CoCoBA Episode 11: Evil (A Chorus of Resistance)

The headquarters of the apparent revolution had plenty of seats, but too many curtains. They were composed of shower curtains, bathrobes and old clothes stitched together, draped over the windows in a hasty job, and they bothered Coco to no end. If her Stand were permanent, she would have replaced them completely in a heartbeat.

Next to her in the booth, Scootaloo wondered absent-mindedly whether the place still served food or not, or whether that had been killed like the lights. Beneath that bored surface, staring out at a novelty poster of a cartoon pizza with a smiling face, she wondered whether the other Crusaders were eating anything, and if their situation had improved any. Maybe they were cutting down the Everfree and chewing on the Poison Joke, or making stew from the bark. Was Zecora still around?

Diamond, for her part, was wondering when Zesty Gourmand would ever come back, or when Coco would notice that the former eminent critic had their names and jobs thoroughly confused. She’d left to go and check things out with various underlings because of her plans, but she meant to explain what this was all for later on, so the rest was lost to ｢Misery Business｣. Without any secrets to sniff out, she was left to glance back and forth between the table, her compatriots, and the rest of the room.

And Cheese, sitting at one end of the semicircle of red cushioning, simply felt lost. Nothing really occupied him, except the hope that Ms. Lemongrass hadn’t abandoned him at the edge of the city, or been chased off by some vengeful Stand-wielding parent or other. It was only because of Coco that he had survived all of this mess, and the fact that it was also her fault to begin with that he was present didn’t even cross his mind. Cheese Sandwich was a pony who accepted fate as it came to him, even if it came smacking him in the back of the head.

Time passed. There were no timepieces in the former restaurant, no cash registers, no machines of any kind. It was dim in a way that weighed on the eyes, and had the atmosphere of something waiting to become ancient and dusty. Ponies had not worked their craft here for a few days, and already so much had changed. There was war brewing, an attempt to stop the crushing, absolute force of Sombra’s empire, and it had transformed this property and the surrounding blocks into some sort of encampment.

They were hidden, in the restaurant district. Whoever was supposed to rule over this section of Canterlot with an iron hoof, they had been finished off by now. The castle-dwellers weren’t infinite, but they were dangerous.

When Zesty finally returned, carefully and silently opening the “Employees Only” door and holding it open, she had with her a cream-coated mare with a bobbing pink mane. Coco was the first pony to notice, turning her attention to the newcomer, and the rest startled when she spoke.

“Hello, everypony. I’m Twinkleshine,” she started, breaking away from her leader to stride in front of the table, “and Miss Gourmand has asked me to help get you up to speed on what’s going on here in our city. She’s hoping that you can help us collect an important artifact so it stays out of the bad guys’ hands. And in return, if you want, she can give you a possible route into the castle.”

All present considered that. Coco caught a questioning look from Diamond, and then shook her head minutely until it faded back into neutrality. There was no need to pry through all of their secrets right now, and especially not if they were allies.

Twinkleshine continued. “There are a bunch of very nasty ponies from somewhere else running the show in Canterlot right now. If they have their way, they’re going to make room for more of themselves to come through and take over this city, and use it as a hub to control everything in the Princesses’ domain. I know it must sound weird to anyone from outside of the city, but we’ve already determined that they’re from another universe, outside of this one.”

At that, the mare lifted her head and made brief, perching eye contact with each of her audience members in turn. When she noticed a total lack of reaction from all of them, she took a deep breath and resumed.

“Um. Well, you see, we’re really understaffed at the moment, and there’s something that entered into the city just recently. If we can grab it, we can reinforce ourselves enough to help out the rest of the city. But if they get it back, they’re going to make sure that nopony ever lays hooves on it again.”

“What is it?” Coco asked.

“A last gift from the Element of Loyalty. I wish I could tell you more, but you’ll know when you see it. It’s being kept somewhere in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns by one of our best. If you can retrieve it and bring it back here, we’ll help you get into their HQ.”

