//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: the Fortress of Friendship // Story: Conversion Bureau: The return of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. // by ClearlyNotTremor230 //------------------------------// -Pinkie Pie’s Palace: “Pinkieland” - Mexican restaurant - The group of Teens, the infamous ‘Phantom Thieves’, were the only ones sitting in the deserted restaurant in a corner of the Palace outside area, deserted because the group had just finished forcing every Shadow there to run away. “One hundred and sixty thousand points for a single Wonder Ticket...and each Ticket is only valid for a single person, the door does not open if there is even just one guest without a ticket, and sneaking inside too is not possible...” Ryuji muttered with a defeated sigh. “And each ride only gives one point, with the shortest one lasting at least one hour.” Yusuke added. “That not considering the crowd of people standing in line everywhere making it impossible to skip ahead.” Makoto also added, groaning in frustration. “I am sorry, there is no other way to enter the Fortress, you have no choice but get a Wonder Ticket each.” Futaba confirmed with an apologetic tone. “...” “What’s wrong, Skull?” Ann asked, curious. “...” the punk boy just stood in silence as he kept looking at the fortress with narrowed eyes. “You have a plan.” Akira said with the tone of somebody already knowing the answer. “Maybe.” the blond said. “Is it a stupid idea?” Morgana asked, groaning. “Very.” Ryuji answered simply. “Are you at least sure it will work?” Yusuke begged. “Nope, but is not like we have other options. Unless you want to spend MONTHS here playing Pinkie’s games.” “I would say no for two reasons: we have not all this time to waste, and I do not trust Pinkie not ending up knowing we are here if we spend too much time hanging around.” Haru answered with an adorable scrunched nose. “Fine! Let’s try it your way! What is your plan?” Ann asked, frustrated. “Cool! Let’s get out of here then, I need to make a call.” Ryuji said while walking away. Few minutes later – Real World - ‘Untouchable’ - Pony said of the Barrier - Having finally returned to their small base in the abandoned shop, the Phantom Thieves watched Ryuji skim through the numbers inside Akira’s phone until he found the one he needed. “That is a breach of privacy.” Yusuke said. “I watched inside his numbers, not his pictures.” Ryuji answered, showing a savage smile once found who he was looking for. “...Hello?” “Iwai-san?” Ryuji asked. “It’s my number, boy! Of course it’s me! What do you want? Make it quick, I am trying to collect some stuff for our own base, so I can’t stay long.” the owner of the shop answered. “Okay! I’ll be quick: I need a bomb!” Ryuji said, smirking. “Eeeeeeeh?!” the other teens with him yelled as one. “...Why? And what kind of bomb?” Iwai answered, nonplussed. “At least show some surprise, dammit!” Ann shrieked. “And what does it mean ‘What kind’?” Futaba added, just as shocked. “The kind of bomb that takes down a door.” “You can’t take down the doors of Pinkie’s Fortress! The Metaverse doesn’t work like that!” Morgana said with an angry frown. “I want to blow-up the door here, not the one of the Palace.” Ryuji answered, rolling his eyes. “...You want to replicate what you others did with Madarame, perhaps?” Yusuke asked. “Exactly! I want to see if seeing the doors of her ‘super secret project’ being blasted open means that she will believe the doors of her Fortress too are open, or broken. Stuff like that, at least.” Ryuji answered, proud of himself. “So you hope that the building itself is the real body of the Fortress that is the heart of her Palace? Just like Akihabara is the real form of the Theme Park around the Fortress?” Morgana asked. “...Maybe it will work...” Ryuji answered, shrugging. “Let’s try it, maybe it will work like that, or ever just change her perception of things enough for us to enter the Fortress another way.” Haru suggested. “The whole ‘Perception’ thing you tried to explain to us was overly-complicated, guys, but something as mundane as demolishing a door, that I understand! Come visit us tomorrow and I will have the right tool for you.” Iwai answered. “Tomorrow already?” Ann asked. “I am going to meet a guy I know, adding a small demolition charge to the shopping list is not a problem.” the man answered. “Oh! Thank you then!” the girl replied. Two days later – Akihabara – sewers under Pinkie’s secret base - “Distraction in place?” Akira asked. “Futaba is piloting the drone with the speakers, when we are ready she will fly it in front of them and