CoCoBA Episode 12: Schoolhouse Rock!

In the Castle of the Princesses, a number of ponies were gathered. The guards were in comas, but those from across the mirror had come around it again to feed it more of them. There were still people left to summon, people it was vital for Sombra to get across into this reality.

There were strict rules to running the portal. Pushing too many people through without reciprocating their number would threaten uncoupling the universes, or worse. And their newfound King’s magic couldn’t reach too far into Jupiter without willing hosts.

So it was a delicate balance, dependent not just on power there but on their potential in this virginal magic-soaked kingdom. In this case, they had to tie the limp guard-horses like cordwood and throw them through in great heaving three-person tosses.

There were three left to summon, and the first two came bursting through at the same time. The man had gained wings, and gasped with sudden relief at the solid ground beneath him. The woman was native, but tricky. She’d been an effort to subvert, but strong enough to be worth it. Most of the assembled knew her at least by reputation, and she smirked and nudged her companion.

“Look, Flash,” Sunset said. “My alma mater.”

* * *

With her camera, Photo could create worlds.

It was still around her neck, even as she was on the ground. She also had the mask in an emergency, but that would hardly need her Stand. Raw violence was not something she countenanced, when she could simply remove people from life’s canvas. It was like a betrayal of her gift.

She closed her limb around it, and with a burst of will, upturned it towards Cheese Sandwich. He looked at her with crooked eyebrows as she punched the flash.

And yet, for all of the willingness of the shutter and the bulb and the complicated printing system, her own legs didn’t obey her! She kicked against the grass and spun away from him, catching the school in her lens instead.

In defeat, the image printed and fell like overripe fruit from her neck, hitting the ground.

“You’re pretty tough-headed,” he said, conversationally, only keeping one eye on her. “I never really got the real you, to be honest. I mean, you wore sillier things than me half the time, but it wasn’t to make anypony laugh. It was just… putting on a show for yourself. Don’t you think that’s a sad way to be?”

She fell back into the grass, and he waited. ｢Feel Good Inc｣ could spread through the building, but it couldn’t discriminate if he couldn’t see the ponies it was targeting. At best, he’d only be able to feel out the number of ponies affected, and that was only if their enemies didn’t have some kind of immunity or trick to get around it.

This Photo Finish was a spunky character, for sure. Strong and silent type, maybe.

“Hey, how does a pony with colored goggles on take such good photos anyway?” he asked.

And then, in front of him, a chunk of the school wall blinked out of existence. Behind the brick was now a rectangular cross-section, a science lab made of rubbery black tabletops and perchable stools and carefully rationed glassware. Posters plastered the wall with diagrams that were perfect for cheating tests with, and moderately expensive machinery stood against the wall, evenly spaced.

He blinked, then looked at Photo. Under her, clipping through the grass, was the very edge of her Stand. The photo she’d taken had fallen between it and her, giving her just enough room to manipulate it.

“｢ARTPOP｣!” she shouted in that unplaceable accent, and it rose from the ground, kicking her upwards, still holding a bottle of some supernatural chemical. She was facing him again, reaching for her camera, but with a burst of concentration he threw her hoof back. The motion made the bottle go wild, and she fell back to the ground breathing heavily.

Then, with one deep breath, she was calm.

Beneath her the bench swung around a fixed radius, catching the bottle. In its momentum it slammed into her, and Cheese watched as she sailed through the air and straight for the room. In his shock, he didn’t have the wherewithal to stop her from reaching for her camera, and he threw a hoof in front of his face as the light overtook him.

As her Stand dissipated, and she thumped into the far wall, he ran after her. Then he fell, tripping on nothing, as one of his hooves disappeared.

As he thrusted himself back into a galloping position, he made contact with those goggles and that perpetual frown, and saw her rip a photograph in half. The deliberate tear took both hooves, and then between them the wall rematerialized.

* * *

“I… don’t understand.” Coco said, staring at the flying tortoise.

The mare, Twilight, opened her mouth. Then she shook her head. “There’s no time right now. Who else is in this building?”

Coco put a hoof to her muzzle and thought, still transfixed by whatever ｢Mr. President｣ was. “Three Stand users and two more friends. There were four of each of us when we got here, but-”

“Is there anyone in the hallway?” Twilight asked, almost but not quite daring to look out of the door herself. She might have been a decade older than Coco or twice her age, in that light, but she moved with the wincing care of a mother regardless.

“Yes, one stallion, unicorn, with sunglasses and a star cutie mark. He might have gone for help, but I don’t know.”

