to the wrong person. And you already know whose expectations you care about, so let the whole web burn, and the rest of them with it.

Flash has eaten now, it's about time to put him back under. He'll start planning something otherwise, he's not stupid. You wish he was stupid, it would make it easier to just write him off.

"Anon?" he asks.

"What?"

"What made you give up?"

Ohh, of fucking course you spoke too soon. The soft self-righteousness is what gets you the worst.

You don't keep the edge out of your voice this time. "What, on being happy?" You all but spit on the carpet.

"On the world."

The world? That prison built by the people, for the people? "When I found something better." You feel yourself almost smirk. It's the closest you can get to smiling, normally, without looking like you're in pain.

He doesn't give you a reaction. "You want it for one of them, don't you? No bullshit?"

So he really could tell you weren't being controlled. You consider him for a moment.

"Yeah. I do." You don't dare say which one, just in case he figures out some way to hold one of the girls hostage. Not that you wouldn't risk yourself for Aria or Adagio - Sonata would feel awful if they weren't around.

"I know the feeling."

"Tch." You doubt it.

He goes on anyway. "You want her to get back home, no matter what you have to do. So long as she isn't miserable and trapped, everything else can work itself out. And when it's all over, whatever still needs to be taken care of, she'll be able to take care of it herself."

You nod, despite yourself. You didn't realize he was a... kindred spirit? "Is it Shimmer for you?"

He doesn't answer the question. "That kind of thinking is going to kill all of us."

You don't have anything to say back to him that isn't overly aggressive. Sonata will be back, soon, and you won't have to keep company with his thoughts after that.

Her eyes come back to you. Why are they different? What's so important about that, anyway?

Suddenly you feel something shift, and the coffee table is gone from under your foot. Not slid out, like your brain tells you it must have, just vanished completely. Your dead-weight leg hits the carpet, and sings out in pain as you slip down the chair.

St-Stand attack!

Flash is already up, the ropes completely gone. How did he--

He looks at you with some kind of pity in his eyes, an angel staring down on a demon as he pierces its side. Your hand's already at your side in the cushion, going for your second gun. Then the loveseat disappears, and the rest of you falls, destroying your balance again.

You feel like you're being shot again.

He heads out into the hallway, straight for the door. You still pick the metal up, and fire through the wall. The shot's silenced, but it slices through the front door, and it does what you intend it to. He stops before he can get outside. Now he's frozen, thinking - trying to determine where you're likely to fire next.

He could come in here, or run for the alcove the door's in. Either way, he won't make it. Fucking good-at-everything Stand prick... You fire a second shot at the door while he makes whatever decision he's going to.

"I can see where you are!" you shout to taunt him.

He doesn't answer, trying to keep his position secret. Bad listener. You've decided he doesn't understand what it means to fight for someone you love. He used to date Shimmer, but it was a high school relationship. He's not equipped to know the difference.

If he wasn't just trying to distract you, which of course he was. Pushing buttons, same as always, same as anyone trying to get something from you. He doesn't have anything that was on him when he came in, and he must be realizing that now.
The ghost originally under his couch rushes down the same path he took, ready to stop his heart.

It motivates him, footfalls coming from the hallway, and there's no doubt that he has an advantage. A track star like Flash Sentry could 100% win a straight sprint against your Stand. Even in unusual, foreign terrain, or a place with a lot of rough turns, you don't doubt that he'd pull through on adrenaline alone.

He turns the corner to the alcove, and you don't shoot him, because he sees her. Standing in the entryway, Flitter. And as he tries to push his way past her glowing green eyes and realizes why you can see him, your ghost catches up.

So do the other two, coming right out of the wall.

He slumps to the ground, the blue light representing him falling and dimming. After a moment it goes out completely.

You can suddenly hear yourself breathing, hard, and the gun drops out of your fingers.

Okay. Now, what are you going to do about your furniture?

Lavender Lace

Knock knock!

Late in the night, you hear it downstairs. You're Lavender Lace, unassuming blonde-haired CHS girl, watching some TV and avoiding your homework, and your parents are still supposed to be gone. Maybe they'll go away...

The knocking doesn't stop, or even slow down. It turns mechanical, like a four-year-old looking for attention. Knock knock knock knock--

Fine, fine! You get up off of your couch, passing by your phone. Just a glance through the glass eyehole thing, and then you can pretend you're not home. Just so long as you know it's not Sunset Shimmer coming to give you new orders, or some other super popular girl...

You look through, and it's Snips and Snails. Something important. Snips is the one who won't stop banging on the door like a police officer.

You take a moment to fiddle with the locks and then throw it open. Behind them is Fuchsia Blush - your old bandmate - and someone else... Mystery Mint, with that purple scarf matched by a coat! Your anger at the two boys shuffles into warmth, and then confusion.

It must be something important, to bring all of the gang together like this. You hold open the door so they can file in and no one reports this to your mom.

"Is this over Trixie?" Snips asks, the first one of you to speak.

"We haven't been able to find her ever since she got out of Canterlot General," Snails adds.

You shrug your shoulders nice and wide for them, but they don't look any less confused. Shouldn't one of your bosses have shown up with them? Or do they just like making you sweat? You realize the TV is the only light in the building right now, and you turn on a couple others in the living room, leaving just the kitchen in darkness.

"Yeah, what's this about?" Mystery asks, in her casual way. Her arms are crossed, and her eyes move from you to the rest of the group, looking for any answer. She, you and Fuchsia haven't been asked to do much of anything, except stay out of the way and give up a little information.

"I don't know," you say, after no one else pipes up.

"They didn't tell you?" She looks skeptical.

"Why would they?"

"Well, you are the one who called all of us here."

"Yeah." Snips chimes.

"What? No I didn't. I haven't talked to any of you in a week!"

Fuchsia holds her phone out to you while the others are still bringing it up on theirs. You lean in and see the group texts... sent from your phone and no one else's.

You gasp. That can't really be you! You rush over to your phone and pick it up, checking.

Yes, they were sent from yours only forty minutes ago. 'Come urgently. Need to talk about our next steps.' 'Come to my house. Front door will be unlocked.' In fact, half an hour ago you got some fresh air and found it was unlocked! You thought that was just your being forgetful!

