CoCoBA Episode 14: Break On Through (To The Other Side)

Coco's Bizarre Adventure, Episode 14: Break On Through (To The Other Side)

The Canterlot Archives were always a small, mostly out-of-the-way section of the larger castle, and didn’t usually see guards outside of their most important wings. Even among unicorns, there were very few ambitious enough to try stealing from the Princesses, and too many rumors of the horrible magics active within the castle at night.

The actual defenses, as Moondancer understood them, were just keyed to the magical signatures of different unicorns. You could be added to the wards by a librarian or an assistant if you needed to stay past closing some night and still leave to go home, but coming and going as you pleased required the permission of one of the Courts themselves, as did getting into the more restricted sections. Although they weren’t the be-all-end-all of pony knowledge that they had been a thousand years ago, she had often dreamed, wistfully, of that kind of total access.

Twilight had given it to her in passing, as a parting gift on the way back home from the city. It was no bigger a deal to her than loaning a library card. It was… touching, mostly.

The defenses went up a few hours after everypony had their night terrors, but she had stayed inside of the Archives in the hopes that they’d protect her somehow. The ambient magic, the possible defenses, the feeling that the magic was trustworthy in that area. It was only after a few rounds of panic that she realized the shields going up weren’t actually a defense against anything. A few minutes after, she learned from experience that they were just an extension of the regular wards.

“Alright, quickly,” she nodded to the rest of her group under the unnatural night sky, and stood on her hind legs. Her hooves pushed against the bubble, encountering no resistance but defining a void in it, tearing a semicircle that dragged to become a lopsided archway.

Scootaloo dashed through first, and Diamond after her, both quiet against the undewed grass. Coco came last, and it was a squeeze Moondancer tried to widen the opening to accomodate. Mostly she kept her eyes peeled for guards patrolling in their direction, but none arrived.

A little more wiggling and Coco had worked her way past, and stood making the same survey. It was hard to tell if the enemy was overconfident or understaffed, but neither seemed like bad news.

For Coco’s part, she’d never been this close to the castle, or even dreamt of it. The most the Royal Sisters had ever done in her dreams was stand in the background of the Gala as everyday ponies romped and cut rugs in her latest, most creative designs. Now she had some sense of the real majesty of the building, of how it seemed like the trunk of a tree with the rest of the city as its root system, and she couldn’t even enjoy it.

“Okay,” Coco breathed. “We have a time limit. Where would the barrier’s magic be coming from?”

“Probably the throne room,” Moondancer said, “but we don’t have to go there to-” She stopped, and cried out.

The other three turned to her, cutting off their search for enemy Stand users, and saw something black and indistinct clawing at her. It was a frothing silhouette of a hoof coming from nowhere, pawing desperately at one of her back hooes with animal drive.

Then that back hoof started to disappear, and she sank, like she was being dragged down into the earth itself! Scootaloo rushed for her first, ｢Go Zone｣’s hoof already outstretched a few inches over her shoulder. Under its commanding aura, her descent slowed, and suddenly froze.

Coco stared at their surroundings for some hint of motion, some clue that they’d been found out. Stand users were not, in her experience, masters of subtlety.

Moondancer herself, though panting in response to her surprise attack, had taken stock of the situation admirably. “It’s not pulling me down. It’s… out. Maybe something like Limbo, it’s hard to tell. It feels like my leg doesn’t exist right now, but it would if I could pull it back out. ...If that makes sense.”

“So long as we can… get you out of there...” Scootaloo was already straining, feeling a wave of pins and needles travel down her body and play chopsticks on her wingtips worst of all. She had used up her power in a few big stunts already, and her wings were entirely through with being connected to the rest of her body.

A long line of fabric unrolled itself from Coco like a red carpet, landing softly in what everyone was beginning to notice as a thick black mass directly under Moondancer. The mare readjusted her glasses with her magic and made a single, flailing grab for it.

It took more strength than she liked, especially when she found she couldn’t kick her back legs, but she managed a tight, hugging grip on it. At first she worried the artificial vine would tear, but nothing happened, and she calmed as Coco began to pull.

Diamond rushed over to the dressmaker’s side, her own Stand materializing beside her. With the flats of its scissorlike limbs it tugged on the fabric not stuck in the mare’s teeth, but still the black pool, whatever it was, wouldn’t let go.

“I can’t keep this up much more.” Scootaloo said, voice slightly raised. She hadn’t changed her posture since she started, and Moondancer could see the sweat beading on her face.

She also found that she couldn’t adjust her grip; clearly, ｢Go Zone｣ was keeping her hooves fixed in place, too. She took the chance to scan the disturbance with a simple spell, something to distinguish regular magic from anomalous.

Suddenly, the hands tugged at her much more insistently, and she sank several inches further into the Earth. Scootaloo’s expression hadn’t changed, and the tether she was gripping hadn’t snapped, but now she sank slowly as the hands dragged her further and further under.

Still, her scan had worked.

“It’s definitely a Stand, but it’s seeking me out based on my magic!” she called as she fell.

Diamond, the only other pony present in a state to talk, swiftly glanced to the rest of their party. “But we’re not being attacked! Stands are magic too, aren’t they?”

“Not perfectly. Antimagic fields wouldn’t keep Stands out, they’re closer to the source of magic than regular spells. I think it’s attacking anyone with unicorn magic because that would be the only way to break through the wards.”

“Yeah, fascinating.” Those two words alone gave Scootaloo a headache. “I can’t hold this any more, guys!”

Moondancer looked up at her, still slipping away, and said, “Hold on! ｢Tragic But Magic｣!”

A smaller version of ｢Go Zone｣ appeared, something only a little larger than a foal, with poorly-defined black and orange stripes looping its barrel and empty, white eyes instead of goggles. Scootaloo couldn’t get a good look at it, but she felt her burden being lifted, slightly. The pull of the black hooves lessened enough that Moondancer wasn’t sinking any more, but she felt as if she was treading water as the tar-like substance licked at the edge of her mane.

Coco peered at the Stand while she pulled, and then let the rope glow with telekinesis in a final burst of effort. ｢Something for Nothing｣ reknit the fabric tighter as it threatened to tear, and DIamond joined with her Stand, hoping to tip the scales just enough.

Then she felt the pull of the rope behind her go slack. Before she could turn around, Moondancer shouted something.

“She used magic through her Stand!”

It was true, and unlike her, Coco’s body sank into the dark uninterrupted.

｢Something for Nothing｣ was already reacting, trailing lines of fabric from high windows and metal fenceposts from the nearby garden, trying to pull its user in all directions but downward. She could feel the cold hooves reaching up for her, and she felt something familiar among them, brushing at her left fetlock. A grip she'd been familiar with, in the early mornings after the endless nights, one well-rested and eternally displeased.