Twilight Velvet became frantic at the description, and was now enthusiastically piling desks around the door. “His Stand’s probably already active.”

“I didn’t have any trouble getting past him.” Coco said, although partly she knew better than to underestimate one of these powers.

Twilight reached for the pencil sharpener by the door and ripped it off of its spindle. Coco cringed; she hadn’t seen a pencil sharpener until adulthood, when Suri entered her life and her sketches had to become erasable, and she remembered the week’s salary it took to get one with a warranty.

With a few hearty shakes, ashy half-blackened wood-matter dusted the air. And, suddenly, began to float in different directions on some invisible current of air. Coco gave the room a once-over, but the many windows were closed, and the shavings weren’t heading for the only moving propeller.

“He’s coming in.” Twilight said, and then, You’ll have to take the window. If I throw ｢Mr. President｣ outside and you hide inside, we can regroup when he touches solid ground again.”

Coco just looked at her.

“I know it’s not the best plan, but it’s necessary! We can’t let Cloudsdale fall into their hooves!” She was already opening up a window, peering out onto the courtyard, and then galloping from it to the tortoise. “The coast is clear. Now go! I’ll stay behind and deal with him!”

Coco shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re asking, but I’m not leaving you beehind! Come on!”

“Don’t arg-” Twilight said, not looking back, and then the newly-placed fabric on her hoof tugged her towards the window. She stumbled backwards, turning, and Coco was already poking halfway out, conjuring the bulky plain-white form of a parachute.

Between them, the ground looked mightily distant, and pencil shavings flew out over it like tumbleweeds in utero. Coco, who was more used to falls, regarded it with a kind of numbness. Twilight’s face took on a courage that wasn’t entirely there, and placed the tortoise in the crook of her leg, pressing it between herself and her newfound ally.

Then they leapt, and the harnesses wove themselves around their bodies as the parachute pulled against the wind. Twilight’s mane went wild above her with unremembered life, and the gentle green plane of the ground marched steadily closer in her swaying vision. Coco stared instead at the city, and at all of the buildings she still couldn’t see over from her position. Through their gaps she could see the rest of the metropolis in broad brushstrokes, almost as far as the restaurants.

“Nice try,” called an unfamiliar but boyish voice from above them.

Coco turned, and made a hole in the parachute with ｢Something for Nothing｣. Leaning out of the window, like a filly watching a parade, was the Stand user she’d passed. Grayish-blue coat, sunglasses undamaged and back on their perch, and a grin that showed every tooth he could manage. Whether he made eye contact with her, she couldn’t tell.

Then, something shifted.

“Nice job leading ｢Jefferson Airplane｣ straight after you,” he shouted. And then slammed the window shut.

Then, in a corner of her vision, the propeller attached to the tortoise disappeared. Then part of the shell, leaving behind air and inky darkness, like there was nothing inside of it, or something was eating it in small bites.

Twilight noticed at the same time, shocked, as another piece disappeared and she grabbed the unfased remains of the animal. “｢Mr. President｣!”

Then, in a moment, both of them were gone, and Coco was alone, descending into the courtyard. Then, close enough she could feel the shift on her right ear, part of the harness disappeared into nothingness. With vicious suddenness, her descent became a spiral, and then the other string popped away, and it was deja vu all over again.

* * *

Scootaloo’s first instinct was to lash out. She ignored it. This user’s Stand could overpower her ｢Go Zone｣ in a straight fight, and she didn’t understand why.

Colgate stared down at her, smiling thinly to herself. Neither blinked, the filly standing crouched close to the ground and the mare tall and confident against the dim ceiling lights and the distant path toward Coco and Diamond.

Colgate lunged first, using only her hoof in one blistering motion. Scootaloo stopped it before it could reach her. ｢Go Zone｣ didn’t face any problem, and she examined it. No weapon, no mark, just the hoof. A touch-based Stand?

The mare didn’t give her time to ponder. When the next hoof came, Scootaloo was already leaping off of the lockers, soaring through the air and hitting the floor. She slid on contact, down and away. Behind her, Colgate giggled to herself.

If this was a touch-based Stand, Scootaloo knew she was at a disadvantage. Her range seemed only slightly further, and that was only assuming that it only worked close-up. How had the first attack worked, and why had it yo-yoed back past her Stand’s defenses? Had this poseur-mare gained some power over ｢gravity｣? Over the giggling, the filly tried to run through her options.

Wait. The giggling was closer, not further away. It was approaching rapidly, in fact! Scootaloo turned and the mare was upon her, sailing through the air like something bewitched!