"Someone's really trying to mess us up. They really want us to get scared." You say, looking at the other four. None of them know anything about hacking, and besides, you don't even think that's how it works. The texts would have to come from...

Inside the house.

"Ah-hem." The voice doesn't belong to any of you. It comes from the kitchen, the dark. You rush over and flip on the lightswitch, only for it to flip on by itself just before your fingers can make it.

While the light burns your eyes, you can see her. Trixie, sitting there on a stool at your parents' marbled island, eating a pack of cheesy peanut butter crackers from out of your pantry.

She looks up at the five of you. "So this is what happens to Trixie's teammates when someone puts a little pressure on them. I can see why you weren't told about the big showdown in the factory now." She crinkles the edge of the packaging absentmindedly. "Trixie thought she taught you better."

Ambush! Your ｢Two Door Cinema Club｣ flies out to hit her straight across the face, but ｢Busdriver｣ beats you to it. Snails' Stand is seriously beefy, and Snips is already leaping into action, too. The rest of you, the older girls, forget to move for a moment.

｢Busdriver｣ punches her straight in the head-- and then suddenly its fist jumps to the side, going straight past her. It doesn't even muss her hair. Fuchsia looks for an opening to use ｢Bike Thief｣, but doesn't find one, and Mystery Mint acts next, sinking into the floor.

But she doesn't make it. The ceiling suddenly fills your vision up, like a close up in a movie, and you realize you're falling, backwards, towards the ground.

Then, suddenly you're further away. The concomitant crashes sound out as you all scatter, and you wind up in front of the front door. How is she--?!

Your vision settles back on Snips, the closest one to her. She gets up off the stool, and her boots click against the floor. Snails is already up on his feet and bridging the distance, but with a flourish of her cape, he missteps and trips over again. Then she does something you've never seen her do, and throws a punch at Snips.

Even you can tell it's, what, 'choreographed'? He ducks it easily, is the point - but then he's back up in the air! Her fist connects with him, and he falls awkwardly, hitting his face against your countertop. Ouch.

You've got to do something! Snails' Stand rushes to throw another punch, before she can turn back to the rest of the group, and you run behind it. Then Snails' body shifts, tripping you, and his Stand halts.

Floating in front of Trixie, caught in the blue mist of ｢Abracadabra｣, is Snips. Her hand holds him by the back of his collar, and ｢Busdriver｣ retreats.

"Is this the kind of teamwork you decided on?" she scoffs, and drops Snips straight down. He falls over among the rest of you. She snaps your fingers and you're -

Mid-air -

On your couch. There are just barely enough seats here to squeeze all of you onto them, and she stands there, surveying all of you.

"That was almost exercise. Now..." She waves an arm expansively at all of you, and you and Mystery flinch, expecting to hit another wall. "All of you were turned against Trixie in this little conflict. You were all willing to turn your back on the one who gave you a chance at everything." She sounds completely deluded.

It's almost funny how scary someone like her gets once they've broken into your home.

"Trixie is not yet willing to forgive you for that kind of heinous trespass against her and her livelihood. But as treacherous as you are, you are still pawns in this game, and she cannot stand to see her own students aiding a cabal of murderers and monsters."

Murderers and monsters? Mystery opens her mouth to say something, and thinks better of it.

"Now, before you decide your final placements on this big chessboard city, let Trixie explain what it is she wants from you..."

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Two Door Cinema Club｣
User: Lavender Lace
Ability: ???

Stand: ｢Bike Thief｣
User: Fuchsia Blush
Ability: ???

Stand: ???
User: Mystery Mint
Ability: ???

The Romantics

Sunset

"...And that's why we need your help." You splay your hands to the people gathered around the conference table, the Shadowbolts. You don't quite know all of their names by heart yet, but none of them were too excited to come to CHS after hours and hang out in the staff areas. On your side there's only Flash and Twilight, your whole squad.

The lighter blue one with twintails has her arms crossed. She nods to the arrow on the table and deadpans. "If that thing really works, why don't you just use the magic to build another portal?" Everyone takes her lead and regards it with some skepticism.

You try your best to smile, like you were expecting questions after your sincere plea for help. "There was only so much magic left in this world when the portal closed. A lot of it was let out during the Friendship Games, but it's almost gone now, and even that much wasn't enough to fix the portal again. All the rest of it's... reverting."

Your mind goes to the Dazzlings for a moment. If they really are from the days of Star-Swirl the Bearded, they've been filter-feeding off of people for at least a thousand years. Lives spent scratching after each new bit of magic... they'll come for the gem, you know it.

It doesn't help that you only have one complete, and you're pretty sure they have another, or most of one. No matter what timeline you pull her from, Adagio never answers your questions. She never tells you how to escape, she just laughs at you or snarls, and then tries to hurt someone.

"What do you mean by 'reverting'?" Lemon Zest asks. She's kind of slumped over her chair, chin rubbing into her arm, but at least she's paying attention.

You cough, and Flash brings over a small dog-crate. Inside, there's some neutral, suspicious snuffling. Butterfingers, you woke him up.

You place it on the table so everyone can see him. "This was... is, Twilight's dog. A week ago he fell through a portal started by rampant Equestrian magic and started talking, with human vocal cords, in full English, for hours on end. Now..." You wave a hand at Spike, and his eyes follow it. Then, he scratches himself.

Sour shudders, and Lemon looks suddenly very teary-eyed. It's good to know that there are dog people no matter what world you live in.

"If you agree to this, one of you will have to take care of him. We can't risk anything happening." You say.

Some of them nod to themselves. Sour Sweet's face has been swinging from placid to mournful to muttering this whole time, but you can't make out her words. It's not like it's a big condition compared to tracking down immortal monsters or repairing ancient magical artifacts from the wrong end.

One of them raises her voice. "Why us?" You definitely don't need to squint to see her, her hair looks like the wrapping on energy drinks, except for the goggles.

"We, uh... we thought, since you were sort of Twilight's friends, and you knew about Equestrian magic more than anyone randomly on the street, we could trust you with this kind of power."

"You mean you didn't want a Wondercolt getting put in harm's way." The same girl.

"No, we're going to have to use the arrow on some of them if this looks like it might not work out. Once we're out of usable magic... well, that's it, so we've got to use it for something. But when we do that, we're going to have to do it carefully." You explain.