Suri?!

A moment of panic came close to her, and the grip solidified, even as she slowed her descent. She became painfully conscious of her bones, and how many directions they could really be expected to twist, even as the dressmaker in her carefully noted how ridiculous it was for her to be draped and twisted with random lines of tied-off fabric. Ridiculous, but not unworkable, accounting for coat and personality...

She kicked against what couldn't have been her old boss, and found no purchase. Her physical Stand now tugged at the rope in her place, next to ｢Misery Business｣, and it had no effect.

Moondancer's mind revved as Scootaloo tried to take her situation in, straining for some extra height of strength and power. She could feel herself slipping, the tight coil of friction lessening and slowly letting the darkness slip through. Her power was cheesecloth in the face of that tide.

｢Tragic But Magic｣ hovered sympathetically next to ｢Go Zone｣ as Moondancer ran the numbers. She'd seen the user and the Stand in action, so her own let her understand the ability. If Scootaloo ran to help Coco, it would certainly stall this power for an extra minute or two, but it would be a sacrifice. Her glasses were askew. ｢Tragic But Magic｣ could give and take friction, for a little while, but not on a scale that would stop her being pulled in. What was the equation for friction again? She tried to estimate the force tugging against her, her friends against the Stand, some way to switch the balance. The lenses were falling down against her snoot, and the sickly-slow slide of it made her clench her eyes shut.

Then, with a new reservoir of determination, she snapped them open.

"Scootaloo, let go. It's our only chance."

"I -- won't - leave you!" the filly shoved her own hooves against the Earth, as if it would help.

Coco couldn't hear them over the blood rushing in her ears now, the oily mass consuming her cutie mark up to the feather. If they defeated the user, she knew she'd be safe - probably. That was how it had worked before, Stands never seemed to destroy things completely.

She resigned herself to it. Diamond and Scootaloo were capable, they'd probably make it to the user somehow, somewhere.

From the black tar something rippled and burst upwards, trailing strings of oil. It was gradual and silent, blocking her view of her rambunctious allies as it grew to a few inches above her.

From the murk, a face manifested, and it was the one she least wanted to see.

Suri had never made that sort of glazed-over, twitchily exuberant face, and it didn't suit this mold of her. In the special celestial magics of the courtyard, he dappling of starlight came down against the contours of her face, and it rotated through dour annoyance, disgust and quiet judgment before it finally lifted its front hooves and slopped them wetly onto her shoulders.

Coco felt the inkiness run down her coat in phlegmy rivulets, numbing her body like the back hooves already missing. Suri made to headbutt her, and her head collided with a sheet of white linen, immediately turning it uncleanably grey-brown.

Then, suddenly, she felt the contest of wills that any Stand user felt in a direct confrontation, all at once and pushing at her with the intensity of a train. She would've taken a step back, if she'd been able, but the same mental reflex forced her to yield - and the sheet dissolved back into air.

Then it pounded at her again, the same sensation from multiple angles, and she realized too late that the rest of her tethers had been covered. ｢Something for Nothing｣ twisted away the one holding Moondancer, keeping it out of reach for the mire, as the rest violently evaporated.

She glanced around as her barrel faded into the draining murk, and saw a decently blunt rock a few hooves away. She conjured a slingshot of fabric around it, working to cast it directly into the Suri-thing's face - but the white linen crumbled and faded. Then it pushed closer, a mockery of a kiss, and pressed its forehead to hers.

"｢Go Zone｣!" came the cry ahead of her, and suddenly the creature slid off and away from her. The inkiness rolled off of her face as if it couldn't find purchase, and she saw the orange and black goggles of Scootaloo's Stand hovering over her. Below, the darkness failed to take her any further, as if she'd suddenly become buoyant.

"｢Tragic But Magic｣!" Moondancer shouted, and Coco raised her head to see. The unicorn was free!

Her Stand appeared, what looked like a filly's version of ｢Something for Nothing｣, and then it carefully ran a straight line of fabric towards Coco's position. Her face felt half-paralyzed, but the end flapped towards her mouth and she worked half her jaw to grip it in her teeth.

Diamond Tiara took over for Moondancer, who talked excitedly while Coco was worked out of the muck. "It's not a matter of stopping it from pulling you down. You just need to stop it from getting a hoofhold on you! It's so naturally sticky that in its normal state nothing can fall into it!"

Scootaloo nodded, wearily, not inactive enough to be relieved but certainly feeling better. "Making things slippery is way easier than keeping them still."

One tug, harder than the others, and Coco came free like the cork of a bottle. She sailed a ways through the air, heading for the stone wall of the castle itself, before colliding with a bunched-up sheet of damask linen like a ball into a catcher's mitt.

Once she was on the ground again, she found feeling returning throughout her legs, all pins and needles. She trotted in place for a moment as Moondancer came over.

"They're on the lookout for magic, so they expect that somepony might make it through the barriers. They might know we're here now, or this might be an ability that works without the user knowing. Either way, they have to be around here somewhere."

"Is there anywhere besides the throne room we could shut off the field from?" Scootaloo asked.

Moondancer shook her head.

Diamond added, helpfully, "The castle's very secretive about its security measures, so the only surefire bet is that the nexus will be somewhere the Princesses are always going to have access to." Moondancer frowned, and prevented herself from reflexively testing some anti-mindreading protections.

Scootaloo's breathing had returned to normal now. "Then we have to get there fast. Sneaking through the castle rooms is going to take too long for that, so we'll just have to break straight in."

Moondancer thought a bit and scowled. "They'll have a lot of protections on the front doors, I'm sure, and I probably couldn't disable half of them even if I could use my magic. If it's their base of operations, it won't be as easy as going in through the fastest route."

"Maybe for a city full of unicorns." Scootaloo said, and all of a sudden looked very pleased with herself.

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The Vice Principal, who had worn the title for so long that it clung to her like this new spectral hairstyle and the weighty jewelry bound against her neck, surveyed the city. Her original instincts told her not to bother - it was too dark for a human eye to make out anything interesting from a distance, only the indistinct arguing shapes of buildings crowding horizons. But her newfound senses let her pick up movement, snatch it from distances that surprised her.

The information was still reeling in her head, and it had to come in heavy bursts, but she could make out the forms of ponies coming towards her. The castle she was in had been built on the edge of the peak of its mountain, and it towered over all of the other buildings and their citizens like a judge over her courtroom.

Many ponies, now. Not the whole city, and not really an army, but more than she had available at the moment. Most of them were unicorns, so ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣ would take care of them swiftly. She knew that Stands were not as common as all that, at least among the normal herds of the land.

Sombra had not intended for Stands to exist - that is, they were not part of his vision of things - but they had worked out to his advantage as long as he had more of them on his side to work with. Luna did not pretend to care about the potential abilities of those outside in terms of anything but the numbers game.