｢Go Zone｣ flew out without being called, pounding against the mare. Another Stand clashed against it, solid metallic blue, bone-thin and bipedal, with a single oval sapphire taking up the entirety of its face. Its spideresque limbs crunched persistently and quickly against the orange hooves, and finally it loosed a haymaker against the goggled orange head.

Scootaloo’s entire body snapped back and tumbled away, her Stand retreating back into her. She fell against the floor and stayed motionless, groaning, as a few hooves away Colgate landed and approached her.

“This is pretty good exercise,” is all she said, and then she kicked the filly in the wing. She cringed and rolled away partly, still reeling from the first attack, and Colgate nodded.

Scootaloo heard the hoofsteps running further down the hallway, back to where they’d been and then past that. Why? There was no door or anything down there. She was sure she’d been touched, and the Stand activated, but why stop there?

As she struggled back to her hooves and got her breathing back under control, ｢Go Zone｣ appeared next to her, holding her steady again. Down the hallway the mare had reached the end, and smacked a hoof against the window.

“｢January 28, 1986｣!” The voice boomed and clapped down the hallway, filling the environment. Next to the window she stood, smiling patiently.

Scootaloo’s center shifted, her sense of balance suddenly existing two hooves in front of her body, and she tilted forward unintentionally. Her stumbling and trying not to headbutt the floor was helped along by the fact that her hooves stopped making contact with it, and she dangled in the air above it in a kind of sideways free-fall.

She was heading straight for the window. The broken glass that she’d navigated so luckily before yawned at her eagerly, pulling her towards it. The pain in her side flared in sympathy with the picture that formed in her head, and her Stand caught a wall, digging in and forcing her to slow. She dangled from it as the tug became more and more powerful, threatening to rip her ribs out of her body if she didn’t give in.

Colgate didn’t move.

Scootaloo fell toward a door, and her Stand kicked it off of its hinges. She gritted her teeth as she judged the opening, and sweated with the precision of what came next.

Her front hooves were the first things to fall towards it, and turning her head against that force took too much effort for the middle of a fight. She let the doorway leave her periphery, and then for her first back hoof to be pulled away.

Then, a moment of intense friction, of her final leg against the very edge of the door! She took a breath and swung with it, grasping the other side of the doorframe and anchoring herself in it for leverage. Then, with one ultimate swing, she flung herself inside and ｢Go Zone｣ held her against the nearest wall. She huffed in its flypaper embrace.

But the tug continued, stronger and more persistent. She’d barely been able to investigate the empty desks or the blackboard or the projector in the corner, let alone recover, and now it was pulling her again.

“You’re not going to escape that way,” Colgate sing-songed.

She took a deep breath and prepared herself. She’d figured out that the Stand moved things the user touched to other things they touched in straight lines, which meant she could overcome it! Taking the advantage was the important thing! She trained her mind on her heartbeat, tensing her muscles like coils of energy, and took off.

A couple hooves away from the wall, where the pull started to bring her back to the door, she summoned up ｢Go Zone｣ and shut her eyes tight. A single smashing hoof connected with her side, and she flew past the doorway. Maintaining her Stand through the pain was an effort as the world clenched around her, but it was back by the time she’d flown past the doorway.

She clung to the corner closest to Colgate, still in the direction of the pull, which drew through the wall and pressed her against it. With a breath of relief she felt the tug weaken, and she considered the room.

Nothing sharp, just desks and a teacher’s podium at the front of the class. It was a lot like the schoolhouse in Ponyville, although there was a lot less open air and sunlight. The door was on the floor where her Stand had smashed it in, and the windows were closed.

She hadn’t noticed anything tactically useful when the pull returned, just as strong, but not behind her. It was stringing her back to the doorway, just like before! She was still heading for the window!

｢Go Zone｣ gripped the wall weakly, slowly her descent, and she realized her mistake. It was a Stand that made things collide, even if they weren’t in straight lines! That was why her opponent hadn’t bothered coming after her; her Stand couldn’t be resisted!

She frantically scanned the room for something, moving like a snail inexorably against the wall, and then the doorframe was upon her.

* * *

Diamond ran after Amethyst as fast as her legs would carry her. The mare could hear her coming, and was perfectly aware of her besides, but if she could land a single hit it would be over.

Amethyst’s head turned from side to side, surveying the doors. This hallway led back into the rest of the school, which gave her a lot to check. Diamond hoped that she was tripping up in her haste.