Eyes fall on the arrow again. Twintails speaks, and the sentence trails into the room. "You're not going to erase our memories, are you?" Emphasis on 'our'.

You were worried about this, but you decided that they had to know everything ｢MS｣ could do. Honesty's an important part of friendship, of harmony. This isn't going to work if you're just yelling at them to do things, that didn't even work all the time when you bossed around Snips and Snails.

"If not all of you think this is a good idea, we'll have to, but just to make sure that everything stays secret. But I promise neither of us will use it on you any other time."

That brings a somber mood to the room, but hopefully you didn't just ruin your chances. You don't have room to do this wrong, not right now. A few conversations with people down the line has taught you that manipulation will be necessary, but you want to stick to the truth. Honesty, honesty, until you have to diverge from that path.

Sour speaks, for the first time you can actually make out. She's still in mutter-mode, though, talking with a kind of shadow over her face. "If this doesn't work, that's going to be it. We're all stranded."

Twintails weighs in, in almost the same tone. "If it's for Twilight, then it's bigger than us. Only someone heartless would say no to that."

Indigo nods with her eyes closed. "Simplifies it." No one raises any further objection.

Okay, breathe, you think you've got it. "Alright. Just remember, if you get lucky then we might not need to do this at all." You try to survey the room.

Maybe not the best idea to give them hope when you don't know what could happen. Some people might not be strong enough, and you haven't really warned them about that. They all stare up at you, patiently.

You laugh, nervous. "Uh, so, who wants to go first?"

Care

It's the evening, and you're staying at home, trying to vacuum the water-stains out of your carpet. Trixie took the car, you don't know where. It's not like you were going anywhere today. From what you can tell, your time in this purgatory's going to keep on running.

It's still ridiculous how fast something that important happened. You didn't know Golden very well, and you won't insult her by pretending to be more hurt than you really are, but you're definitely hurt for Derpy. It doesn't help the guilt that she wasn't really your family member, that she was distant or she once tried to put you in a hospital.

Just a few seconds with three random girls, making an escape too late, and the whole thing was already played out somehow. If you'd been awake to help her, you could've at least taken that bullet. Or could you have?

Like always, the lights sparkle in your future and taunt you. They're still there, they're still there. You swear, if you see that arrow again you're vaporizing it on the spot, no matter what it costs. And if that doesn't work, whoever's holding it.

You brood for a while, until there's a knock on the door.

Your heart jumps. Trixie hasn't been gone for very long, but you didn't get the feeling that she was getting you takeout or anything. You also know she can get in without a key, so there's no need to knock, and it's well past dark.

You sigh. It's probably Fido, or the Shadowbolts, or the Dazzlings, or the Crusaders, or Sunset, or Flash, or Anonymous, or Golden's ghost, or another evil version of you, or... you trudge to the door and look through the blinds.

...! Derpy!

She turns to your peering eyes, and she looks as sweet as ever. She's sad, but... more pitying than anything, like it would only be okay if you were happy.

You open the door, fast. Then your mouth moves, but it's too dry to talk.

After a moment you choke something out. "D-Derpy, I didn't know you were coming."

She comes closer and puts her arms around you. The hug is light, but you think she can probably feel your heartbeat now. It's running high; you were expecting more of a slap, to be honest, or another blow to the head from ｢Spinal Tap｣.

She pulls away from you, and she's blinking back tears. Then her eyes flutter closed, and she moves to kiss you. And a tiny barrier of light, smaller than a handkerchief, bounces up between your faces.

She bumps it before you can say something, and her eyes open again, surprised. You can see as the sadness in them deepens, and your heart shrivels up and dies with the sight.

"We have to talk." She says, suddenly straightfaced.

You nod, mouth dry again, and close the door behind her. Then you turn on a light and escort her over to the couch, and she tells you the story of what happened after you lost consciousness.

She goes light on the details of Golden's death, and you don't hurt her by asking for more. Trixie already told you as much as she could about all of it, of course, but not about this ball of light you gave her somehow, ｢Spinal Tap｣'s attacks on the whole conference room, the race outwards.

And not what Twilight knew. Derpy tells you that Twilight cried out for help in the heat of the moment, that she needed to be rescued. She never showed a Stand, and she didn't know exactly what Sunset was trying to do - she was just as much of a victim as the rest of you, used for her brains.

And then comes the good news. "-But now she's on our side. I've got her. And if ｢Spinal Tap｣ keeps gathering the gems, we can just hide them with Trixie's Stand until we have all of them! I'll already have a few by tomorrow morning." She's leaning forward a bit, arms resting on her knees, smiling genuinely but with water still in her eyes.

You lean forward too, until it's like you're two kids in a secret clubhouse. "That's great. Once we can get all three of them, we can wrap it up in a day or so. It'll take a little bit to wait until good things can happen to me again, but if we can hold them off for a dozen more days..."

Your voice trails off when you notice she's shaking her head. Her eyes are lowered to her knees, to the floor. You watch, and wait for some sign of what you're supposed to do.

"There's bad n-news too," she says, quietly.

You try to be gentle, and you rest a hand on her knee. "I know."

She shakes her head again. "No, not her. Not just her. It's something else, I only learned today. My, m-my parents had us sit down for it, and they told us..." She hiccups. You've never heard her do that before, it sounds childish except there's something sick to it, and she starts shaking again.

No, no, no... You can see why your power didn't stop her from coming here, or cut her brakes or something like that. This won't be a happy memory for you. But for her, you have to do something.

You bridge the distance between the two of you and put your hands on her shoulders. Something stops you a few inches away, two tiny, hand-shaped platforms like hologram blueprints of gloves. She doesn't notice, and you don't give her time to. It might doom you in the end, it might drag you away into hopelessness, but right now ｢Timbuk Three｣ is still your Stand. And as long as you can use it, as long as you have a future left to fuel it with, it will do as you say!

You burn away something small and distant, and don't mourn the loss, and the platforms disappear. You feel her again, hands on her shoulders gripping onto her like she's the only real thing in the world.

They squeeze her arms and you pull her against you. It's awkward, both of you half-standing and half-kneeling, but you don't let go. She cries into your collarbone, hands clenched into fists at the base of your neck. You only hear sound when she breathes out, sharp and high.

In that moment you remember burning the entire arm off of a Shadowbolt to protect her, and you're not sorry for it.

