Stand for Equestria: Origin of Harmony

If there was something you were not, under any Celestia-damned circumstances, expecting to ever happen, it'd probably be a mixture of saying "everything" and letting loose some kind of horrifying guttural scream of frustration as your mind bends and twists to try to get an explanation. However, if you could choose just one thing out of today to list as part of the top ten list of sheer unbridled insanity, it'd most likely be gaining a Stand and then having to battle a Princess with that Stand in an attempt to hone your craft and improve. Luckily, soon after your brain cells calm themselves, you start to notice something about Luna that may prove useful, indeed.

Ze1a7in's Comment

You pick up on Luna's still unwavering meditation, and think to yourself "It seems that Luna needs to devote a good portion of her focus on her Stand to use it in combat, enough so that she has to, apparently, close her eyes and not talk. So it seems obvious the fastest way to beat her Stand would be to go after Luna." You seem resolute in thinking as such, except then you realize something. "Except she's had her Stand since birth, and is over a millennia old. More than enough time to find and develop ways to counter its weaknesses. Not to mention, that pool of shadows around her hooves can probably act as a defense if anyone gets close." With a sigh, you stand up straight and stare at the Princess, waiting for a tell. "Guess the best thing I can do now is try to get close to her with New Divide's power and catch her off guard."

Right when you focus back on Luna, though, you remember a very important lesson on fighting, passed down from father (and mother, occasionally) to child: "Talking is never a free action." And indeed, Luna's now staring right at you, as Shadow Ponies with spears rise from the darkness, hooves the same color as an abyss standing on the green grass as they trot towards you.

Arcticstorm's Comment

Without knowing the full capabilities of Broken Hearted Soul's ability, of it's weaknesses or strengths, you quickly decide to start by playing defensively. Immediately, the Shadow Ponies leap to you with a disturbing fervor, at their mistress' beck and call to tear you to shreds. As they approach, you quickly turn and use New Divide to fold space away from the Shadow Ponies. You hop over, only for one to hop over with you. You unfold space to keep the pace still, contending with the one for now.

It begins swinging and stabbing wildly with the tip of the spear, the dull silver blade dancing close to you multiple times. You and New Divide dodge as well as you can, ducking under swipes and backing away from stabs, and manage to get a general sense of it's pattern without staining the grass in your own blood. It doesn't seem to strategize or play it safe, instead lunging at you carelessly like a wild animal. Frenzied and hungry.

Satisfied, you place a fold back, the other Shadow Ponies now a few feet from you. As they lunge towards you, you duck under their blows and onto the other side of the folded space, before returning it to normal. It pushes them all back, but you watch as they dissipate into a black goo that vanishes quickly, leaving no trace of them. When you turn back, more of them are already spawning from Luna.

You quickly deduce that there is either a distance limit to them or that Luna finds it more practical to de-summon them when far enough, and you keep that for future use.

Cloverleaf's Comment

Unfortunately, it seems Luna's learned a little something from this, too. As you get back into a defensive stance, she suddenly sends all of the Shadow Ponies at once after you. You count six, each one looking the same, acting the same, and using the same kind of spear. A pack of frenzied pitch-black ponies with literal wisps of darkness coming after you. You quickly do the sensible thing and try running again, placing a fold down and hopping across.

To your dismay, however, what she learned is that your fold don't discriminate between users. All six ponies hop after you, charging spears drawn over the folded space and attacking you. Without concentration, you can't unfold, and so you quickly get back on the defensive. Dodging, ducking, and even jumping over swipes and stabs. Eventually, though, one gets the better of you, thrusting the spear directly into your left wing. You yell and jump away from that Shadow Pony as blood drips down from the wound, that appendage suddenly feeling colder. You grit your teeth at it, before yelling in rage. You charge towards it, tackling it over the line back towards Luna before unfolding your power, Luna de-summoning them on instinct, leaving only the one to what is quickly becoming a cruel mercy on your part.

Down With Chrysalis' Comment

Standing up, you feel a power well up inside of you. A wrathful, spiteful power, but one nevertheless. The Shadow Pony stands back up, having dropped the spear and seemingly having enough sentience to be confused and stunned at the attack. You do not give it the chance to pick it's weapon back up. You back up to let it at least be conscious enough to get it's bearings before folding space to bring it closer. Then you allow New Divide to let loose.

It unleashes a barrage of forehoof punches, a rush of impacts slamming all over it's body as you stoically watch it disintegrate under the force of the blow. You swear that either you or your Stand is screaming something out, a battle cry or chant no doubt, but you can't hear it through the blood boiling up to your ears. With one final punch and what final scream of whatever this battle cry is, you send the Shadow Pony flying, vanishing into what looks like purple liquid in mid-air which then impacts the ground as if it were blood.