Scootaloo’s face perked up at the mention of Rainbow, and then she began murmuring to herself for the rest of the speech, trying to figure out what could possibly have come all the way here from Ponyville. Then she remembered something, Cheerilee, and became troubled.

“Who’s going to be after us?” Diamond asked.

“Hopefully nopony. We haven’t had any reports of her being followed, so if you’re quick you might be able to get to it without any problem. If not, you’ll probably run into Amethyst in that part of the city. She sticks masks on ponies that make them go crazy, but if you don’t let her get too close-up you should be fine.”

“Is it the key to where all of the Cloudsdale pegasi disappeared?” Scootaloo asked, and all heads turned to her.

Twinkleshine looked shocked, swallowed, and nodded her head. “Yes, something like that. We have reason to believe that the enemy hasn’t noticed it yet, or doesn’t appreciate it for what it is.”

“Then I’ll get it for you,” Scootaloo declared, hopping out of the booth and stretching her wingtips at her sides. “Where’s a map?”

In the corner, Zesty made a small, tight grin.

[center]* * *[/center]

The route to the school was much like the rest of the city, although now they walked closer to the buildings. There was a majesty to Canterlot that had been undimmed by recent tragedy, even though the alleyways seemed to gape at the group all the more. Diamond, who had always been afraid of being foalnapped or burglarized in some place so dark and enclosed, kept herself closer to the group, and watched those shadows from the rear, eyes darting from one to the next in jagged sequence.

Once a pony got used to all of the bustle, the city became an endless network of colorfully-lined sidewalks and not a vast multifaceted environment at all. Coco was more than familiar with the sprawl, and was making a note of a few landmarks here and there, shop-signs and windows broken in particular patterns. Cheese, a natural-born traveler, didn’t even do that; his internal compass ticked along, waiting for some new burst of party-demand while he trotted.

Scootaloo was paying more attention to the city at large than any of them, keeping alert for a sudden oncoming army of enemy Stand users or an encroaching dragon-horde.

“Makes me wish we had a unicorn around to give us the tour,” she said, as she kicked a discarded can ahead of her.

“I’ve seen a few.” Coco said. “They don’t seem very interested in seeing us, though.”

“No kidding.” Cheese said. Coco looked over at him, warm and pitying, but he didn’t look back.

“No moping either.” Scootaloo called back from the front. She had already pulled ahead several times, forcing them to lurch after her. “The faster we get this taken care of, the faster we can save Rarity and stop Sombra.”

“And find Rainbow Dash?” Coco asked. The answer came after a block of silence.

“...Yeah. Maybe.” Scootaloo said. “But we shouldn’t get anypony’s hopes up over it. Even if we had the key or the secret or whatever it is, we don’t have enough time to make a detour and use it. We’ve just got to leave it to whatever crazy ponies think they’re helping out here and keep trotting.” After a moment she added, “Why didn’t the hag just come out and get it herself?”

“She’s afraid Sombra’s ponies would get her,” Diamond said, raising her voice from the back of the group. “They’re strong Stand users, and she’s more valuable as a leader than a fighter. Or, at least, that’s what she tells herself.”

Scootaloo pffed. “Sweetie could take her job over in a heartbeat.”

“Who’s she?” Cheese asked.

“Sweetie Belle? Only one of the most together ponies you’ll ever meet!”

Having been sent on this tangent, Scootaloo pulled back a little bit, and Coco took the head, still scanning. She smiled faintly as Cheese nodded his way through the exploits of Rarity’s little sister. When they were hopping over some train tracks and passing out of the once-glittering fashion district, Diamond interjected with her own testimony.

“And she had [i]no idea[/i] of what my Stand could do, but she agreed to fight anyway. And [i]then[/i] she showed up tired, and threw her Stand into the crowd as a publicity stunt, and then...”

Scootaloo, who hadn’t heard the story first-hand in such detail, listened as well as Cheese did. It lasted them a few minutes, until they were within a few blocks of the school.