She calms down a little bit, face still planting against you, hair draped over your hands. Then a little more, by degrees.

You wait, and keep burning tiny moments. "Whatever it is, it'll be okay. We'll handle it somehow, just like everything else." You say, and she looks up at you, with red-rimmed, sore-looking eyes. "I promise. I'm not giving up on you, ever, not if you don't tell me to."

She blinks, and stands up a little taller, kissing you. It's something informal, almost sloppy, more about the thought than the act. You don't care that your mouths almost miss. It's the seal of something important here. Even if you're going to suffer like this, you can still create a good future. For her.

She pulls away and catches her breath. You lower her back to the sofa, and get ready to listen.

She rubs the back of her arm against her eyes, and then starts. "My parents made plans months ago, but they were saving it to surprise us at the end of the school year, and now that Golden's gone they've pushed everything ahead, because they don't think Canterlot's a safe place any more." They have a point, it probably isn't - wait. "They're already rescheduling everything, they'll have it ready in the next two weeks, just as fast as they can get the passports updated."

Passports...? "What are you saying?"

She looks like someone's making her plunge a knife in your chest, like if she could just not speak, you would be alive later tonight.

"We're moving back to France."

Sunny Flare

Urghhh.

You're coming to. Your head hurts, fiercely, but you’re upright. That's peculiar. You don't feel air on your wrists, and when you open your eyes, you can see that your computers are still with you.

You're sitting in an empty room in a not-uncomfortable chair, good except for the crick in your neck and a little blood on the front of your blouse. And your computers are still there. They're not any good in combat, of course - in fact, they're more like PDAs, but you expected them to be gone.

You reach a hand for your pocket to make sure the rest of your things are still with you, and find your arm's tied to the chair. So's the other one, and as your legs come awake you see they're stuck there too. Okay, okay. You turn and scan the room, looking for Sugarcoat.

She's next to you, alright, and already awake. You meet her eye, and she's been looking at you coolly for a while. Her hands are gripping the wooden arms of her chair tight, and you're surprised she hasn't ripped them right off. She looks annoyed, but not with you; there's something fearless in her eyes.

"You're awake." In comes the voice of the little pink one, from behind you. You crane your neck, and it protests harder; she's standing at the only entrance to the room, with her father standing over her.

Okay, which floor are you on? And what's the girl's Stand do?

Sugarcoat bites into the conversation. "You think you're going to interrogate us?"

It definitely packs a punch, plus it was able to move her around... and they somehow defeated Sugarcoat, even though she could've out-threatened them with ｢Nails for Breakfast｣.

Diamond speaks up as they enter. "Yes, actually." But nothing about that makes sense, unless they had better reflexes, or maybe if it healed the damage somehow. Something like that. Regardless, it's a Stand you don't want to go up against without more information. The windows in the room are dark, but you can see a few tree branches outside.

Second or third floor, probably. Were there more from the outside?

They walk around so that you don't have to turn to face them. Ooh! Filthy's holding the stone!

Your eyes turn from it to Sugarcoat. She doesn't look back, and if she gives you some sign, you don't see it. You didn't have a plan for getting captured and then tied to chairs and interrogated. You'd assumed that it would just be... over, then. Maybe...

Sugarcoat spits at the two. "We'll die before we tell you anything!"

Diamond keeps smiling. "Don't be dramatic. We know how to find your families, we know how to counter your Stands, and if you don't tell us what we want to know, we can just call the police on you for trying to steal from us."

"Yeah, and we can just get someone on our side to erase their memories! If you think we've never had to fool them, you've gotta be more sheltered than you look." Okay, she might want to tone it down from there.

Sugarcoat was the type who listened close to other people, who really got to the center of whatever they were talking about. She spoke with a scalpel. Did they give her brain damage, or what? Even you could tell that some of what those two were saying was a bluff.

"What is it you're trying to find out?" You ask them, eyes moving from the daughter to the father.

What kind of a crazy daddy would let his kid interrogate people who threatened to kill both of them?!

You notice that Sugarcoat's glaring at you, and it raises the hairs on your neck with a sense of genuine betrayal. Diamond ignores her a lot better than you do, and takes the Siren gem from her father politely. Then, she holds it up, like you're about to adjust a monocle and inspect it more closely.

Yes, of course, it's the big red magical rock.

"This. I want to know everything. Every detail you have about it and the other two, who wants it, and what for." She says. You probably don't have your magic detector on you, do you? You still don't understand how she could've assembled a gem so quickly, or why she would've hidden it all underneath of her bed, but it scares you more than a little.

"We really haven't been told much. Sunset Shimmer just wants them so she can reopen the gateway to her world." It doesn't actually hurt anything to explain that far. She pals with another kid who stole this gem in the first place, and through a network of connections she traces back to Care Root.

The look on her face solidifies that she's probably heard this before. But then she asks another question. "Why?"

"...'Why' what?"

"Why reopen the portal?"

"So she can go home?" You try to put a good intonation into that one.

For some reason, she doesn't buy it. "Really? She didn't seem to want that before now. What changed in the last three months to make her so interested in going back again?"

Sugarcoat scoffs rather violently, but doesn't say anything. You put on an unamused face. "When people lose things, they tend to want them back more than if they hadn't lost them in the first place. She found out what her world meant to her."

Filthy speaks, and it kind of jars you. "And what does that have to do with the two of you?" It must be late night for him to have been caught up on all of this.

Sugarcoat answers him. "We're helping her because it's the right thing to do! And we're not going to back down from saving the world because of a pointless setback like this, either!" Diamond keeps a straight face, but her father raises an eyebrow. Damn it, Sugarcoat.

"We want to help her because the worlds need to stay connected together. Remove Equestria, and magic's going to shrivel away in this one. That's more than anyone should have to lose." As you say it, you realize it's actually a decent argument. You don't know what magic can do, or even if it can help people do more than cheat at competitions, but there must be some way to build a technology around it. If only the patent office would believe "friendship power" was legitimately claimable...

"And what about Care?" Diamond asks you, directly.

You manage to look nonchalant. "What about him? He had one of the pieces and we had to take it from him."

She gives you a 'come on now' look. "We both know he didn't have a piece of this when you went after him. The only one of us who had one was me, the whole way. You only fought with him at the same time that some fake copy of him was trying to hurt Derpy, not to come after this."