The portal still lay behind her, and with it a handful of other people who might benefit from stepping through. She wasn't privy to who they might be, or what shape their abilities would take, but she had been informed very strictly that the portal had only so much room for sentient beings to step through. A creature with intelligence had to be traded for another, like for like, in order to maintain the connection.

There were sacrifices that could be made, in the name of one or two extra combatants. Many had been sent back to call her forth, pawns for a queen, and at least some of them would return, begrudgingly or by compulsion. But so far, before the various gives and takes that would define any real battle - if it came to one at all - she couldn't know.

Perhaps she was giving it too much thought. She'd been assured now that she was quite immortal. She couldn't be a proper ruler without a city to take care of, that was true, but she would be able to enslave any of the ponies who came to stop her. The only thing that was truly threatening or unknown to her was magic, and her power neatly kept that from being an issue.

There was a crashing sound from behind her, the singing of glass shattering and a thud that echoed slightly. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw a bundle of cream blankets, enough for a whole barracks, slouching with gravity against the floor.

A head burst up from them, almost the same color, with a tealish mane. Not even looking at her, the pony was facing the thrones, and she sighed in relief as she wrestled here way out of the mass and towards the ancient structure. She stepped quietly, cautiously, never looking around but gingerly questing over the stained shards of glass, examining the steps to the chair with deep fascination.

The Vice-Principal had seen this kind of behavior before, of course. Antics. Not that many students were ever really sneaking around anywhere under her purview, especially not at the seat of her power - she intentionally left the lights off and kept to an out-of-the-way office to ensure that she wouldn't receive visitors - but a few always had designs on their permanent records, or someone else's, or the veteran status of so-and-so a person.

She cleared her throat, and the pony froze for a moment before spinning in place. Then, strangely, a look of relief came over her features.

"Oh, Princess Luna, it's so good to see that you're okay! You probably don't know me, but a lot's been going on, I'm just looking for a way to switch off the castle defenses. Is there a magical conduit somewhere around here?"

How odd, that the ponies who lived under her rule her didn't seem to fear her; she must have become soft with years and years to fatten up her sense of mercy. With a thought, and a bit of clumsy exertion that forced an eye to twitch, her horn sparked and she lifted the pony in a field of deep blue magic, holding her by her back leg and dangling her up in the air.

"Wait, you don't-- oh. Oh, dear," the pony said, realizing that the VP was not the goddess she'd come to know.

Luna thought of the ponies coming toward the castle. It would be a little while before her reinforcements arrived, that was for certain, but for them to enter into the building already... Well, that was much more than she had expected of them. That had clinched it; she needed more ponies fighting, some that could handle whatever intrusion had just occurred.

"I don't know if Sombra's controlling you, or if you're not the real Luna, but either way, I have to stop you and shut off the magic here. Where's it being controlled from?"

Of course the VP knew where the control was, but she'd never tell that to somepony who asked her. She considered sending a message out to Sunset to check for other intruders, and then let her magic do the trick automatically, enjoying the warmth that it generated at the base. For now, she would just kill two birds with one stone.

The portal now stood up towards a wall, a mass of energy as much as a mirror. Things had changed on its surface, and there was something warm about it, as if she could sense it had been used lately. She remembered the hoods of cars, and wondered what it would be like for this small, relatively frail creature to be cast out and find itself with hands and feet. Without Sombra to aid the transition, would it even be able to communicate, or walk, or understand its situation?

The VP was much too used to idle amusements, and the stolid face of the pony looking down at her brought her back to reality. It was nearly petulant, and she resolved not to push this one in but throw as a practice of her magic. If she missed it would only mean broken bones, or another shattered painting of a hieroglyphic pegasus or what-have-you.

She reared up the throw, pulling the pony back on instinct even though the windup wasn't strictly necessary, and then--

"｢Something for Nothing｣."

Her left back leg wrenched to the side, and she stumbled to keep her balance. Something was wrapped around it, and it tugged again as she tried to adjust. She snapped it with her magic and saw a thin line of something - thread, but thicker - leading up to the pony's mouth. She looked angry, and let it fall from her teeth wetly.

Luna glared at her, and then felt the impact of a full pony, something almost as large as she was, colliding into her side. This time the impact hit, and it staggered her a few feet to the side. At the same time she saw the Stand she felt it wrap something around her abdomen, forcing her half-extended wings uncomfortably against her body. It trailed out, appearing out of the Stand's hooves as it bounded for --

The mirror.

As Luna felt herself being pulled toward it, rather insistently considering she was digging her hooves into the floor to slow herself, she realized what the game was. Of course, it wouldn't matter even if she were passed through - the castle defenses weren't located anywhere in the throne room, and the interloper wouldn't have enough time to reach them. It was an elementary matter to pass through and back again, as long as the connection was stable.

She had her pride, however. No matter how petty, there would be no victory for the enemies today. With another impulse of magic, she flung the mare directly at the mirror's surface, a beige fastball for a cosmic windowpane.

The Stand changed direction mid-gallop, and the line of material tugged her less as it lengthened. With a single bound, it caught the mare in mid-flight, doing something like a bridal carry as it sailed safely out of the mirror-path.

Luna's horn sparked again, ready to make a second try. Just then, the Stand's line of material went taut, and she found herself stumbling over again, horn fizzling as she hit the ground like bad slapstick.

Oh, that was it. Snarling, her wings finally snapped out with enough strength to break the tie, shredding it with her very feathers. She shoved against the floor and leapt into the air, her own Stand wreathing her now. ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣ bubbled and frothed at her back, and with a single, mighty wingbeat she descended upon the Stand and user at once.

The two tried to dodge out of the way, but the black night-essence of her ability clouded their path. Another step and the Stand disappeared as the mare hit the wall, her tie lopsided against her chest, pressed to the stone under an image of Luna - the other Luna - in the nighttime.

Coco gazed up upon the angry goddess.

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Scootaloo and Moondancer galloped together. The filly was exhausted, but she easily scampered faster than the unicorn, even accounting for the sweater. Neither complained.

Scootaloo had volunteered to fly up to the throne room personally, and then found herself unable to do it, straining and puffing to hover until Coco finally stopped her. Flying had been the best part of having a Stand, and she missed it already.

So they were heading around the side, looking for an entrance other than the very front, or else for something worthy of ambush and sabotage. The building had a great big circumference, and running it made Scootaloo feel light-headed, like she were on a great big carousel with the whole of Canterlot city blurring around her. Moondancer kept focused for some enemy, some evidence of Stand activity, anything that her senses could share with her about magic even if she couldn't cast a detection spell.