hopefully distract those two guards far enough for us to demolish the door.” Yusuke answered. “Are they the flying ones?” Makoto asked. “Pegasi? Yes, no horn in sight.” Haru answered once spied from the manhole cover she had raised of an inch to watch. “Good, at least they’ll have to chase it instead of just blast it away.” Ryuji answered while he and Akira kept tinkering with the small charge between them. “Do not blow us up!” Morgana hissed in worry. “Iwai taught us, have no fear.” “We know some very strange people...” Ann muttered sighing. “Okay! We are ready!” Ryuji said, triumphant. “It should work.” Akira added with a more calm tone. “I will go call Futaba and tell her to start, you get ready.” Yusuke then declared as he walked away to exit the sewers in a safer area. “The adhesive is ready, just dash there, put it on the door and come back here!” Makoto hissed with narrowed eyes. “I get it! I get it!” Ryuji answered. “WAKE UP! CONVERSION IS A LIE! THEY ARE KILLING OUR INDIVIDUALITY! DESTROYING OUR SOUL!...WAKE UP! CONVERSION IS A LIE!...” the recording of the text red by a voice synthesizer blared at a deafening volume even down underground in the sewers. “Stop that thing!” one of the guards yelled as both immediately took air to stop the noisy drone. “Gogogogogo!” Morgana ordered with an urgent tone. Immediately Ryuji came out from the manhole to sprint as fast as he could while clutching the tiny bomb to his chest, once there he glued it to the center of the blocked door and armed it, watching the tiny red light on top of it turn green. “Click it! Click it!” the punk boy hissed to Akira while running back underground. The very small demolition charge was a homemade bomb programmed to explode five seconds after the button on the remote detonator went pressed, and that was barely enough time for Ryuji to literally dive inside the hole for Akira to catch him and drag him away with the others as they took distance just in case… KRATABOOOOOOOOM! And yet, the explosion was strong enough to have that manhole collapse, covering them in dust and dirt. “Iwai-san miscalculated the power...” Haru moaned pitifully. “I wonder if the Palace will still be standing after this,” Morgana muttered. “Noooo! What happened!?” as expected, they heard Pinkie yell in horror and rage barely a minute later. “One...Two...Three...Four...” Akira counted. “WHO DID THIS?! WHO DID THIS?! WHO DID THIS?!” the mare kept asking to every pony she met. “...Ten! Let’s go! If this worked, her Perception of her Palace must have changed by now!” Makoto said, and just like they had practiced, every member of the Phantom Thieves waited those ten second and then used their Metaverse App to enter Pinkie’s Palace, Futaba and Yusuke doing the same once they counted to ten themselves. Inside Pinkie’s Palace - “...” “...” “...Okay...It seems like it worked...” Morgana said with wide eyes. “A bit too much…” Haru added. Utter devastation, the entire place looked like an air-raid had just passed above the theme park to bombard it to ruins, with still-smoking craters and fire everywhere, the worrying thing was that the Shadows present and the shades acting as visitors still went through their supposed jobs and roles as if nothing strange happened. “It is her delusion, not even this can put a dent in her conviction that everybody enjoy her parties.” Yusuke commented. “The rides are self-repairing fast. Run!” Akira informed them as he dashed forward while watching a near house of mirrors rapidly call back its pieces to rebuild itself. “It means she saw that only the door of her secret storage was destroyed while whatever was inside remained untouched by the bomb, and the faster she calms down, the faster this place will Heal Itself in answer to her recognizing her Palace is safe. We must hurry!” Morgana answered as the others too hurried to follow Akira. “Hopefully there will be a hole in that fortress’ wall big enough for us to crawl through!” Makoto said with a hopeful tone. “Shadows!” Haru cried-out as dozens of Shadows dressed as guards started chasing them. “Just ignore them!” Ann answered. “There is a hole! GO!” Ryuji yelled as he saw a hole big enough for them to pass through right in the middle of the Fortress’ wall, and it was closing rapidly a brick at a time. “JUMP!” Morgana yelled, and before the Shadows chasing them could grab his tail, all of them managed to jump through an instant before the last bricks could fly up to repair the damages. “We...We did it!” Ann exclaimed while gasping for air from her mad running. “Please tell me we won’t be forced to do this every time we need to enter.” Makoto