She's so smug you wish you could box her one. Thanks, Sherlock. "Fine. We went after him because he was a big threat. If he used his power the wrong way, it would've ruined everything we were trying to accomplish."

"Oh? And how's that?"

Isn't it obvious? "Well, by destroying-" you start, and then stop yourself, and clamp your mouth firmly shut.

Okay, you're an idiot. Diamond's smugness increases, and you've had more than enough of this.

"By destroying one of these gems, do you mean? If there are only two left, no one will be able to use them?" She hefts it again, back up into your vision. You grit your teeth, but keep your mouth shut.

Sugarcoat sighs. "Don't be stupid. They're indestructible." She bites back something extra, something more like Indigo. She looks tired.

"Then it shouldn't matter if I just handed it to my father here, should it? His Stand wouldn't turn it into a trillion dollars and ruin your plans forever?" She feints handing it over to him, watching both of you for struggling.

You don't give her the satisfaction. "｢Royals｣." The visible chair disappears just as you push up out of it. Its twin, flipped vertically into the floor, stays in contact with your shoes for a moment, and then you're moving. You've got handcuffs dangling on your extremities, and the ones on your ankles slap against the carpet dully. Whatever.

Diamond's backing away, and you take the advantage, barely even noticing Filthy Rich behind her. You half-expect her to disappear, but her Stand doesn't activate. In a single rough swipe, you rip the gem out of her hand.

Now, push out the bad memories of that track scholarship...

Your entire body turns, kicking against where she'd just been standing. The world lurches underneath of you sickly, not fast enough, and you get the sensation of running in a nightmare, being chased by things infinitely faster than you. Then the slow motorcyclish turn ends, and you've made the steps to the Sugarcoat.

"That's the right stuff, Flare!" She shouts, rattling the handcuffs, eyes wide.

A hand on her chair, and suddenly there's a second seat jutting out of the back, arms and all. You grab one of those, and focus again - the original disappears, and gravity takes control of your de-facto boss.

She crouches before she can fall on her butt, and then you throw the chair at your two enemies. Filthy grabs it, and it explodes into money before reforming out of the air into a gun.

Really?!

"Shoot me! Shoot me and you'll just shoot her! ｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣!" Sugarcoat shouts, and you can see her neck change, standing out from the rest of her like a single patch of tie-dye in a fancy suit. Diamond's changes too.

You see an opportunity: quickly you come up behind Sugarcoat, and fling one of your handcuffs around her throat.

Then you raise your voice, which you'd prefer never to have to do. "If you shoot, I'll make this puncture her throat!"

Filthy stares at you for a minute, and he's really not going to back down, is he? Could his Stand just give her a skin graft in a matter of seconds, before it would matter? How would he know it sure enough to risk his daughter's life?

Then he turns the gun down, away from you. You think for a moment that he's putting it down at his side, but his finger doesn't leave the trigger. He turns it to the side, to... his daughter's throat.

Sugarcoat's.

You stare at this utter madness, and he looks back up at the two of you soundlessly. Neither of you move, and you feel Sugarcoat breathing against you, all shoulders. She only has one throat, that's not something that ｢Royals｣ could fix, and to your knowledge she hasn't used her ability on any other people lately, any bystanders or random people. That would be horrible, but in the heat of the moment it's not as horrible as being alone here with these two.

No one speaks for a moment, and then finally the one who opens her mouth is Diamond. She sighs, a little annoyed. "This has been very interesting, but I think I've had enough of it. ｢Pink Act 2｣."

Something small, kind of like ｢Lemon Demon｣, comes floating over towards you. It's almost all pink, and it's bright and hard to look at. Despite your general panic at your situation, a new layer of foreboding enters your mind.

"She's going to put us back in the chairs! Don't let it touch you!" Sugarcoat says to you.

You're close to the exit. If you can just make it a few paces further, you'll be outside and you can slip away somehow! But it comes drifting towards you like a nightmare, relentless even if it's not moving quickly. You can't get out of here without the element of surprise, so what? What do you do?!

Sugarcoat strains to do something, you can feel her muscles tightening. She puts her hands to her head, and a clump of white hair falls out onto the carpet. You look at it in horror, and then up to the Stand - it's upon you.

Okay, Stands can fight Stands. You don't have one that floats around you like other people do, yours is stuck to your palms, but maybe you can block it or something like that!

You lurch with this hasty idea, ready to test it out, when Sugarcoat shouts. "｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣!" When it comes out, her voice cracks, rasping on too-high syllables.

You expect her to switch something with you, but there's nothing - and nothing with Filthy or Diamond, either. No, something... appears, in front of her, like a third person in the room. It's entirely dressed up in a motorcycling outfit, dark helmet and all. It was hers, back in the Games. Indigo's, you remember watching her practice for it.

It stands between you and the much smaller pink apparition, and for the first time both of your interrogators look surprised. Then it bends its legs a little, assuming a different posture, defensive.

You don't waste time watching. It jabs ｢Pink Act 2｣ while you back up out of the door, and the two start genuinely fighting. Then Sugarcoat starts to buckle in your arms, like she's lifting something her own weight. The Stand falters for a moment, fading and then returning, and you turn with her and run out the door.

You almost have to drag her behind you, and a gunshot rings out past you, but it's much too late. With chains clanking behind you like a ghost out of A Christmas Carol, you race down the nearest hallway, making as many turns as possible.

Care

"France?" you chew on the toughest syllable of your life.

Derpy nods. "I tried to stop them, but they think it's just... too much. They don't trust me right now, to know what to do."

She looks dejected by that. You don't know how to relate to her; it wasn't like your parents were really very... hands-on.

You try to be comforting. "Well, we can still... write each other? I mean, I'll be out of school after the next semester, I can just move to where you are." It wouldn't actually be nearly that easy, but... well, it's not like it's just your future you've been fighting for. For the both of you combined, you can endure that.

She nods, since she's already ahead of you. "Yes, but... what if being too far away shorts out your power? I-I mean, how can all of those good things happen for us if we're not going to see each other?" She looks up at you, her face a mask of worry.

You stroke one of her bangs reassuringly. "You shouldn't be thinking about that right now. You've been through so much in the last day, I don't want you to be afraid for me too."

