Twilight's Bizarre Adventure: Memories of the Wind

Celestia stared at the friends for a moment before moving towards them.

Twilight's eyes followed her mentor's movements. "Celestia, is everyone at the Gala alright?"

Celestia sat down. "Everyone else was unharmed, but we had to cancel tonight's Gala."

Rainbow shrugged. "I mean, suddenly murder. Why continue it after that?"

Celestia pulled a mug of hot cocoa towards herself and sipped from it. "Have any of you heard of Stands?"

Fluttershy looked at Rarity. "Do you mean a modeling stand?"

Celestia glared at Fluttershy. "I mean the supernatural power."

Rainbow just stared at Celestia while the others looked between each other.

"That's what I thought." Celestia took another sip of her cocoa. "A Stand is a manifestation of one's fighting spirit. It can take on many forms depending on its master. Very few Stands are the same, but there are a few general rules. First, only those with a Stand, or a Stand User, can see a Stand. The few non-Stand Users I've met that have seen a Stand always turned out to either be a Stand User without knowing it or later became a Stand User naturally.

"Second, the Stand itself can only be affected by other Stands. The master, however, is fair game. Third, most Stands have a form of intangibility. This means that a master can hide their Stand inside of themselves as a form of protection. Fourth, as projections of our spirits, masters can use their Stands to communicate. Typically, this means that they're communicating without non-Stand Users being able to hear them."

Spike shared a look with Twilight. "Why are you telling us all of this?"

"The fifth rule of stands is that damage to a Stand is transferred to the User." Celestia took another sip of cocoa as the others at the table processed this.

"Grey Fly was a Stand User?"

Celestia nodded. "I only caught a glimpse of it at the Gala, but it was small and fast. I have some ponies investigating, but I believe that Grey Fly would make a deal with a pony, take out insurance on a location, object, or even that very pony, then cause a catastrophe so he could claim the insurance on whatever it was. Or whoever it was."

Applejack bit her lip.

Rarity's eye was twitching. "W-wait. Wasn't he about to destroy the Gala?"

Celestia nodded. "He's made a big name for himself. Odds are that a number of ponies he had insurance on were present. He was probably using his Stand to place the explosives at vulnerable points around the hall. Once he had Applejack's signature, he would have been able to slip out and detonate them all, bringing the whole room down."

Rainbow scowled. "And killing everypony inside. All for money."

Applejack was staring at the table. "Taking insurance out on my farm. Then destroying it."

Rarity looked at Applejack. "He might have even lured me into his scheme."

Fluttershy was hugging herself. "What if he had targeted the sanctuary?"

Pinkie was shaking. "If he started targeting Ponyville..."

Twilight pulled Spike to her chest. "He killed so many, and he would have killed so many more."

"Exactly." Celestia lowered her cocoa. "Though you only killed him because of the immediate threat, right?"