Canterlot’s Royal Academy sat on its own, a separate building from the palaces, although a tourist might mistake it at first glance. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns stood at its foot, much like Ponyville at the base of the mountain, though much less plain. There was still gold and red outlining the windows, even if their glass wasn’t stained. A tingle of static reached out even this far, the stuff of magical experiments gone wrong and discharges of pent-up mana.

It was only when they were a block away that Coco seized up, and a black sheet ushered the party up tight in the afternoon shadow of an apartment. All conversation stopped.

Cheese, who was the only one who could see over Coco, saw the group ahead, approaching from the courtyard. Through the iron bars of the gates, four of them. They didn’t look around or check behind themselves, only turning to speak to each other, too far away to pick up what they were saying.

“Looks like it’s not Amethyst, or just her,” he said, and the fillies behind him grew nervous. “They’re discussing something...”

Coco whispered, “｢Something for Nothing｣.” An impractically slender black ribbon coiled itself around the gate’s metal and snaked down the street, spitting out more of itself until it connected to the can Scootaloo was still carrying.

Faintly, as all perked up their ears and leaned in, voices could be made out.

“Are there [b]any[/b] other exits?” Mare, muffled, the violet one staring up at the building.

“No.” Mare, lighter-voiced. “I can feel the magic. She’s still up on the second floor.”

“We all feel it. That doesn’t mean she’ll stay up there. She’s a native, she knows magic better than all of us.”


“Tch. It doesn’t matter.” A stallion’s voice, yes, the one in sunglasses with messed-up hair. “There’s no one here anyhow. So long as we have a [i]guard[/i].”

“And are you willing to kill a pony the second you see them?” The violet leader asked.

There was no answer, but two of the heads in view nodded slightly.

“Remember that we’re not here to incapacitate. We take the Stand, no matter what it takes. If we don’t get our hands on it, we’re going to have to start throwing guards through the portal, and then it’ll come down to us. So… ｢Goldfrapp｣!”

The clean, well-polished and speckled surface of the building broke off in four places, each with an audible crack. Each piece removed came off in a perfect oval, a mask with an expression of anger on its face which floated in the air in front of each pony. None made a move for them.

“Consider it a last resort if you like,” she said. “Just have it ready.”

“Fine.” Stallion, swiping it out of the air.

“[i]Danke[/i].” Mare, unmistakable even if she was being obscured. Coco had to bite her hoof.

Photo Finish, the pony who she had both dreamt and lost sleep over presenting her work to someday, the two-decade mistress of photography in the world of fashion. It took the dressmaker a moment to clear her mind and realize that this was not the same pony, in many ways not even a pony at all, but the conversation was already rolling along.

“Finish, you keep watch, and use ｢ARTPOP｣ on anything that gets too close. The three of us should be enough to overpower Velvet and get out safely.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little overkill?” Stallion.

“Lights, when you’re playing for keeps, there’s no such thing. Now let’s hurry up.”

And they departed, into the school.

Scootaloo spoke first, as soon as the door shut behind them. “What’s the plan?”

“I’ve met Photo Finish before.” Cheese said under his breath. “I’ll distract her.”

“It’s not the same-” Diamond said, but Cheese cut her off with a hoof.

“I’ll still distract her. You three worry about getting to her.”

“There can’t be many places to look,” Diamond said, feeling a little too much like her old self in her bluntness. “We’re running out of time.”

Cheese stepped forward, out of the shadows, and cracked his neck.

[center]* * *[/center]

Photo Finish was a recent addition to the current castle guard, only having migrated to the new universe a day ago. She’d spent the last few hours tinkering with her newfound ability, understanding it, letting it integrate with her original talents. Here a person’s talent was written on their backside, and she felt comforted that hers had turned out to be a camera and a star.