"But if something happens to you, all of this, it'll all be for nothing! Even Golden just wanted to make sure that things would work out between us, and now she's dead and everything's falling apart anyway!" She doesn't have any more crying left in her right now, and she looks at you almost accusingly.

This damned Stand. Was it just a curse from the beginning, with no hope for either of you? You've often thought that it would be easier on you to not have ｢Timbuk Three｣, but to think about the lives that would be saved...

You push that out of your mind, you've run through these thoughts too many times now. Thinking too much about the wrong things is a big problem for you.

After a moment, you respond. "I don't know what to say to that, for sure. Maybe it is doomed. But if it is, it won't hurt you for very long. If we get to the very bottom of the lights, then... then I'll just burn those ones out so you can move on."

She stares at you for a long, frozen moment, and then pushes you away from her. And as you search her face for a sign of what you just did wrong, she reaches a new level of upset.

Before it was the world that was unfair, but now she's upset with you, and you can feel the emotions running off of her and towards you in waves. For a moment it looks like new tears have suddenly been commandeered, but she just shakes to herself.

You step closer, hand raised diffidently to try offering her some comfort. It feels wrong that the two of you aren't touching any longer. "I didn't mean-"

She raises her voice over you. "Don't talk that way! After everything that we've done together, and everything that we've had to give up, you'd just throw it all away?!"

For her, probably.

"I only meant that... as a complete last resort, if both of us had to choose between being miserable..."

You don't know how to word what you're trying to say, and her eyes aren't making it easier for you. "I don't want you to die! You can't just burn everything out and, and leave me behind! We have to get through this together!"

That's not what you meant! And it's not realistic, you can't just expect that things will work out that way! For a moment you wonder if Sunset sent another version of Derpy to find you, and then you feel disgusted with yourself, as low as before you ever met her.

"Derpy, I..." You don't know what you're trying to say now, but you have to flail your way to something, anything to lift this feeling. It's crushing your heart, now.

She doesn't cut you off, and you go on. "I love you, and... I don't want to pull you down with me. I'll fight as hard as I can for what we have, so we can build up a future together, but... Derpy, it just doesn't look like it's going to happen."

"Don't say that!" she shouts, the edge wavering wetly in her voice. "I believe in you! And I need you to believe in this, too! Do you think I'll just find someone else on the street who's like you, Care?"

The last question hits you square between the eyes. You blink. "What do you mean?" There are tons of people like you, you're nothing very special.

She half chuckles to herself, like you just told a joke. "Care, you're... you're one of the nicest people I've ever known, and you've put your life in danger for me, and my sisters, and just to give us all a future! You're smart, you're sweet, you get lost and nervous so easily--"

You have a hard time keeping eye contact with her, and not for obvious reasons. She steps closer, suddenly the warmer one of the two of you, though not by much. And she lowers her voice.

"If I was the one with ｢Timbuk Three｣, would you ever want me to sacrifice myself so you could, could... 'move on'?"

“Of course not." Your voice comes out bested and breathy. You’d struggle, and struggle, until there was nothing to do at all. You’d tie yourself to her destiny until you made something of it or every last moment was disintegrated.

”Then don’t say it like I could do that.”

Before you can think, you stick your foot in it again. “But that’s… that’s not what this is.”

Her mouth purses, but she lets you talk.

Images of the other version of you, aloof and casually evil, flash through your awareness. “｢Timbuk Three｣ is the only reason I was able to meet you in the first place, and understand how… how much you matter. In some other world, you don’t have to worry about being stuck to my destiny.”

As the words roll out, you try to think of some gentle way to restate yourself, so she at least understands. If this all goes south, you don’t want to launch it on her in the moment. You could give it all up for her, but not if it had to be a cruel surprise.

Frustration takes over her again. "In another world, I'm dead!"

...Oh. That's not something you've wanted to think about. You know what the other version of you said that night, you and her shared everything, but you zoomed right over it in the recap. It definitely wasn't something you could imagine ever doing, not in a million years, not even on accident.

"But that might be a freak chance event! If there are enough other universes to get my evil twin out of, there must be plenty of them where none of this happened at all, and you're perfectly happy in at least some of them!" Okay, you may be mathematically inclined, but talking about apparently-proven theoretical physics is outside of your wheelhouse.

"What about you?" she asks.

"What do you mean?"

"There must be plenty of universes where you're happy with someone else, right?"

You think a moment, and shake your head minutely. That's... a little too far-fetched.

Her shoulders sag, and her eyes develop a glaze of pity. ”You really don’t think you deserve me, do you?”

Of course you don't. You killed her sister, you dragged her into a war, you shackled her to a destiny designed to make her miserable...

"No," you say the word softly, hoping that it'll make the impact less painful for her - although you don't really know why it would hurt. You feel a kind of submerged shame at how little you understand this pattern.

"Do you think I deserve you?"

It doesn't hurt to be honest about that. "I think you deserve better than me." You stop for a moment, shaking your head and appending yourself. "Not that I want you to leave. I'm just... I'm no good at this. Let's not fight."

"Who?" she steps closer, and you almost take a step back.

"Huh?"

"Who do I deserve?"

Well, it's not like you have a list running of people your girlfriend should be with who aren't you; one answer comes to mind, and doesn't make room for substitutes. "Wh-whoever you want. Anyone."

She's intent now. The way that you've cycled through these emotions... a couple months ago, you wouldn't have felt anything this strongly in the course of a whole week. In some ways, you'd take that numbness over the discomfort you're feeling now.

"And who do you deserve, then?" Her voice is low.

You look at her and try to come up with an answer. It's like you just turned the wrong corner, mentally - but again, it's not like you were obsessed with ranking yourself in the dating pool, ever. And you're still not, for obvious reasons.

...A response doesn't show up.

She gives one for you. "'Nobody'. Is that it?"

You feel suddenly, strangely, like she's seeing inside of you, and both of your hands come up placating. "Okay, it was a stupid thing to bring up. It's just... how I feel sometimes, and I wasn’t trying to hurt you with it. I'm sorry."

She waits for you to finish, unmoving. Then, before you can blink, she bridges the short distance between you.

Her hands are clutching at your arms, tight, almost painful. You feel a sudden, squirming need to pull away for a moment. Normally being close to her is impossibly wonderful, but right now you just want a moment of breathing space.