They came upon their first target very quickly, a light blue mare standing alone and unaided, looking out onto the rest of the grounds with her muzzle all but pressed against the magical barrier. She didn't even hear them as they approached, and Moondancer noted the strange, small creatures that littered her feet, a small group of bright-orange ponies with large, alien torsos attached.

They resembled some rough sketches made by the hoofful of early dimensional explorers who had returned to Equestria. They had been partially confirmed by the very cryptic account Twilight gave of her visit to the Human World, but Twilight certainly hadn't mentioned the muscle, or the spiderlike quality of the way the things moved across the ground.

Scootaloo ignored them, rushing forward. Her own Stand was already brandished, and it slammed a hoof into the back of the mare's head, cracking it against the barrier. The whole operation was quiet, except for the grunt of exertion the filly let out between clenched teeth.

The mare slumped, but the small creatures didn't disappear or make big moves. Moondancer considered the possibilities while Scootaloo caught her breath.

"We'd better hide her bef-" Moondancer started.

"｢January 28, 1986｣!"

Something came hurtling at them from the night ahead, turning end over end and glinting. It looked like an emptied pickling jar, but Scootaloo dodged away from it as if it had a bomb inside. Moondancer took her cue, and it curved halfway through its path, smashing harmlessly against the barrier itself, leaving a ripple of energy across the shield that dissipated within a few hooves of its start.

Scootaloo moved with the momentum she'd thrown herself with, rolling across the grass and cobblestone until she felt the solidity of the castle wall beside her. The next projectile couldn't hit her if she kept away from the barrier, but she still had to worry about being seen. Could she hold onto the wall for long enough to climb out of view?

Then she realized that Moondancer didn't know what was going on, and had never seen real combat. The unicorn stood there almost blithely, staring ahead wide-eyed into the darkness and waiting for another attack.

"Get out of the way!" Scootaloo hissed, at risk of blowing her position.

Moondancer shook her head. "We need to understand what's happening!"

"I fought her before! She can make things hit each other, no matter what, but she has to touch them!"

"Then why is she throwing these at her own defenses?" Moondancer asked, softly and half to herself.

Another jar flew out, heading for the barrier. Its path curved just so, putting her in the center of its trajectory. She watched it careen out of the dark, and adjusted her glasses.

"｢Tragic But Magic｣!"

The miniature ｢Go Zone｣ appeared again, and this time Scootaloo had enough presence of mind to really get an eyeful of it. The stripes had become minimal, and didn't really turn into arrows as much as coil out of sight. The goggles were just brass circles painted around white eyes, and the whole impression seemed more like a model from a craft store than a Stand.

But it thrust out both hooves, while Moondancer covered her face with a fetlock reflexively, and the jar stopped in mid-air. When it hadn't exploded on her face, she put the hoof down and stepped around her Stand, investigating it.

There was nothing outwardly magical about the jar - it was probably taken from the on-site kitchens. She couldn't sense any spells inside either, especially not by sight. If they'd raided the kitchens for weapons, why not take some carving knives? No, there had to be some reason--

"Look out!" Scootaloo shouted. Moondancer started turning in the direction of her voice, on high alert, ready to swing around her Stand - and then the impact came.

Scootaloo saw it crash out of the dark like a train, yet another jar coming from behind. They'd thrown it around the edge of the castle in the other direction!

When it hit Moondancer, it was hard enough to make her stumble and fall forward, smashing into pieces on contact. All of the shards wriggled in her wounds, unbearable, and she twisted against the ground to put her back to the barrier. They worked themselves loose of their own accord, doing only a little further damage on the way out.

It was only after the last piece was out that she realized her hair was down and in her eyes. They'd snapped her pin.

Minuette - no, Minuette was her friend, this was from Jupiter - sashayed out of the darkness with a stallion at her side. Scootaloo recognized him immediately, and made to warn her ally about his ability, but... she didn't know what it was, actually.

The centaurs rushed over to the two, crowding around their hooves before returning to their normal, idle state.

"Hmm, I don't think I've seen you before." Colgate said, leaning forward comically to peer at her enemy.

Neon Lights smirked. "I think I saw her in the CHS library once. Not a student."

"Ooh, Crystal Prep material," she tittered. "She must be pretty good to get in here without the VP eating her." Then the blue unicorn trotted forward and leaned over her, almost crowing. "Issat so, hmmmm?"

Then she saw Moondancer's expression, and her smile faltered.

"That hairpin was a gift from my sister!" she shouted, and threw herself upwards onto her foe, hoof uppercutting.

But then the other-world Minuette, and the rest of Canterlot, moved a hoof to the left, and the punch went wild, slicing empty air.

The smile came back, thinly, and Colgate loosed a hit of her own into the unicorn's barrel. It landed solidly, but then ｢Tragic But Magic｣ was beside them, and her hoof didn't come free.

With a back leg, Moondancer kicked for Colgate's skull, and again things changed just before she could make an impact. Her enemy was a few hooves backwards now, no longer connected by the force of friction between them. As she fell onto her back, her hair was swept out of her face, and she cast a glance at the other of the two.

Neon's eyes were inscrutable behind his sunglasses, but he was smirking himself.

"Did you figure it out?" Colgate asked. "Most ponies would have to get close for ｢Jefferson Airplane｣ to work, but there's no rule that says you can't put it in a bottle and seal it up to use later on."

Moondancer processed that. ｢Jefferson Airplane｣? There had been reports, something from Twilight Velvet, yes, and - the jars!

The user exuded a vapor that gave him control over space itself, it had taken Velvet everything to figure out that it was a limited ability because the range would change based on wind and the environment. Left alone in a room, he would fill it up and became master of everything, but outside there shouldn't have been a problem.

Except for the jars.

Colgate smiled daggers at her. "You won't be able to hurt me now, you know. Even if you could escape ｢Jefferson Airplane｣, your little Stand there didn't look too powerful. By the way, are you both color-coordinating?" She turned to address Scootaloo too, and realized with only seconds to spare that the filly was running right for her.

Scootaloo kept her eyes closed and her head low like a bull's, expecting a nasty impact. ｢Go Zone｣ rose vertically out of her, already on its back hooves and ready to strike.

Oh no she didn't. Colgate's face set in frustration at the sight of that Stand, and her own spindly monstrosity rose out of her. She took a step closer to Neon, hoping to get within his range, and glanced worriedly at the various pieces of ｢Pepper｣ as they crowded around her again. Those could ruin all of it, if their de facto second-in-command decided the fight had gone on long enough.

Moondancer watched the hooves and fists clashing against each other - the battle was  hard-fought, but short, and with a few traded collisions of limb-on-limb their opponent's Stand had taken the advantage. A single, savage strike into ｢Go Zone｣'s barrel and Scootaloo was knocked through the air, tumbling into the grass.

