Equestria nears an event well-revered across the nation. An annual celebration of the sun, taking place on the summer solstice, the Summer Sun Celebration.
It was in two weeks' time.
With four humans and a killer roaming around, it was surely going to be quite different from the other years. The unexpected deaths, unfortunate circumstances, and, most notably, the presence of nonmagical power. Not only this, but for the first time in Equestria, there was pure hatred without chance for recompense. Indifference for life with knowledge of the pain it caused to take.
For many, it was nothing more than underlying events that didn't do so much as to change the direction of the wind, but for the select few it had directly affected, it was quite well the nearing of the end of Equestria as they knew it.
Here, on this day, fate challenges friendship, hate challenges love, and indifference challenges compassion.
On this day, a battle between not two men, but between two souls will take place.
DIO had gone outside, as it was nighttime. It was June 8th, and, oddly enough, rather cool on the summer night. The skies were clear, allowing DIO to see the many constellations arranged thousands of years ago by Luna. It gave him sorrow, in fact. A feeling he didn't recognize, but for his mother, who had died a death by mercy. However, that was not the only thing on his mind.
'Jotaro Kujo.'
This child who he had fought with using all of his might, spiting him even after death. He was sure that if he saw him again, he would spare no time to kill him. No words, no taunts, not even a gesture. Just a quick, quick fight. What now, however? Would it be his demise once more for showing friendship? To these equines, it was a perfect compromise of power, and for his betterment in fact. He knew this to be inherent, yet what would it be to a Joestar? A bloodline destined to destroy him?
He thought of Josuke, having no thought of attempting to kill him after figuring out his true identity. Could fate have changed, or was it just an illusion? It was right there, the opportunity to kill a Joestar outright!
But he didn't take it.
He let Josuke live.
Why?
Interrupting his thought, a drowsy Rainbow Dash walked out, taking a seat beside him.
"You don't come off as much of a Star Gazer," she said with a chuckle. DIO blinked for a moment, shaking his head lightly to depart from his thoughts.
"Oh, I do enjoy to admire nature from time to time," he said, "though reasons might vary. . ."
"Everyone has their reasons," Dash replied, "though, for me, it brings me back to the old days, before the elements."
"How so?"
"I always dreamed of being awesome. My goal in life was to be respected, a part of the Wonderbolts, who are the coolest fliers in all of Equestria! I wanted to be seen as the most awesome pony ever!"
DIO glanced over, not sure where she was going.
"Of course, that was me as a kid, but after I did a sonic rainboom, it really started to get to me. Nopony else thought it was possible, but I, Rainbow Dash, had just proved them all wrong! I didn't know that I was actually intertwining the fates of the mane six! I was all concerned about myself, nothing but me. I was the only person who was important, and I should be on top."
'Not an entirely flawed way of thinking. . .' DIO thought to himself quietly.
"Though, when I look up at the stars, I see something awesome, as awesome and even more than I wanted or ever could be. But they all look the same! Scattered around in no particular order, just spat out across the sky like an abstract painting. It's kind of chaotic to think of how they got there, with no obvious pattern besides a few constellations some serious star-gazers thought to point out. I wondered, how could they be so awesome when they all looked the same?"
Dash sighed, taking a brief pause as she continued to look at the stars, attempting to count them with futility.
"That's when I realized something. Equestria, us, the ponies, we all might look the same from a distance, but when you get up close, you see that we all have our differences and something that makes us individual, and far, far away, when you look down on us, you see that we work together with no obvious pattern. That's what holds us together, friendship. No order, or government or anything is gonna keep peace in the world, and definitely not as well as friendship can."
DIO was silent, pondering this.
"But, like Luna putting the stars there, our, forefathers I guess is the word, put us here, and Celestia and Luna both hold us together under a powerful leadership fueled by friendship. It's cliche, I know, but I guess truth has a place to be repeated a lot, doesn't it?"
DIO was still quiet.
"The stars are awesome because, even being individual, they still work together, and every now and then, a star will shoot across the sky, standing out, but still it contributes to the entire night sky. It's the same for us down here. Took me a while to understand that."
BWOWOWOWOWTiktiktiktik. . .tik
‘Could this be what I had missed, or is it just a result of this world being different from my own?’ DIO jumped up, taking flight with The World as he looked over the sleeping town, a mere hour before dawn. With one minute of stopped time, he was able to quickly fly around the town as he thought about what the equine had said. It appeared to him that there was a parallel between the two worlds, and not an inherent difference in their workings besides the circumstances. These creatures were all dependent upon their companionship to one another, something that humans seem to be unable to manage.
Perhaps it was a chain reaction that could make that change in his own world, something more than just empty power over reality. With his power, he could enforce friendship.
But it wouldn’t be that simple, would it?
No, friendship doesn’t work like that. It can’t be forced, it just has to develop. But how? He’s known nothing but cruelty and fear, would it be worth trying? Perhaps this world was only an exception to his true nature, perhaps he just needed to get back to his own universe after making sure that no one else from it would appear here.
He was stuck between two alternatives, and realizing that fifty seconds had passed, he flew quickly back to the equine.
To Dash, it seemed only as if he had suddenly appeared on the other side of her, standing up and looking down with a menacing glare.
“You bring up an interesting point,” he said softly, “I’ll have to think about it.”
Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure to what to think as he walked back inside without another word, lying down on a couch and sleeping as the others were.
“Huh, went to bed early,” Dash thought aloud, “that’s weird.”
She only continued to watch the stars, drifting off to thoughts about strong cider and Daring Do books.
Kira’s eyes were wide open, not getting a wink of sleep in his equine form as he thought constantly of the mere possibility of Josuke’s presence. It loomed over him like a towering authority ready to penalize him for every lowly sin he had ever committed. It was taking a toll on his sanity, he thought. He began to bite his hooves, as he obviously had no nails, a bit of blood seeping out as he did so.
The loud sound of gnawing woke Lyra, who was right next to him, having taken rest together in order to solidify their friendship.
“Kira, are you alright?” she asked, leaning over before she gasped lightly, seeing the blood. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t sleep, it’s looming over me like death itself, the thought of—” before he could say something else, the wound on his hoof had healed by Lyra’s magic as she nuzzled him lightly.
“Shouldn’t you save the problem-solving for when the problem arises?” Lyra pointed out, “Everyone has a bad thought from time to time, like nightmares every night or so. You just have to relax and let it pass. Besides, you wouldn’t want to let it ruin our peaceful life, would you?”
Kira sighed, taking a deep breath and scooting back a bit into her embrace.
“You’re right, it’s just. . .stress,” Kira said with a sigh as she nuzzled him gently, “I shouldn’t be so concerned with the past, this is a new life, and there is no need to be afraid of what happened then.”
Lyra smiled, looking at the clock beside the bed.
“Breakfast time, you stay here and relax,” she said, getting up and walking towards the door, “I’ll fix something up for you.”
As she walked out, Kira closed his eyes and began to relax. He suddenly jumped when he heard a light thudding across from the room. When he attempted to summon his Stand, it wasn’t there. In a sudden panic, his shrunken pupils darted side to side to scan the room, seeing Killer Queen. . .
. . .playing with a ball of yarn.
“N. . .nanda kore wa?”
Author's Note
There's a good reason Killer Queen is doing that, you'll find out next chapter.
As you can see, I am for some reason taking a more serious turn with this conclusion, and having a bit of help from some friends here and there. I dunno, but I enjoy writing it so I'm going to keep writing it.
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Seriously though, give me some feedback on this story, I won't retract it this time because I'm really wanting to see this one through to the end. It was difficult to get the will to do some serious writing, but now that I have it, it's like a wildfire.