"Look at me," she says, and you do. Then she takes a deep breath, and for a second you can hear nothing except your fridge and the lights. "Say you deserve me."

You have to admit, the words fluster you, and you already regret bringing this up. A couple of minutes ago you were busy dealing with France, weren't you? But if you just say the words, she might be appeased.

"I... but I don't..." They don't come.

She scowls, and then something sweeps your legs out from under you, from behind, and this realization only hits once you're already halfway to the ground. You fall onto your carpet, already searching for your attacker.

You catch a glimpse of something, and roll over onto your stomach to reorient yourself towards it; in the attempt, you get enough of a look to realize it's ｢Spinal Tap｣'s tail. Then, as quickly as it came, it disappears back into the air, and there's a sudden, breath-squeezing weight settling on your back. You try to roll over, and it doesn't move.

"Are you sitting on me?" you twist your head hard enough to see her doing exactly that. She's staring off into space neutrally while she compresses your lumbar.

You have trouble lifting bags of road salt. Would it be inappropriate to laugh at this?

"You know what you have to do. I saw what happens to you when you think that way, and I'm not letting it happen here."

｢Timbuk Three｣'s sudden unwillingness to separate the two of you is like a bad joke. You try to tell yourself that she's just trying to help you to get her mind off of what's happened to her, but... well, you're trying to help her too, and for the same reasons, so that's no argument. You...

You sigh. Just bite the bullet already!

"Fine, alright, uncle!"

She doesn't so much as breathe at you.

"I deserve you." It comes out sounding normal, but each syllable had to roll its way into place. You feel dirty, but not as much as you felt on the cusp of saying it.

"Now promise me you'll never destroy your future to make me move on from you."

First off, that's not what you meant. "I can't promise something like that, I don't know what's in the future!" You realize the irony. "Well, much."

"I can stay here all night, but you're not getting up until you say it." She says matter-of-factly, still busily inspecting two random points on your wall.

You know she's not going to be reasonable, or realistic. It's something you love about her, but you're learning it doesn't go away. This whole relationship has been about holding on for dear life.

...Would she have liked you, if ｢Timbuk Three｣ hadn't put you together?

It doesn't matter. You have to make her happy.

"Okay. I promise." You say, and get no response. You say it a second time, more deliberately. "I promise I won't burn out my future just so you can be happy."

The pressure on your spinal column lifts, and you roll over. Oof.

She's kneeling beside you, brushing the dust off your shoulders as you sit up. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" She's smiling, thinly, like some victorious angel.

You did your job.

Sugarcoat

You got out!

It took getting through the overdecorated overlarge overmansion, but no one else was around to stop you. The brat and her father never caught up with you, although they still have your phones. Both are encrypted, but with their resources, they might already know everything on them, which is why you're utterly failing to dial a number in this phone booth right now.

You didn't realize these things still existed, but clearly your body's rejecting them. There's some extreme pain in your abdomen right now, and this life-forsaking monster headache... Your fingers slip on the fifth number, again, like you're some kind of invalid. You can hardly put the next quarter in, and when you do, you see liver spots running up your arm.

Oh, no, they're just patches of freakish mismatched skin. Great.

Your hand hovers over the numbers, but you don't press any of them yet. First, you switch hands with Sunny, and the shakiness goes away for a minute. She makes no sign of noticing, standing watch outside. Not a very good watch, if she can't even figure out that you took her hand away from her. The streets are mostly empty by now, mostly, but a city's a city.

The numbers come easy now, and you resist the sudden stupid urge to celebrate your progress. The headache helps, and you put a hand to your forehead while you cup the probably-diseased phone to your ear. At least in this tight space you can lean on the wall.

It rings, and keeps ringing for a while. If this one doesn't work, it'll be Lemon, then Sunset.

...It draws into those infernal extra rings, the ones that can go on for minutes on end.

When she finally answers, she's lucky you haven't hung up and redialed. "What?"

"Sour, it's us. Things got majorly fucked, but-"

"Sugarcoat? We were worried about you! Where are you?"

"They've got an entire gem already, we're coming your way. We have to regroup before they can put the police on us or do something worse." No more sleeping in your house. Not until they can get the arrow free, and present circumstances make that less and less likely. If Care weren't around to have all these ridiculous overcomplicated plans maypoled around, this would all have been settled forever ago!

"Well, get the hell over here!"

"I don't know where you are."

"They called all of us to the Sweet Shoppe so we can plan."

Good thinking. "That's not too far. We'll be there soon, but we're coming on foot."

You can't believe you had to ditch your fucking car, but you couldn't even find it in the driveway. Bastard probably turned it into money or reversed it out of time or some other freaky shit. You huff.

"Well, hurry. We were all about to go on a rescue mission and it's two in the - what’s that?” Her voice travels away from the phone for a second. Then there's a pair of shouts, indistinct. This connection's despicable, and your headache's getting worse.

"Sour?" You press your hand into your hair, and you something feels off. A thick clump of white comes away, with a few strands of blue underneath it - you stare at it as some commotion starts on the other end of the line.

"Is that - oh, shit." Danger of some kind, and it's not where you are. You feel the oddest kind of longing, one you wouldn't even notice if it didn't hit you like nausea.

Sour's voice comes closer again, now swiveling to 'peppy'. "We'll actually need to raincheck that, I think. The Sirens just showed up."

You open your eyes fully, and the headache seems to lift from you. "Which ones?"

You hear the phone move, and your question doesn't get an answer. The snarlier voice comes on a moment later. "They're standing outside. Pinkie's the only one with keys for the back, but it doesn't matter anyway since they put a bunch of those black rope things outside of it."

They're playing for keeps. It scares you how that's the only way you can think to summarize it. You try to figure out what they might be planning, but those parts of your mind are being roadblocked.

"We're on our way." Of course something awful would happen just now, the universe is too mean-spirited to let you off the hook once or twice -- but now you have something to do.

You drop the phone without hanging up, leaving Sour to figure out that you're not around any more. Before it can collide with the glass of the inner booth, you've already spun on your heels and opened the door. You do something like storming outside of it, more aware of the way your feet are hitting the ground and trying to lengthen your strides.

Sunny turns over to you just as you've built into a jog. "What's-"

"I'll explain on the way." You grab her by the arm and tear her away from her post.