A mask flew at her and ｢Misery Business｣ vaporized it with a single chop. Amethyst didn’t react, only seizing the slight advantage to get further ahead. There was a corner ahead of them, and while she turned it she took the opportunity to throw another mask at Diamond.

It was obliterated, and Diamond barreled through the cloud of it. There was no fork here, no opportunity for a tricky escape or a double-back, so she rounded the corner after her opponent.

Amethyst stood tight against the wall just around it, holding a wrathful and twisted mask in her hoof, and jabbed it forward for the filly. Diamond wasn’t fazed. A pair of pink limbs grabbed the stone on either side, shaking with Diamond’s momentum, and pulled them forward. Amethyst stumbled, and the Stand headbutted her.

Evasive on instinct, Amethyst ignored the pain, let go of the mask and kicked off of the wall, cartwheeling out of range. She was out of masks now, but Diamond could tell she was planning to make another one at the first opportunity. Somber, despondent, unable to do anything, instead of the violent and angry ones she’d been throwing up to that point. At no point during any of this had her expression changed.

Diamond pressed her advantage and ran forward, Stand skimming the air above her, rearing a strike. Just one hit and it would be over!

She stumbled as the ground beneath her shifted, and she glanced to see a mask forming in the tile. Pushing away from it, she tried to bridge the small remaining gap, and another appeared under her back hoof, sending her reeling. As her heart nearly stopped, ｢Misery Business｣ slammed a hoof into the floor, and the shockwave lifted her off of the surface.

Then, as she rolled in the air, Amethyst’s hoof caught her in the stomach, and the air rushed out of her. With a deft motion the mare guided her muzzle-first into the floor, where another mask had already formed.

It fit, and sealed itself coldly against her face.

* * *

Neon Lights felt a surge of pride as the last piece of the turtle assembled under him. Picking it up excited him a lot less; he liked hooves, but they were definitely a pain to get used to.

A moment’s fidgeting, and he’d grabbed it. The propeller was turning now, and it was wriggling in slow motion, but that wasn’t important. ｢Jefferson Airplane｣ shifted the propeller into the hallway he’d come from, and then it was just struggling limply like a green infant.

He’d left two mares to crash into the ground, which was a waste. Maybe the lovely Ms. Star would be a little sweeter with him now, a little gentler in the right corners of his anatomy. Or, more likely, he’d just have to pursue fame and women from the subjugated masses. He didn’t really like ultra-dour ladies anyway. Had Colgate been making eyes at him the last time they were walking, or had he imagined it when he moved his eyes to her face too quickly?

Speaking of that, they were still under attack. He had what they came for, which meant he had to round them all up and return, or else make his way alone. Since his Stand made him impossible to hit, he shrugged and decided to try collecting his teammates.

Just then, an adult hoof reached out of the turtle-shell and collided with his jaw.

He fell on his ass, shocked, as the older of the two mares he’d sent crashing down climbed out of the reptile, angry. It was on its side on the floor now, undamaged for the moment. If it were broken then everything inside might try to occupy the rest of the room, and Neon’s taste for drowning in flesh wasn’t quite that adventurous.

He regained his cool and looked her over, still on his back. ｢Jefferson Airplane｣ moved the back of his body back into its original standing position, and then the front, and she [i]definitely[/i] looked familiar. A little old, maybe, but he didn’t like being so choosy about the pleasures of life. Seeing the same pony twice in such a short time made him feel like the world might be small and conquerable after all.

“Aren’t you the lady who made the chairs talk?” he asked, head cocked.

She didn’t answer, except by having her Stand hover over her head. It was pink, bulbous and elephantine, composed of pearlish orbs of various sizes, like a conglomerate of soap bubbles. It looked like it should be keeping a mantle company somewhere.

Neon looked at it. “Yup, that’s you.”

“｢Tales of Brave Ulysses｣!” she shouted, and a kick arrived with his name on it. He kicked away backwards and it splintered the floor, which rumbled from the impact.

And then began, in an at-first croaking voice, to speak.

“I came from the Everfree in the days when it was vibrant and untamed, during the endless rule of Discord when the trees lived and died by the whim of his humor and not by the order of nature, and the tree that was me survived his reign until eventually the forest was reduced and I was collected. Generations of robins lived in my boughs, just as endless children are now supported by myself and my everlasting siblings. All of us are-”

It was a nasty Stand, and it was already working. If left unchecked, the words became impossible to ignore, and then they became so annoying the listener couldn’t deal with them. Already they filled his ears as if they were being whispered directly into both at the same time.

Neon waved a hoof, and ｢Jefferson Airplane｣ removed that section of floor, sending it out the way he’d come, and out of her range.