Luna stops, stunned for a second, though you can't tell if it was your Stand's Barrage or her impalement of your wing, but she clenches her jaw soon after. You sneak a glance to Celestia, who is simply watching this fight with her tea cup in a neutral, though thoughtful expression. When you glance back, Luna seems quite, to polish off the Harsher Words for a moment, pissed. Her eyebrows are furrowed as twelve Shadow Ponies emerge from the underdark, and you feel your rage dwindle down into the realization that you are now quite outnumbered.

They charge towards you, spears at the ready, and thinking quickly, you unfold your crease to push them back further and give yourself a few seconds. Then, you fold up the air itself and fly, releasing your hold and boosting yourself high into the sky. You let out a smug guffaw, looking down just in time to see them glaring at you (well, as much as they can glare without visible eyes, anyway) and hoisting their spears up. With an "Oh buck!" flying from your lips, they suddenly begin throwing the spears at you like they were made to be javelins, cutting across the sky quickly. You dodge them with ease, but Luna's quick stab begins getting to you as the pain forces several close calls that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

"Okay, going into the air was a BAD idea! Gotta think of something quick!" you think to yourself, using New Divide to escape a spear heading right for your head as you think to of a quick plan.

BrownDog's Comment

Quickly, you fold yourself to your right towards the castle, unfolding and using simple momentum to fly through the window into the tea room you were in earlier. You hear concentration snapping as Luna seems to audibly double-take by saying "Um...did he just-?"

"Yes, Luna, he did," Celestia responds, sounding rather focused on you as she tunes out her sister. As you grab your own tea cup, you hear her slurp some of hers up in an uncouth manner and continue "We're not making him pay for it, it wasn't expensive. I do wanna see where this goes, though." Finally, you pick your cup up in your hooves and unfurl your wings, flying out of the window and unfolding to boost yourself to the sky.

Once above Luna, you drop the hot glass of tea overhead to drop on her before flying out a bit. Once you do, you circle back and begin divebombing, your plan working as you see her stare at the glass and allowing the dozen or so Shadow Ponies to throw their spears. As they destroy the glass, sending an actually rather beautifully mixture of ceramic debris and warm tea splattering against grass, you fold yourself to right behind Luna, the momentum allowing for the seemingly impossible.

You just tackled a Princess.

Wrapping your forelegs around her waist, you her her vocalizing surprise as you then unfold, pushing the two of you over. You then create a fold in on yourself the only way you know how: New Dive punching you in the face. It carries Luna with you, the two of you folded up into the creased space. It's, well, creased up space. No fancy pocket dimension or the like. It most resembles being shrunken: you don't feel as though your body has become like paper, crumpled up to be turned into an airplane. You just feel small, and more than a little cramped. Moreso the latter now that you are hugging a Princess inside of your Stand.

Speaking of which, Luna appears to be able to use her Stand, judging by the black appearing on the grass now so close to your face, but seems unwilling to do so. "So..," Luna posits, "this is quite claustrophobic, wouldn't you agree?"

You shrug, releasing Luna and leaving the two of you trapped apart. "I 'spose," you respond, kind of uncomfortably shrugging. "Sorry for dragging you around."

To your mild surprise, she gives a bit of a chuckle and waves a paper thin hoof. "It is no big deal," she defends, "and if anything, I apologize for stabbing you in the wing." You sigh, nodding your head and moving the wing a little to illustrate that point well. "Do not worry thy head," she replies. "Thy sister or her physicians can fix it."

"Then I forgive you," you reply simply. After an awkward (and of course, it is quite awkward) silence, you release New Divide unceremoniously, dropping you two back in the real world. Standing back up, you and Luna exchange a quick smile, which turns into another, fiercer standoff.

Nano Discussion's Comment

You dip down to a purely defensive stance, only to feel a bit of metal impact your back hoof. Your eyebrow raises in confusion, feeling around with your hoof to find that on your right side is a mail bucket, tied around your body by a sling. You slap yourself in the forehead with your right hoof, quickly remembering "Right! Before we got looking, Muffin asked me to help with the mail!" You then quickly realize, however, that there is an advantage.

Suddenly, you lunge right towards your shattered tea cup and get New Divide to pick a piece up carefully in it's mouth, and shine it up to the sky, allowing a ray of sunshine peeking through the cloudy day to bounce off, and hit Luna right in the eyes. She yells out and covers her eyes with her hoof, allowing you to grab the mail bucket, and hurl it right at Luna! You fold up the space to pull it closer to her, then unfold just as it passes the precipice to speed it up. Luna opens her eyes just in time to widen them in surprise before a large metal bucket suddenly slams into her face directly, actually managing to knock her over. When you look over, Celestia seems conflicted, even turning to both you and Luna and making steps towards both of you, before finally deciding to keep holding back.