She had never known the people she ran with now, on the other side. Not even through her lens, as significant as it had now become. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know them, either, although they were at least familiar. The sooner they could finish this up, the sooner she could figure out the intricacies of her ability and use it to elevate her art.

She polished the closest thing to a Polaroid this world had coughed up and held it at the ready. So much just to bring in a few key elements, the right frame for a country on a silver platter. [i]Was she willing to kill…?[/i] Yes, of course! She came from an entirely different island than the rest of them, and she’d seen war. Real war, too, the kind that grazed you and threatened to bridge the distance even through a still image!

And here she was, part of another diaspora, another prospective war if things went completely wrong. Sombra would win it, of course, but what about her? Already she wondered if she’d hear the glass crashing overhead and someone falling on her from above in a sneak attack.

The pent-up worry mixed with the faint static in the air, and soon her Stand was out, the whole benchlike surface of it. It laid itself out differently this time, still equally ready for her, everything still wherever she would go looking for it. It gave her solidity, like a lived-in home.

As she turned back to the camera, fiddling with it to pass the time, she finally noticed that she wasn’t alone. Directly in front of her was a tall amber stallion with puffy hair, smiling too close to her face.

“Howdy!” he said. “It’s nice to see you again, Photo! Remember the time you lost your goggles in the punchbowl after all the daiquiris?”

This was one they had told stories of on the way, given warnings. Entführer, spreader of dancing-pestilence. She pressed the button on instinct, as much her new ability as her natural reaction to anything new of interest. The flash dilated his pupils, but it didn’t change his expression, and then the picture came rolling out like clockwork.

“Well, that’s not very nice,” he said, half-pouting. “Is that your Stand?”

She ignored him, moving a few feet away and to the side, the workshop of her Stand moving with her as she slapped down the photograph and grabbed the nearest brush from its little glass bottle, gingerly drawing it around him with all of its chemical concentration. Immediately it bubbled against the surface, removing a swath of orange-brown from just off-center.

Cheese Sandwich hissed as part of his cheek disappeared. “So that’s what your power does. I was worried I was going to be trapped inside of a photo, or something!”

And then, without her conscious decision, her front legs threw themselves up, and the removing agent was cast into the air, disappearing from the Stand. The whole workshop spun around her to catch it again, and the photograph went floating into the air. She leapt, flailing, to catch it, only for her own hands - hooves - to lose their grip!

Ponies were moving past her now, a blur of motion her head turned away from, the sound of glass breaking just as she’d feared, and then she was alone with the curse-bringer.

[center]* * *[/center]

Scootaloo flew up to the second floor’s center, a hallway, and ｢Go Zone｣ chucked her can straight through it, sending it hurtling down the length like a bullet, and she tumbled through the hole headfirst. Thankfully, the glass didn’t bite on the way in.

The place stank of magic and puberty, and they were already on the second floor like she’d hoped. Up close they were easier to make out, grey-green, blue and light purple, the last two being mares. All were facing her.

The blue one was familiar, somepony who’d been in Ponyville pretty frequently. In front of her was a hand the same color as her, gripping the can in mid-air.

“We’re compromised.” Amethyst Star said.

“I’ll take care of this. Get to her.”

Nodding, then racing down the hall. “I’m counting on you, Colgate.”

“Get them!” Scootaloo said, pointing, as her own allies emerged from the stairs.

Colgate gawked at the two newcomers for a moment, and had to dodge a passing blow from ｢Misery Business｣. They were gone around the next corner as fast as the first two, and she had the sneaking feeling that they’d been set up.

Then she turned back to the filly, and hurled the can back at her. “｢January 28, 1986｣!”

“｢Go Zone｣!” Scootaloo slid underneath of the can, past the crayon-drawings and turkey-cut-outs, leaning far enough back that her head scraped the floor.

Then she saw the can bob in the air, swoop a little, and come back.

Sending her Stand out, she stopped it before it could hit her, but it only pushed against her ability with greater and greater intensity! After a moment, it began to strain against her like keeping a building from collapsing.