She responded by crossing the gap and kicking at him again. Instead of sidestepping, he simply shifted her leg a few inches further away from his face, and then delivered a kick of his own into her barrel.

She was knocked back a little, the leg moving synchronously although it was now glitched and separate from her body. With another use of his Stand, she’d shifted the pittance needed to be right over the hole they’d made, and her fall carried her straight through.

Resisting the need to strut, he scooped up the turtle and began clearing debris from his exit.

* * *

Photo had made a rushed job of it, but she had to. Fate had been her ally; one of the machines in the lab had been a microscope, which was exactly what she’d needed.

When Cheese opened the correct door, leaning on it, the first thing he saw was the camera. With new reflexes he dove for the desks, facing away. She didn’t take the shot, if only to avoid the opening it would give him.

“｢Feel Good Inc｣!” he shouted from cover, and she kept still Then he popped his head up to look at her, and the camera flashed straight into his eyes.

It had been easy to cure his fever, she’d seen. Just kill some of it and reintroduce it, and you were clean completely. A few individuals who he’d gone after personally couldn’t dodge the sickness that way, but by all accounts - including hers, now - it provided perfect immunity to the airborne virus. A tiny amount of the disease, photographed under a microscope, half-removed by ｢ARTPOP｣ and quickly reintroduced into her body killed it in under a minute.

But still she had to be careful. As the latest image printed, she slammed it onto her Stand and began to remove him. Just the center of the head would do, and he’d collapse and not get up again. She make the necessary strokes with cutthroat speed, as he cried out, broke cover and ran for her.

His head disappeared from his body in a sudden acidic flash, and that was the end of him.

Photo exhaled. She hadn’t even needed to use the mask, and the deed was done. So it went. She looked down at her headless opponent, and felt like a slayer of beasts in a land far from home. She lifted the camera to preserve him for all time.

And then, with sudden impossible vigor, the body sprang up and towards her, its limbs gyrating wildly in the air. She shrieked, and the ghoulish wheeling smacked up against ｢ARTPOP｣, its front limb seizing in the air and then against the table, breaking bottles and knocking over chemicals as the knees bucked into the table and extended outwards away from her.

The photograph, which she’d abandoned on the table, began dissolving from the noxious combination of agents and chemicals. As it faded, Cheese’s head appeared from all angles, and he gulped in air, head thrown back to the ceiling. Photo watched him from behind her goggles, almost trembling as she reached up for her camera again.

“Dare to be stupid,” he said, grinning at her like an animal. “You were smart to find a way to resist ｢Feel Good Inc｣, but you’re not the only pony my Stando could infect!”

She raised the camera again, shakily, and he tossed one of her Stand’s bottles in her direction. The bench swung around into her shot, blocking the view.

With her heart crawling up her throat and an urge to grab the mask and defend herself, she mustered the effort to withdraw her Stand. Its potential writhed under the surface of her, and then she had a clear shot to the Feindbild and he was already on top of her.

As her rushed for her on his three legs, she let out the flash and then rolled as fast as she could. It was too late; his kick smashed into the lens. There was no time for ｢ARTPOP｣, only second-by-second movements. The mask would be necessary, she realized as the photo still printed around her neck and she beelined for the other end of the room. He was still coming after her, and she kicked a stool in his path.

He’d been reaching out to smash her camera when she’d taken the picture. His hoof took up the frame, blocking out any other details. A moment and ｢ARTPOP｣ was with her.

Cheese caught up to her on the far side of the room, the wall she’d destroyed which was now sparsely peopled with big windows and posters, and he ignored her, balancing on his back legs and using his front hoof to push at the glass of a window. After a moment it gave, and he slid it upwards, adjusting his grip to shove it the rest of the way.

Photo stared at him. Trying to escape, now? It wouldn’t do him any good. His other front hoof disappeared, and he stumbled with half of a leg, reeling back into a wall and slumping.

She regarded him. With the camera smashed, she only had the mask left. That meant Amethyst would have to collect her later to remove it, but that was fine as long as this was finished. Wordlessly she cast her goggles into the recesses of the room and set the stone onto her face.

From the moment the grotesque image touched her, she felt invigorated. Boiling blood, wasn’t that the phrase? She felt like she could overpowered a tank, with enough ferocity. Like she would only make herself complete by removing something from the world.

｢Goldfrapp｣, she’d been told, worked as a filter. It removed all things outside of its emotion, destroying the mental palette of its victims and enhancing the strength of the users able to embrace it. She turned all of her thoughts onto killing her enemy, and her heartbeat raced somewhere far away from her mind.