｢Tragic But Magic｣'s connection to Scootaloo began to weaken, and Moondancer clenched her jaw involuntarily. She became deeply aware of her horn, even if most of her arcane knowledge wasn't combat-tested. Neon kept watch over her, waiting for some move, trick or plea.

Finally, she made one, springing directly for him.

It was pointless. He shifted her, and she did it again, and a third time. Her tenacity was unlimited, the fire in her eyes only increasing with each failed attempt! It set his teeth on edge, and it was exactly the reason he considered himself a lover and not a fighter.

Another silent, insistent lunge, and he finally found somewhere to maneuver her. She appeared a few inches over the shattered remains of one of their jars, and let out a half-strangled squeak in answer to the pain.

Colgate waltzed over to Scootaloo, coming just within range of a finishing impact, and then lost her balance, falling over in the grass like someone had taken the trouble to oil it. Scootaloo chuckled breathily, still not up again, looking like she'd been awake for days. It was the face of a person with a semester riding on two big assignments and enough time to do one. Resignation. Gallows humor.

"My ability has a little more range than yours, right now," she said as she stood up again, flexing her wings lightly like squeezing invisible stress-balls. "This'll stall you until my friends blow down your stupid wall."

Colgate's eyes widened. So that was their plan. She tried to struggle back to her hooves and launch another attack, but she couldn't get the ground under her to support her weight. It was like Sombra's magic had worn off, and she'd forgotten how to walk completely.

Still, she laughed a little, mouth closed, as she examined the filly's state. "I bet one more good impact would be enough to knock you out, wouldn't it?"

Scootaloo said nothing.

"I've already hit you. If my Stand touches the ground right in front of me, like this-" her Stand gingerly pressed a flat but bulbous palm to the grass, "Then you'll jump right into my range! ｢January 28, 1986｣!"

Scootaloo smiled, and didn't move.

Colgate made sure that she'd activated it - yes, yes, she had. Why hadn't it worked?

Then Neon yelped from behind her. She didn't have time to turn around, or the ability on her new terrain, but she could hear the whooshing noise. Then Moondancer was flung past her, bumping her shoulder into Scootaloo's side. The filly slid much further than should've been possible, letting the ground take most of the impact, but she still sank toward the grass, huffing.

At least she was out of range, now! Colgate took a moment to make sure that was true before she sprained something, but she was able to stand just fine.

Then she let her Stand free again, and bore down on her new target.

Moondancer had been observing closely, but hadn't known at all what Scootaloo was planning. The filly had stamina and tactical understanding that baffled her, especially here. She had been well-rested, and usually had trouble losing energy when it was completely dark outside, but she felt the fight taking a larger chunk out of her than she realized.

All of this, of course, through the pain in her barrel. The glass hadn't cut deep, because the large shards had been laid flat by gravity, but even they clung to her pelt and her sweater now, inextricable so long as she just had her frogs to pick them out.

Meters away, Scootaloo slumped. ｢Tragic But Magic｣ withdrew, losing its form.

Colgate noticed and seized her opportunity, her Stand's fist whizzing through the air. Moondancer could see it coming, and turned to one side, half cowering. The strike hit her in the shoulder, but it was clean and true, and she tumbled once and flew towards the castle wall.

Before she could make an impact, Colgate muttered, "｢January 28, 1986｣."

Her target came back towards her in freefall, with nothing to latch onto to slow herself. And with a good jab, her momentum was reversed and she flew back towards the wall, helpless as before. Another moment of concentration and her body was rounding back for another round of pain, as Colgate stood patiently and waited for the next moment to strike.

It was a demented game of ping pong, for sure. Moondancer shouted something incoherent neither of the Castle's defenders could hear, and then swung around for her final impact. Neon came closer to Colgate, not quite daring to touch her yet, but enough for his Stand to start enveloping her. They had run out of jars for the moment, but they could always replenish, and if this threat of taking down the defenses were actually true there were thousands of containers to put it in.

He could start a brand.

He watched the spiderlike arm of Colgate's Stand, admiring it in its own way. Her mane smelled of lemons and dish soap, which must have been some enchantment since she'd been thrown out of a window. Or maybe ponies naturally smelled that way...

Moondancer came up, and Colgate readied a real piledriver. She'd gotten bored; this time, she'd let this messy-haired thing hit the wall, hard enough to jellify something.

And then there was a brief flowering of pain in her leg.

Her head snapped down instinctively, and she saw a shard of glass. She only had the time to note what it was before the next one hit, and the next, each one stuttering her own ability to process and react to the hit.

In front of Moondancer was a wave of small pieces of glass, glinting like pebbles in a stream and heading straight for her. She huddled closer to Neon and made herself a smaller target as his Stand washed over her.

The glass entered into ｢Jefferson Airplane｣, and dispersed out of the other side, harmlessly. It took a moment to funnel through, and for the whole time Neon stood patiently, deeply enjoying the feeling of a mare hugging his legs for protection. Then the glass was gone, and he made a mental note not to walk in that direction.

Under them, the centaurs had scampered, filling in the space on the ground between their legs. Both of them felt exhausted, but didn't have the time to tell Sunset to knock it off.

Moondancer came just after, and set down on the ground Colgate had been touching. She looked remarkably alright, and Colgate wondered why she wasn't more visibly bruised. That, and how had she thrown shards of glass without a Stand? Was it something to do with physics, a lucky chance from being thrown back and forth so fast?

｢Tragic But Magic｣ appeared over Moondancer's head, this time done up in blue. It was still a pony, and small even for a pony, but its limbs were thin and ropey, its whole body suggested a caricature of starvation, and its aquamarine color scheme was askew, as if it were a model someone had painted blindly.

Colgate snorted at it. What above Jupiter had -

Her thought was interrupted as the glass came back, punching into her back legs. She drew next to Neon, yelping, and he closed his eyes in concentration.

Around them, the glass flew, always curving, always returning, always coming back for a second and a third pass. He didn't have enough stamina to combat it at that moment, not forever. All they needed was one good opening, one solid hit and she'd fall unconscious, and the effect would wear off.

"I can't-- hold them off, they're slicing my--" Neon said, his voice drowning out Colgate's thoughts. A shard of glass clunked against his glasses, chipping them before it flew back off into the endless misdirection of his ability.

Colgate looked at Moondancer, standing smugly only a few feet away, just out of reach, just like her friend. Leave safety and come fight me. As if there were any other tricks she could have. A Stand that copied things wasn't a match for someone who had perfected her own ability!

No, this had to be finished now. Colgate drew up to her full height and threw herself away from Neon, willing herself not to be quartered by his Stand and shredded from all sides. Shards hit her, but the fear was worse than the pain, and once it came she was dulled to it. Anyone could walk with a few cuts, let alone make something else throw a fist.