Luna stands up, a bit of blood dribbling through her nostrils, and she dryly comments "Touche." She stands back up with a groan, re-summoning some more Shadow Ponies for one more charge towards you.

Eskimobill1919 and Golden Flares' Comments

They charge towards you with reckless abandon, just the same as the frenzy they did earlier. As they get close enough, you use New Divide to fold the air above you up, before suddenly using New Divide to dive down. It begins to uppercut the Shadow Ponies into the fold, quickly and brutally slamming them into it until they are part of the creased area of clear sky above you. After they have passed through, you gain an idea. Could you...?

You push New Divide up to touch the creased space, but instead of unfolding it, New Divide instead touches it again. It begins crushing it, visibly pushing the creases inward. You hear what sounds like squishing as looks of visible discomfort reach Luna's facial features. Once you finish crushing, you unfold the crease, dropping the Shadow Ponies unceremoniously to the ground. All except one die instantly, vanishing into purple liquid and smoke, leaving one to crawl towards you.

"And stop!" Celestia calls out, the Shadow Pony looking at her for a second before vanishing. She sets down a tea cup and walks over to you, first, Supernova appearing and placing a hand on your wing. You begin to physically feel the skin setting back together. "I'm proud of you, my little pony," Celestia says. "I admit, I should've stopped it at the stabbing, but you powered through and persevered. If being prepared for the future was worth this pain, I couldn't stop you if I tried." She finishes, Supernova releasing you as your newly healed wing flaps on instinct. It's not instantly fully recovered, as the fur is not back, leaving pink flesh visible, but for the most part, at least it's not bleeding anymore. "And you discovered an offensive ability of your Stand. Which is notable indeed."

She walks over to Luna, placing Supernova's hand over her nose. "And you, dear sister," she chastises, Luna letting out a squeal as her muzzle sets back properly, "do not have to be so rough. Stabbing him wasn't part of the deal, after all."

"I am aware, I just," Luna sputters as Supernova releases her and wipes away some blood with a finger, "I'm out of practice, it would...it would seem?" Both you and Celestia raise an eyebrow at Luna's sudden change of tone, from defensive to confused, until she points with a hoof. You see the hedge maze, fabled as it is, with a grey Rainbow Dash flying away from it as dark storm clouds take the skies. "Sister?"

"Discord won a little game," Celestia responds, quickly adding before you can panic "though not the war." You look back at her to see her glaring fiercely.

"Discord knows about the Elements granting Stands," Luna points out, "if I know him, he's going to be more...proactive. I'd say it's time we stepped in. Bought your pupil a bit of time to get the Elements and her bearings. What say you, dear sister?"

Celestia sighs, before looking to Luna. She seems hesitant, but she does finally nod to her. "I suppose we shall," she affirms, before looking to you. "...You seem to know the fundamentals of a Stand already. To fight with your brain, not your brawn. There is really nothing more to teach that can't be learned by example. If you would be willing to join us, I will do my best to keep you safe."

You would be honored to, but you're not sure if you'd be of service. Still, she seems genuine in her resolve. And you can already come up with a lot of ideas for prep time. Scouting out for Discord's location, gaining some extra hooves on deck, gaining bandages and other medical supplies. It feels overwhelming, but you suppose that the fate of the world really is like that.

What will Shooting Star do?

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPCLFtxpadE

And thus, days after it should have been done writing, the first fight of Stand for Equestria is finished! Thank you all so much for the support and participation! And yes, I went with "Origin of Harmony". Sure, this is Season 2, but I felt as the Origin of Stands and their presence in Equestria, it kinda fit the most? I definitely do like the name "Harmonic Resurgence," though. May have to use that for Part 2. ;)

I hope I did well, I am not that experienced with fight scenes. If I need a tighter pace or more detailed attacks or defense, let me know and I'll make the next fight much better! And if I did do good, do let me know!

I feel like saying quite a bit out of sheer excitement, but I dunno, it's kinda weird to get this much attention for me. But I'm glad so many people seem to be liking and reading the story! Speaking of which, a question for the audience:

What is your favorite Stand from the source material?

Considering we're getting into the meat of Stands, which Celestia and Luna's just revealed, Discord's to be revealed around the corner (assuming he has one, of course,) and what seems like the Mane 6's being the draw for the Part, it seems appropriate to ask this now. Personally, I have to go for any main villain Stand. The World, Killer Queen, King Crimson, Whitesnake/C-Moon/Made in Heaven, D4C. They always seem like fun to try out in a casual, not world domination kind of way. Except Made in Heaven, but that's how it's designed.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I can't wait to see what y'all come up with next chapter. :)