She bounded for him, an animal herself now, a mongoose for the snake. Time slowed. He looked up at her, then, acknowledging the end.

“For a cameramare, it looks like you still need to /develop/.” His face broke out in a smile.

She was running, charging straight for him, ready to kill, but the room wasn’t cooperating. The environment wasn’t bringing her any closer! She stopped to get her bearings, and then found that she couldn’t! Her legs were making running motions without moving anywhere at all!

“There are ways to stop my Stand in small doses, but not when it’s all in one place. And I put almost the whole kit and caboodle right on that mask before we even started fighting.” He stood, leaning back, and pointed his half-a-leg at her. “Your focus was off from the very beginning!”

She snarled, and tried to bridge the gap to finish him finally. Her muscles obeyed.

And then her hooves sailed her out of the open window, and she was running away from the building altogether. In fact, she was heading toward the gates, into the city. It occurred to her, in her anger, that she didn’t know when she’d stop, or where. His Stand didn’t have range, only patience.

As she ran past the gates, faintly, she heard him call, “Enjoy your exposure!”

She howled, and was gone.

* * *

Colgate waited as her Stand drew the filly closer and closer. Over the last minute she’d flip-flopped on what her final plan was, like she was a child again choosing whether to switch her spot in hide and seek. It put sugar in her pulse to argue between the window and her Stand.

If she just threw her out, then she might still be some threat later on. If her Stand simply barraged the girl and kept forcing her to collide with its fists, she wouldn’t be able to pull anything else. Either way, ｢January 28th, 1986｣ was only able to affect two things at a time, and it took a certain amount of patience not to rush over and switch them so she could smash herself into her opponent, or a piece of tile, or a pen or something.

This was a mission. She couldn’t be sloppy and get a victory that wasted her energy, when there were two more revolutionaries to handle deeper in the building. Until the scrapper was down and out, there was no sense in moving her range around and trying to use her Stand anywhere else.

“｢Go Zone｣!” The voice was strained, from just inside the room, and made mostly with the throat. Glass shattered, a window. She was trying to fly away! Colgate snorted.

In the doorway, the door swung back into view, becoming stuck in the frame and splintering slightly on one corner. Trying to keep her out and make a daring escape! Or maybe the last punch had just set off all of her alien horse survival instincts. Ha.

She waited for the thump of the body against the door, the telekinetic smash. She might bash her bones in trying to avoid meeting her destiny, which would be messy and annoying to check. But even if she didn’t make it out of the room alive, she’d still go through the window, one way or another.

Suddenly, something crashed through that same window behind her. She only caught a glimpse of it as she startled and turned: a desk, flying sideways at high speed! And attached to it, an orange blur!

“｢GO ZONE｣!” the filly shouted, and the Stand was too close to dodge.

“｢Janu-!” Colgate’s head was snapped sideways by the force of the punch, and then the next four that followed brought her to the ground. Her Stand was slower than it should’ve been, pushed against on all sides by the air around her, and it fell back into her with a few more blows.

Looking at the filly and the window behind her, the injured Stand user guessed what had happened. And she was correct: Scootaloo had slammed the door and made another opening through a window, so that the Stand effect would carry her around the building and to the window from the outside! Then she’d stuck herself to a desk as a shield from the glass, and let the power put her in the perfect position for a surprise attack!

Well, she still had a chance to retreat and recuperate, if she could just get this filly off of her for a minute! She kicked off of the ground, wheeling for the window again, and made contact with the edge of it.

Her opponent watched silently as she lifted herself up, and coughed out, “｢January 28, 1986｣.”

She’d touched the traffic-cone Stand, which was as good as the person. And now she’d touched the window again. There wasn’t a lot of glass to worry about - she’d stepped in some of it, she realized distantly - but it would push her away!

The filly’s serious expression didn’t change as she was lifted off of the ground and pulled toward the window. Her Stand hung beside her, patiently. They might get a hit or two in, but they couldn’t have that much strength left, and then they’d be outside! Colgate mustered up her Stand’s fists to protect herself, and then stepped out of the way of the window.

Except her hooves didn’t move from their surfaces. She was stuck.

Alarmed, she stared down at them, and then ｢Go Zone｣ was batted backwards a little by her Stand, the user floating back a little before the gravity pulled her back. ｢Go Zone｣ smashed into ｢January 28, 1986｣ with jackhammer velocity, over and over until her Stand finally couldn’t keep up to block it!

And then, with a final ferocious kick to her face, it punted her out of the window.