Moondancer backed up a couple of steps, her confidence wavering as Colgate drew closer to her. Both unicorns were wounded, both were tired, but one of them was undeniably more powerful. ｢January 28, 1986｣ bubbled into existence, and it towered over its petty doppelganger.

A juggernaut of a punch started in her Stand's ankles and twisted its way to the fist in a crackle of fierce, whipcrack motion. ｢Tragic But Magic｣ made no effort to move, but its user did. In fact, she was running directly into the attack!

Trying to get close for a punch, probably. Tch. Colgate didn't give it another thought, in the two seconds it lasted.

Then the fist drove home, twisting as it impacted. Again Moondancer threw herself into it, abandoning any chance of a direct hit, and again it impacted on the same spot. This time, though, it was followed by a second jabbing motion, quickly thundering into a barrage of blows.

Colgate strode over to the magical wall and tapped it once, primly, with an outstretched hoof. Her power activated, calling Moondancer to a final, undelayed crash, but ｢January 28, 1986｣ clenched a hand around the base of her neck and hoisted her off of the ground.

The pull became stronger and stronger, pressing in on Moondancer head as the Stand blocked her airway. Her legs kicked and twitched helplessly, and then finally the Stand let go and the world was racing away under her.

This time, there was no delaying her crash. Colgate observed it almost clinically, the hit, the great rippling of defensive magics, and the slump before she'd slid all the way to the ground. Fainted.

Neon, at this point, brought over Scootaloo. Trying to move her a good distance with ｢Jefferson Airplane｣ was unwieldy, so he'd settled for gathering her in his hooves and awkwardly two-stepping back to his compatriot.

"So how're we gonna... go about this?" he asked, a little hesitantly. It was a question on Colgate's mind, too. She'd learned that the filly was a great enough threat to be worth taking out first, but there wasn't much that either of them could do unconsciously, and having a teammate did make her feel much safer.

Was this sweatered, mop-headed pony unconscious, though?

Well, it was possible to fake being knocked out, but there was no way a pony would be able to get up for a few days after a hit like that, unless they were wearing armor. She couldn't have faked the impact or else she would still be moving, and she couldn't have cast anything - even they weren't supposed to, just in case.

She decided.

"Let ｢Pepper｣ drain the little tangerine. I'll finish the adult."

He nodded, but she was already approaching her enemy. And, independently of him, the various centaurs took their own cue and crowded around the unceremoniously fallen body of the filly.

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Roseluck stood with the other gathered humans, staring out onto the city through an impermeable shield. Ponies were coming for them, they'd been told, but only after minutes of uncomfortable silence did they see any sign.

It was difficult for her to know who was who - she had mostly stayed in her group, but she was the only one of the trio to pass over. To be perfectly honest, she was hoping to be assigned to the bit of the shield that overlooked the gardens, especially now that she knew it was basically her destiny to tend to them. The marks were one of the best parts of visiting this place, as far as she was concerned - they clarified all of the little niggling questions that a high schooler was bound to happen. She felt solid here, even if it was only by comparison.

A wave of ponies marched up. Everyone gathered on her side of the shield had learned basic marches in middle school, and knew they were conserving energy. This was still a siege, for a little while. A great number of them flew, more than she'd been expecting, and perched directly on top of the shield, staring down at them hawkishly.

It made her nervous, but she knew it was irrational. It wasn't like they could break it open by putting weight on it, and it did cover the whole territory. She knew her own group could pass through, but the process seemed unwise the closer the main contingent came to them.

Unlike the pegasi, they stopped completely a few meters from the shield, like they might have been reconsidering their whole plan. If only she were so lucky.

Beside her, Smith and Cloud Kicker called out their Stands. She had never used hers, personally - her work had mostly been observation and trespassing, making sure that no one came up with a way to overthrow the new monarchy in their basement.

In her defense, she'd only had a day to start out, and then everything had gone belly-up. There was only so much of a city a person could search in a day, especially if they didn't have a magic wand attached to their forehead.

At the fore of the opposing group were two ponies, one gaunt and ghoulish in a great big coat, and the other a dark yellow with poofy black hair and a little vest. She didn't recognize any counterparts for either of them back on Jupiter, but that didn't surprise her.

If anyone else knew who they were, they didn't shout it out either. Probably they weren't looking at the crowd as a selection of individuals, just thinking about it as a collection of forty or fifty ponies with a couple spoonfuls of pegasi thrown in. That was an elementary mistake - Rose had made more than enough bouquets to understand that every group was really just an impression left by putting a bunch of individuals close enough together.

She tried to pick out someone's face, anyone's. Most of them were unfamiliar, or the light just wasn't strong enough to make them out and get a definite sense of color. That irked her as much as the threat of the shield coming down, although she knew both were pretty silly.

There! In the back, past a few other heads, she made out a hairstyle and a skin color that were unmistakable. It was someone from Canterlot High, though not a student. And not as easygoing or sweet as Rose was used to. No, she was decidedly very nervous, with a grimness to her eyes that clashed with the mellow phlox of her body.

Cheerilee didn't seem to notice she was being stared at.

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Coco desperately needed to stall for time. The mirror, swirling with magic she could feel across the room, felt more and more like some kind of furnace the closer she came to it. Magical items that were already around must not have been affected by Luna's Stand - otherwise, how was the barrier still up.

Luna looked terribly unregal in her anger, and a few hooves taller, her nostrils flared and her eyes fixed on Coco, waiting for any sign of motion. It terrified Coco to imagine that the other world might have its own Princesses ready to overtake them, but whatever she was, there was no chance of actually doing damage to her. It seemed just as impossible to get her through the portal, especially from any distance.

She considered tying them together and pulling her through the portal, but didn't know if that would even work. Maybe her Stand would work differently there, or they'd appear in different places far away from each other, or something would go wrong. Her Stand probably could have kicked it over and smashed it into pieces - that always seemed to work in stories about magical glass - but...

She had to know if Rarity was still in the castle, first.

The black sludge coiled up around Luna's shoulder like a viper and struck. ｢Something for Nothing｣ responded automatically, headbutting Coco in the abdomen and piledriving her away.

Unfortunately, the sludge followed after her, changing its direction in mid-air and darting after her like a piece of living calligraphy. There was room left before the throne wall, but not enough to lead any merry chases.

She knew from that moment that she was going to be caught in that well of inky despair again, and she pushed that certainty from her mind, kicking off of the wall and racing for the thrones again. The Stand was faster than hers, doubtless, but if she could distract the user it shouldn't matter!

Luna hadn't moved, just watching as Coco came close enough to check the thrones again, only to need to abandon them immediately. Even a fruitless search was too lucky for this pony!