It's only once you're in motion that you start really thinking. The Shoppe isn't someplace you've gone regularly, but you know it's at least a dozen blocks away from where you are now, so you'll just have to make time.

Sunset

You're in a small backroom, an office next to the larger oven-centric space you'd expect in the back of the cafe, surrounded by the forces you're trying to rally. All three of the Dazzlings are outside, and they're willing and able to kill in pursuit of their goals.

You don't know how they know you'd be here, but it might have been by following Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest. If that really is how they did, then they've seen the shipping container. You'll have to think of some way to move her, discreetly.

At this exact moment, you've got five people with you, one outside and another two on the way. Aria's got you surrounded already, which means it might be a siege situation.

You stop thinking and start talking. "Sour, Lemon, go defend the doors." They clamber off, closest to them anyway. "Everyone else, our first priority is getting out of here safely. If we can get to ｢Party Rock｣, we can do that for sure. Does anyone have a phone?"

Fluttershy nods sheepishly and raises hers while the others search for theirs. "I do."

"Good. Call Pinkie. Everyone else, form a second line and support the Shadowbolts. If Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat are coming here, we've got to be ready to pick them up."

"We're on it!" Rainbow all but cheers, and heads out to help the defense effort.

You stand up and pocket your half-a-gem, mind working furiously. No more casualties. You head outside to get an eyeful of the scene.

Yep, they’re there alright. Adagio stands in the center, just outside of your doors, hands behind her back. She’s not in the singing outfit, just a hoodie. If you didn’t know more about them, you’d think all three of them were just slightly shady girls. No doubt she wants to talk to you.

You step forward from behind your friends, and stride up to the Shadowbolts. Both of their Stands are out - Lemon Zest is half-crouching. No one moves except you, and quietly you push the door open, not wide enough to enter or exit.

The night air scalds your nose as you speak. “Where’s Flash?”

Adagio smiles. ”Give us the gem and we’ll tell you.”

You say nothing.

”You’ve got an awful lot of people in there, don’t you? Oh, and they all smell just like Equestrian magic, imagine that.”

“They have Stands, and none of them are ones you’d want to mess around with.”

She waves a hand dismissively. ”Yes, yes, I’m sure your pet humans are well-protected. It’s a shame you didn’t bring them to meet us a day ago, I think we’d have liked being reacquainted.”

This is exactly what you’ve been trying to avoid. You can’t risk them. They’re the island of hope that you had once you stopped trying to hurt people for power. You aren’t going to let them be put in harm’s way over this!

”That really was an interesting tactic, though, opening a portal by channeling the magic through your body. Although you would die if you pulled it off, even with the perks of not being from around here.” Her voice is conversational, but her smile makes you want to attack her.

You deflect her probe. “Maybe you don’t understand as much as you think you do.”

Her expression doesn’t change. ”Oh, very good. It’s too bad that I’m better. Maybe I won’t give you Flash back.”

Sonata titters, and her voice is small. ”Flash-back.”

Adagio rolls her eyes.

“I’m going to give you one more chance.” You say this, and her eyebrow raises another three notches. “Once I have all three of the gems and the portal’s opened, I’m going to destroy them if they’re not broken already. The three of you will starve, in pain, for the rest of time, and I’ll make sure that no one in Equestria ever lets you back inside.”

Aria, silent up to now, gives a single, dismissive ‘pah’. Adagio closes her eyes and covers her mouth, hiding a giggle on the edge of politesse.

Then she answers for the three of them, without even looking at the other two. ”You don’t really think we care if there’s a portal to Equestria or not, do you?” You start to say something, and then hesitate as she goes on. ”We’ve been here long enough to get over our homesickness. It’s not much of a world, but… well, we’ve got plans for it.” Another unpronounced smile lights up her face, but the eyes make it cruel.

”Then I’ve got bad news for you.” The headlights come on, and all three of them look towards them, too late.

｢Party Rock｣ crashes straight for them, sending them flying like ragdolls. Pinkie stops it, and the whole yellow body of it lurches behind her. Then she yanks the lever, and the bus door opens with the typical hydraulic wheeze.

You push open the Shoppe door and wave your friends through. As they hurry for the bus, you nod to Lemon and Sour too. They know you’re in no real danger, for now.

You know that if Adagio just started clawing at your eyes, you might have some trouble, and enough Equestrian magic might hurt, too. Mostly, the only thing that can hurt you is yourself. You wish Twilight were here, she’d say something to make it feel less stressful.

You shout after them as you leave yourself, door banging shut behind you. ”Call Sugarcoat and figure out where they are!”

Lemon shouts back to you, her face suddenly nervous. ”They don’t have phones!”

You swear, stepping up into the bus while you do it. “Where are they coming from?”

”I don’t know!” Sour shouts back, irritably.

Pinkie’s voice cuts over both of you. ”Sunshim, they’re getting back up!” There’s no fear in her voice; she sounds just as excited as she always does. She shifts gears, and you shuffle a little closer inside so the door can close behind you.

And… something happens. The world whiplashes around you, all the colors getting replaced, everything different. For a second you think you’ve hit your head, and then you realize you’re standing in the Shoppe again, on the edge of leaving the back rooms.

You have enough time to see a huge iron chainlock appear around the front door, when something grabs you around your middle. A big shepherd’s-crook, like you’re being pulled off of the stage.

As it pulls you back, you can see the door open. Sour peeks her head out and looks for you. Then, just as you’ve fixed your hands around the device and started twisting around, it disappears completely.

You fall over and try to get a sideways look at your latest problem. Then your heart skips a beat.

Not right now. Filthy Rich stands there, with his daughter next to him, looking serious as a heart attack. Over her shoulder there’s a Stand.

That can’t be, there’s no way she got a hold of the arrow.

”Sunset Shimmer.” Neither of them opened their mouths. The third voice comes from behind them, you almost miss her in the metal and the low light. ”You killed my sister. You made it so she had to die.”

Silver Spoon steps up between the two of them. Her voice is almost emotionless, like Pinkie’s sister’s. ”Now, you’re going to bring her back.”

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Nails for Breakfast Demo｣
User: Sugarcoat
Ability: Automatic Stand; transfers itself to the most underdeveloped Stand user in its vicinity. Switches body parts with any person the user’s touched hands with. Over the course of three days, permanently transforms its user into Indigo Zap.