“And THAT'S what I think of your Stand!” Scootaloo shouted after her, perched in the window, as the Stand’s effects wore off.

* * *

Amethyst Star regarded her situation with immaculate sobriety. She’d lost time, her team had been split up, Finish had probably been compromised and they still didn’t have their target in hand. She was close to bugging out, smacking on one of the masks herself, but it was pointless for her. She could already control her emotions, and let them out when she needed to, with whatever intensity she desired.

The filly, clearly no civilian, laid on the ground. Amethyst left her there, half-hoping for suffocation as she glanced through the nearby doors. Their opponent could be slippery when she wanted, but her Stand was fundamentally about commanding attention. If they couldn’t hear her, she wasn’t out of hiding just yet. And she had to still be in the building if people were fighting in it.

Suddenly, with a great cracking strike, she was thrown into a wall. Things snapped, and she slid down its length, trying to get off of the pain and back to observing things. She was in danger, damn it!

In front of her was the girl, still wearing the mask. Its sleepy groaning expression stared at her, and yet the pink pony was on her hind legs with her arms crossing. Was this some kind of hidden Stand ability?

Amethyst swallowed her questions; she didn’t want the enemy to notice her confusion and take any more of an advantage.

“You want to know why your Stand’s mask didn’t knock me out?” came the voice, slightly muffled.

Amethyst winced. She had to keep her body language under better control, and figure out what was going on here. Information in, never out. Maybe the mask had been blocked by something, possibly her hair...

“Wrong. Your power’s affecting me completely. It’s just that I’ve cancelled it out! I used the effects of one mask to balance this one’s!” she gestured her hoof downwards in the air in front of her face.

That wasn’t possible. Amethyst got up, and fell over again, back against the wall. If she put one of the rage-masks on her face first, it wouldn’t stack against the depression model, it would just bounce it away. She must be using some trick to make the features look different, and adjusting very well to the anger properties.

But then /how was she speaking/?!

“I’m wearing both masks.”

No. No, it was some kind of trick. ｢Goldfrapp｣ brought another depression-mask to Amethyst’s hooves, and she latched onto it, taking off in a limping sprint. She’d rip off the girl’s mask and replace it with the real thing!

Her opponent didn’t move, but her Stand appeared next to her, pink and sharp-looking. On its face, the rage-mask looked out onto the world.

Oh.

And then, swiftly, ｢Misery Business｣ knocked her legs out from under her. The mask went wild, and the Stand caught it, pushing it from the air directly onto her face.

As her motivation began to drain, and her ability to remove the mask herself dwindled with it, the Stand gave one more precise chop, and she was out.

* * *

Coco completed her swing, her Stand pulling her back up to the window. It was shut, but ｢Something for Nothing｣ spun in the air and kicked with both hind legs to herald her. She padded the edges of the window to keep the glass off of herself, and then her hoof made contact with something that wasn’t air, and all of the weight of her body wrenched against that contact. A little magic, in boots materializing around her hooves, and she had the leverage to wrap another hoof into the building, and then her head.

Tumbling, she reentered the room she’d just escaped, her body complaining over how much easier it had been to leave than to come back. The stallion watched her, half-impressed.

She took three breaths, pushed herself up from the ground, and sent her Stand after him.

｢Something for Nothing｣ galloped out of her aura and aimed for his head, only for its punch to pass through empty air. His head had shifted a hoof to the right, and he delivered a kick that appeared under Coco, knocking her back to the ground.

The Stand flew around him in a tight circle, trailing a line of fabric like an impossibly long tail extension. He tried to anticipate where it would strike, clutching onto the tortoise, but Coco ran at him separately, ready to get in a hit of her own. He didn’t bother looking at her; his Stand could redirect the punch without an issue.

“｢Something for Nothing｣!” she shouted, and the fabric trailing after her Stand rose madly into the air, slicing through it with an intense artificial wind as it spiraled around him. He had to return his head to its correct position to avoid being clipped by it, but otherwise it was a weak attempt to trap him, and she didn’t seem to understand his power. While he was working out an escape route, her cream-colored hoof smashed through the swirling ribbon -

And directly into his muzzle.

He stumbled at that, mouth open and smarting, and realized that his Stand’s gas had been dissipated. It was all around the room, but not around him! His aura exuded a little more in response, now, but he was defenseless enough to actually be hit!

Not playing around any longer, he reached out with his ability, as far back as it would go. The hallway he’d come down still had a little of his Stand lingering in it, and he latched onto that. If he sent only the turtle, it would only take one trip. As Coco threw another punch, he slammed a hoof on the shell to get inside of it.