A ribbon of fabric lashed out and whipped at the blackness, immediately becoming corrupted. It snapped away as Coco hopped from the throne platform, and then her Stand carried her in the air, its front legs underneath of hers.

It was almost comical. She was heading back in Luna's direction now - there was nowhere else to go, now that she'd backed herself up against the far wall - and the former Vice-Principal flew the meet her, crossing half the distance in a couple seconds' wingbeats. The feeling was privately exhilarating, and the pony's slow, exhausted pace made it easy to rush up on her - ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣ from behind, and the goddess of night at the front.

No, there was still room for a last-moment drop to the floor. Her horn glowed as she slowed her approach and summoned more of her power, holding the pony still in the air and sending another snaking oiliness after her. Both of them circled around her, anticipating some extra trap or trick, and Luna lowered herself to the ground, finding the sensation of telekinesis and flight at the same time a little overwhelming for her first time in mortal combat.

She expected to see some mask of fear, or loathing, some final spittle against her from a creature who had never seen a truly overpowering force.

Instead, the pony stared back at her calmly, dangling from the air. "When that barrier comes down, they're going to defeat everypony you have here. Sombra won't be able to save you! We'll make sure that all of you go back to Jupiter!"

Big words, a final attempt at a boast. The magic keeping the building locked down was rooms away, and to get to it this pony would have to escape the room she was already in and evade Luna's own ability. In her passage to this new land she'd been given a brief introduction to alicorn magic, and knew that even the strongest of illusions and tricks would not deter her sight, nor the most devastating blasts of power do more than temporarily inconvenience her. She couldn't be outpaced even if the whole building were brought down on her head.

The pile of blankets which had crashed through the stained glass were flying through the air, just inside of a blind spot. She drew in a breath, turned to them and flexed her magical muscles. A new spell burst into existence, invented for the moment, a cutting wind that tore them to ribbons.

Tatters blew around her, sticking to her legs ineffectually, still enveloped in their own pockets of magic. She turned her eyes back to the pony above her.

Coco smiled. Time, a little more time!

It took the new Princess a moment to notice that the smile, even though it was frozen in the air, was getting very slightly further away.

Then she felt it, something she almost didn't notice by its natural familiarity. Her hooves were sinking into a circle of ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣!

In her shock, her magic faltered, and ｢Something for Nothing｣ lifted its user upwards, bearing her towards the high red-and-gold ceilings and away from her thrashing enemy.

[center]* * *[/center]

Colgate came closer steadily, her Stand out and ready for funny business. Neon wasn't with her - he was keeping his field in the filly's general area, just to make sure there were no tricks on her end before she got drained completely.

Ponies were tougher than she had imagined - there was still no real bruising, and the sweater was intact. Still, she herself hadn't survived a drop from a second-story window unscathed; it couldn't take more than a few decisive blows to crack one of their skulls.

Moondancer laid perfectly still, glasses painfully askew, the whole of her face itching in the unnatural night air.

Colgate came a hair from closing the distance, and then, instead, stopped completely. "No," she murmured to herself, "Too easy." Then she turned her head back to her companion and flung some words at him. "Do you have anything else sharp?"

He shook his head. Colgate retreated from Moondancer's body, sideways, heading for the wall. After a moment's inspection she plucked a half-broken jar up, one fragment of more than sixty percent of the original. Its teeth were beyond jagged. Once she saw it, she calmed down. That would be her ace in the hole, an unblockable direct hit.

She stopped herself. No... Glass hadn't done much damage before. She didn't let her Stand imprint on what she was holding, letting it drop impotently back onto the grasses of the Castle lawn. What she needed was close at hand, though - where the grass gave way to a path, her Stand worked at the largest cobblestone it could find, tearing it from the road. It was three times larger than her head, and its heft felt like enough to crush a pumpkin.

Moondancer resisted the urge to shift positions. From under her hair she watched the mare go about this whole ritual, perfectly impassive. Scootaloo was helpless nearby, still actually knocked out, and they might have been killing her. If only she knew the user of that orange Stand - what had they called it? ｢Pepper｣?

Colgate nodded to herself, setting the stone back down. Now, she was safe, or as safe as one could expect to be in a direct fight. She swept any further concerns from the palace of her mind, choosing action in the moment over the anxiety of infinite preparation. When she came at her enemy this time it was in a rush of hooves, eager to get the whole thing over with.

｢January 28, 1986｣ drew up a fist to throw straight downwards, and Moondancer jumped - literally - into action.

Colgate reared back as the mare shoved off from her position on the wall and bridged the gap between them in a single second, hoof pulled back for a punch. How?! It was impossible for her Stand to reposition itself and then make a direct shot, but it could at least knock her out of the -

Moondancer's hoof connected with Colgate's chin in a single, noisy uppercut. The mare's bottom lip scrunched upwards as her body pulled up and away, finding no sanctuary from the attack. This close she could see Moondancer's eyes, eyes that seemed like they could never have been knocked unconscious.

A blue fist intervened, and Moondancer went tumbling. This time she didn't pretend to be knocked out, just dusting herself off and standing up again.

"Why aren't you taking damage?!" Colgate screamed. "I'm getting direct hits on you every time!"

Moondancer kept a poker face. "Magic."

"Your magic can't work inside of the Castle, it's part of ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣'s ability!"

So that was the Stand name...

"You're right that I can't cast anything, but that power did nothing about the magic I already had around me. It was the kind of defense that could only react to what happened in the here and now, and not the kind that cared about history, so it completely missed my enchantments." She straightened her glasses smugly.

Enchantments that kept her safe? Colgate consulted her accelerated learning in magic until a rebuttal spat out. "Enchantments like that would only work on objects! You would've had to bring a shield with you!"

Moondancer raised an eyebrow, and continued slowly, dramatically dusting off her sweater. "I made sure to keep my outfit ready for emergencies. I can't use it like a helmet without getting suspicious, but it protects most of my vitals."

Colgate seethed at how utterly unfun her violence had become. "You really did run into them on purpose! ...It doesn't matter. Now that I know, you're still doomed! I'm not getting close enough to give you another chance. My Stand will settle this for me instead, before you can get close enough to lay another finger on me!"

Moondancer stood still. "So will mine."

"Not before your head caves in! And if you think you can do something tricky like change the stone to target me instead, you don't know the first thing about ｢January 28, 1986｣!"

The slab of stone lifted from its seat of earth, pulled up and animated by the Stand's gravity. Once it whizzed past Colgate it would be as good as done.

Moondancer smiled, casting her hair back with a hoof. "You've got it backwards. I don't want to stop that rock; in fact, I want it to head this way! It looks like you underestimated the power of ｢Tragic But Magic｣!"

Colgate's jaw set at that mockery - and then clenched, tightly, as her hooves left the ground.