She leapt out of the way, and ｢Go Zone｣ deactivated. The can flew back the way it had come, and impacted on the ground where Colgate had been standing.

Now, the filly could see, she was all too close.

[center]* * *[/center]

Coco pounded after the two, who had noticed her by now but weren’t stopping. The whole building felt much larger from the inside, and decadent for any early school she’d ever seen, with enough corners and turns to suit a university. The fact that none of it was lit only exacerbated the sense of space present throughout the whole structure.

“Follow the magic!” Amethyst yelled up ahead to the stallion next to her. “Just try to feel it out!” Then she threw back a mask, aimed straight for Coco.

For a moment the world went dark, as ｢Something for Nothing｣ materialized a wad of fabric between it and her face. She shook her head and engaged the magic in her material, and it all fell off of her in a heap onto the floor. However, by the time she could see again, both were gone down a fork in the hallway.

Diamond had slowed down to keep pace with her, but only for a moment. “They split up and went both ways! I’ll take her, you deal with him!”

Coco nodded as the filly went rocketed down the left passageway, and crossed her path to head her own way. The hallway had only so many doors this time, two already flung open and the stallion investigating the third. He heard her running as soon as she turned the corner, and turned to her.

“｢Jefferson Air-” he started, only to have his mouth gagged with something soft and pillowy. While he was off balance, ｢Something for Nothing｣ ran into him, knocking him onto his flank and throwing off his sunglasses.

Coco raced past him to halfway through the hallway, her power weaving furiously against all of the doorknobs, and ripped them all open at once. The sudden rush of air buffeted her, but she kept galloping, head swiveling left and right and left again and-

There!

She dove for the flicker of grey movement she glimpsed through one doorway, and then she was in a classroom with its chairs neatly folded over its desks and nothing but the smell of chalk, ink and sunlight. With a thought, her Stand shut the door behind her, at the same time she was already pushing herself to her hooves.

In the corner nearest the door, there was an older mare, grey a set of purple stars for a cutie mark. She wasn’t cowering, or frail, but she wasn’t in a position to overpower anypony as far as Coco could tell.

Only three words left her mouth, cultured but not posh. “Friend or foe?”

“Friend. My name’s Coco. Zesty sent me to collect the key to Cloudsdale.” Coco said. “Where is it?”

Outside, the stallion began to slam on the door, which Coco was only holding shut by creating shock-absorbing material between it and the wall.

“I’m Twilight. Twilight Velvet. And ｢Mr. President｣ is right there.” She pointed.

Coco turned, and saw nothing. Then she raised her head a little, and took it in.

Above the doorway, hovering with a propeller on its shell, was a small green tortoise.

｢To Be Continued｣

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

Stand Name: Goldfrapp
User: Amethyst Star
Stats
Power: C
Speed: D
Range: E
Durability: C
Precision: C
Potential: E
Abilities: Converts stone into masks with exaggerated features. When a target is wearing one of the masks, their demeanour and behavior change to fit its expression. Masks can only be removed by the user.

Stand Name: ARTPOP
User: Photo Finish
Stats
Power: D
Speed: A
Range: D
Durability: E
Precision: A
Potential: E
Abilities: Anything the user takes a picture of can be manipulated by manipulating its photograph. Destroying the photograph ends this effect.

Stand Name: January 28, 1986
User: Colgate
Stats
Power: C
Speed: A
Range: E
Durability: D
Precision: B
Potential: E
Abilities: ???

Stand Name: Jefferson Airplane
User: Neon Lights
Stats
Power: E
Speed: D
Range: C
Durability: B
Precision: E
Potential: E
Abilities: ???

Stand Name: [spoiler]Mr. President[/spoiler]
User: [spoiler]Tank[/spoiler]
Stats
Power: E
Speed: E
Range: E
Durability: A
Precision: E
Potential: E
Abilities: [spoiler]Contains an environment within the user’s shell.[/spoiler]