But he didn’t.

As he looked into the beady, narrowed eyes of ｢Mr. President｣, he felt the Stand pushing against him, resisting entrance. He fumbled to hold onto it as Coco’s hit drew him further back, trying to remove the floor underneath of her and failing. He was spread too thinly!

Another hit incoming, and he held up the turtle in front of himself. Coco hesitated, and he seized the opportunity to shift part of the turtle to the hallway. The push of the Stand weakened, and he sweated as he wrestled with it.

A bundle of fabric wrapped itself around ｢Mr. President｣, and nearly ripped it from Neon’s hooves. But luck was on his side; he pushed into it desperately, and it gave way! In seconds he’d passed into it, and the rest of it was shunted into the hallway beyond.

Inside the turtle was a kaleidoscoping environment, green and hilly but filled with endless layers of stable clouds. He could see the pegasi flitting towards the edge of the diet landscape, and focused on being closer to the surface so he could climb back out again. As he searched for a way to do just that, he discovered that focusing on it was all he needed to do; the sky narrowed above him, and he tumbled back through.

Out in the hallway, he caught his breath. It was much stuffier outside of the turtle, ironically. He checked his surroundings, and he was facing down the same hallway he ran, right on track! Nearly whistling in relief, he spun around.

And saw two fillies, pink and bruised-orange, standing and staring up at him. Surprised melted into scowling, and both of them stood shoulder-to-shoulder, their Stands rising up out of them.

Neon slumped.

* * *

“The rest haven’t come back.” Flash said, inspecting the unconscious pony who was a walking lapse in the nature of Photo Finish. Not that he knew her too well.

Sunset sniffed. “Amateurs.” Then, after a moment, “Our numbers are too low, we’re out of sleeping guards, and we don’t have time to wait for them to bring Cloudsdale to us. We’ll have to go ahead.”

And with raw magic alone, she picked up Photo’s body and threw her through the portal.

Then she glanced around the room. “Any volunteers?”

Most of them were there, and nervousness crowded the air and pooled in the shadows. No one raised a hoof.

One mare asked, “Why don’t we use the white one?” Some murmuring souls agreed with her.

“Don’t ask questions.” Sunset said, and her horn lit up. Each person who’d agreed was plucked from the assembled and flung through the portal at unhealthy speed.

There was a short, stunned silence, and half of the room summoned their Stands. They hung in the air in droves, staring at her. Sunset shook her head and smiled tightly against her own judgment; she had to test out her power eventually anyway.

“｢Pepper｣.”

* * *

Coco, Scootaloo, Diamond and Cheese headed back. Twilight, who had been unconscious when they found her, was resting inside of the tortoise Scootaloo was holding. Tank, apparently. The four were battered, tired, and yet in some ways more invigorated than ever before.

“You sent her into the city?!” Diamond asked, incredulous.

Cheese shrugged, quietly. “She’ll have made it out by now. I made sure she couldn’t do anything but run and tire herself out.”

A shadow appeared, as of a city-sized cloud being thrown in front of the sun. The shadows around them didn’t stretch so much as swing, and vindictively. All turned their heads upwards.

Above them, the moon had thundered into the apex of the sky. They looked around for a Stand user somewhere, and saw nothing but empty streets and mumbling windows. ｢Go Zone｣ hugged the tortoise closer to itself.

Overhead, the stars did not appear.

The group hustled for the restaurant district.

｢To Be Continued｣

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

Stand Name: Jefferson Airplane
User: Neon Lights
Stats
Power: E
Speed: D
Range: C
Durability: B
Precision: E
Potential: E
Abilities: Fills air around the user with a gas which is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and otherwise unnoticeable. Anything surrounded by the gas can be twisted, chopped and moved around within it without permanent damage.

Stand Name: January 28, 1986
User: Colgate
Stats
Power: C
Speed: A
Range: E
Durability: D
Precision: B
Potential: E
Abilities: Activates when the user touches and designates two targets; the first flies at increasing speed around any intervening objects until it touches the second.

Stand Name: Tales of Brave Ulysses
User: Twilight Velvet
Stats
Power: A
Speed: E
Range: C
Durability: E
Precision: C
Potential: C
Abilities: Causes inanimate objects in range to speak, in endless streams of language. The speech cannot be blocked out by other sounds or hearing impairments, and dominates any listener’s thoughts. If activated on more than a handful of objects in range, the sheer noise becomes incomprehensible and debilitatingly painful.