Neon saw too, but he was too late to stop it.

After the initial shock, she laughed in raw disbelief at... at the nerve. "I'll just smash you with my Stand before it comes to crush you, then! You won't be able to use any other tricks with brain damage!"

But there was one thing that Colgate had not considered! One thing which, though she had believed it in the moment, did not shine through to her as she prepared her strike! Of the two Stands, ｢January 28, 1986｣ was undoubtedly the stronger one!

Moondancer could see it, even though the blue unicorn couldn't wrench herself around in the air to get a glimpse herself. ｢Tragic But Magic｣'s ability was to take most of the power of a Stand, not all of it, and the slippage was clear when two objects were on the same trajectory.

Colgate felt the rock collide into her back, plowing her forward faster than she'd been moving, directly for Moondancer herself. Its momentum argued with hers and won out, and she zipped past her Stand, forcing it to dissipate limply at the edge of her range.

Moondancer drew her sweater up over her face. She looked ridiculous.

Colgate screamed against the wind, and collided.

A moment frozen, a mare sandwiched between a headbutt and a junior boulder. A few nasty snaps, and suddenly the rock forgot its directions completely, and collapsed back to the Earth. Colgate fell onto her back wetly, and ｢Tragic But Magic｣ lost its form, dissolving back into its potential.

Moondancer worked her neck back through the hole, and immediately stepped over her combatant, heading for her associate.

Neon Lights stared at her.

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The Vice-Principal splashed for a moment in her own ability, bobbing against it, before she finally threw one of her hooves over the lip of the circle and climbed out. Whatever  laid at the bottom of the chasms it created, she was completely unaware of it.

Dripping with ichor, she glanced up towards the ceiling to get a fix on the target's new location. It was empty.

She cast an eye to the door, and it was ajar! Only slightly, but opened from inside of the room! It was possible that she might not have heard or recognized the sound in the ruckus of using her new abilities, but for a pony to open that door while fighting with her...?

No, perhaps it was merely left open when Sunset Shimmer had left to go deal with the rest of the troops. But where would the pony be hiding? Had she traveled through the portal in some ultimate act of escape?

That, at least, could be known. A flicker of magic over the surface and she knew instantly that it hadn't been used since she'd come through. Outside, then.

She moved towards the doors, throwing them open completely with her magic. The hallway to the throne room was only slightly curved, and she could traverse it in seconds anyway. There definitely hadn't been enough time for this pony to make it deep into the castle. Even if she somehow knew the true source of the magic, it would take her a couple minutes more to reach it and shut it off.

But outside, the hall was barren. There were no guards, no troops, no foes, only the yawning air. There weren't even alcoves large enough for a pony to hide in, not for this stretch. If this pony had been moved along by her Stand and ducked into the first door she found, maybe then she would've escaped.

If that were a plausible idea, though, she could be anywhere. Luna felt the force of ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣ and considered changing its condition, making it something like "having beige fur" or "wearing clothes" just so it would ensnare the rabble immediately.

...No. Opening herself up to enemy magic was unwise. This pony may have come with allies, and if not there was still some way that she got inside. Luna dismissed the deeper aspect of her power, gritted her teeth and summoned her magic again, this time creating a spell that would show her all of the ponies in the building and their locations. It swept out from her in a wave of frothy blue, and then she had it.

...Wh-what?!

There was a pony down the hallway, in fact at the very point she'd been worried about! But it wasn't the one she'd been fighting, the signature was different, the size. Co-conspirators!

Before she could react any further, a kick landed like a missile directly on her withers. Something cracked.

Coco Pommel had slowed her descent only slightly, but the impact transferred all the force of her fall into the Princess. She had wanted to stay covered on the ceiling, a further extension of their game of keepaway, but she couldn't have risked it.

Luna spread her wings and threw Coco off, but the mare only fell into a tightly-stretched piece of linen and catapulted back, striking the base of a wing this time. There was a grunt of legitimate pain, and then she was being held in that field of telekinesis again, robbed of free movement.

Then, before either of them could make another move, both felt something. A thunderous vibration that seemed to rattle the castle floor itself, coming from outside. Luna darted to a window, leaving Coco held in her magic, and saw great circles of emptiness engorging themselves on the stuff of the magical wall. Where it had glittered with arcane inscrutability, now it dissipated.

The alicorn had been correct about the strength of her magic. Spellcraft did not need to be learned for her, as long as it was combative, for more positive magics would've been the bailiwick of her sister. Her abilities could not truly be tested, and her body would not be harmed by any power or artifact that the ponies of Canterlot had close to hoof. In flight she would outrace them, in magic she would outcast them, and in raw strength she could outlast every member of the city.

But there was a magic she had not counted on! Indeed, a field of magic which could threaten to transcend and overpower even the wrath of an alicorn! Against all circumstances it railed, with the burning intensity of its practitioners behind it!

Yes, that very magic was the magic of friendship!

From Princess Celestia's royal bedroom, ｢Misery Business｣ finished smashing the complex-looking glass globe which Luna had thought about, in the seconds when Coco  had asked her where the power was being controlled from. Snatching it from those thoughts had been the most difficult part of her task, laying hidden in the pile of fabric and waiting for an opportunity to dart to the barrier's true controls.

Beside her, both Princesses and the limp body of Rarity laid, stacked next to each other on the bed like cordwood. Her Stand carefully ground the larger remaining pieces to dust, and she bit her lip, hoping that their other allies hadn’t been intercepted by something they couldn’t handle.


Luna watched as the first line of defense fell, and the siege came to an end.

Outside, ponies charged.

｢To Be Continued｣

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78yioWJhUJA [Rush - Something for Nothing]

Stand Name: ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣
User: Vice-Principal Luna
Stats
Power: A
Speed: A
Range: B (A for Automatic ability)
Durability: D
Precision: C
Potential: D
Abilities: A cloud of ichorous ooze which sticks to skin, and manifests bad and traumatic memories for those caught inside of it. Its secondary, Automatic ability activates when ponies in range fall into a category or condition set by the user, at which point a large pit of ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣ appears directly underneath of them, pulling them out of the world itself.

Stand Name: ｢Tragic But Magic｣
User: Moondancer
Stats
Power: E
Speed: E
Range: E
Durability: E
Precision: E
Potential: S
Abilities: When the user knows the name of a Stand, has seen its effects, and has identified its user by sight, ｢Tragic But Magic｣ can take the diluted form of that Stand. In this state, the user gains an intimate knowledge of the workings of the original Stand, and is able to use a strictly inferior version of its abilities. Physical power and durability are not carried over in this process, though other attributes are. This ability only works for one Stand at a time, and ends automatically if the user of the original Stand moves too far away or falls unconscious.