commented, sighing. “Safe Rooms are connected to each other, I am confident that if we find one inside the Fortress then we will be able to come and go from here to the one in the bathroom stall outside.” Yusuke answered. “I hope so.” Akira added. “What is important is that we are in, let’s go!” Haru said, nodding. “...” “...” “...Wait! Where’s Mona?” Ryuji asked, confused. “Mona? I can’t see him.” Haru asked while looking around. “I am pretty sure he jumped through right behind us,” Yusuke answered, sounding a bit uncertain. “Maybe he went forward to scout the area?” Akira guessed. “...Guys?...Help?” Morgana finally moaned in answer, his voice full of humiliation. “What do you...Bwahahahahaha!” “Stop laughing, Skull! This is humiliating!” the talking cat shrieked with a red face. Apparently Morgana, as the last one to jump inside, had not been fast enough and was now hanging upside-down at a feet from the ground and with the tip of his tail deeply stuck inside the wall of the fortress. “What’s important is that you are here and safe, I’ll help you get free now.” Akira said while grabbing the base of the cat’s tail. “J-J-Joker?!” Morgana stuttered, worried. “Please bite onto something.” Yusuke added, he too grabbing the cat’s tail. “Guys?!” “It will be over soon, Mona. Trust me.” Ann said with an overly-gentle tone that gave the finishing blow to Morgana’s nerves. “Don’t you dare!” the cat roared in terror. “Pull on three!” Ryuji instructed once joined the other two boys and even propped a foot against the wall for extra leverage. “Nononononononono!” “One...Two...” “I’ll hold your paw, Mona.” Haru offered. “NO! I FORBID YOU TO PULL ON THREE!” “THREEEEEEE!” Ryuji yelled. “MEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOW!” the deafening yowl of Morgana echoed in the entire Palace, almost scaring the Shadows inside the fortress out of their skin and exploding several windows. Inside the ‘Fortress of Friendship’ - Several minutes later - The area they entered was built like a single, giant corridor circling around the entire complex of the fortress forming a ring, full of doors and acting as entrance for the inner plaza of the Palace and several other rooms; the plaza itself housed few extra food stalls, a small garden with enormous trees of cotton candy and grass of licorice, and out to the side, a wide empty space clearly used as landing area of the giant floating dance floor, all of this leading to the heart of the construction: The biggest theater the Phantom Thieves had ever seen. “I didn’t know Pinkie was one for a theater...” Haru admitted, impressed. “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” Morgana in the meantime hissed at every step while walking bowlegged. “At least it worked!” “Jump down a cliff, Skull!” the cat answered, growling. “It will pass soon, don’t worry.” Akira answered. “Or do you want Panther to kiss the Boo-Boo away?” Ryuji asked with a smirk. “No thank you.” Ann answered with a scrunched nose, dashing the cute hopeful expression on Morgana’s face and turning it into gloom depression. “Lady Panther...” the cat said, whining. “That’s not important, besides...Isn’t this place too much...Pink?” Makoto said, frowning in distaste. “I don’t know, it sure is the most cheerful Palace we have seen.” Haru answered unsure. The main corridor was painted bright pink and with white cupcake silhouettes put in random positions all over it, the floor was covered with an extremely-thick pink fur carpet and streamers were everywhere along hundreds of balloons with ‘It’s Party Time!’ written in yellow on them floating freely everywhere. And paintings, giant paintings of either Clowns or birthday party scenes one after another on both sides, and each painting bigger than an adult human, and twice wide. “...” “You okay, buddy?” Ryuji asked, worried. “I don’t like clowns,” Akira admitted, grimacing at each painting, especially since every eye of the people inside the paintings was actually turning to follow them. “I am here.” Ann offered with a kind smile, grabbing his hand as a show of comfort that made him show a small smile. “Why you don’t like them?” Haru asked. “It’s the red nose...And the chalk-white face.” he answered. “Then get ready, I see a Shadows dressed as a clown in front of us.” Ryuji said with a forced smile, and already expecting the full-body shiver Akira gave in answer. “It saw us!” Morgana alerted them as the thing ran to intercept them. “Intruders! You have not a ticket! I can tell!” the clown-dressed Shadow yelled angrily as it charged them. Sigh! “Show me your true face...” Akira said with zero enthusiasm. “Dude, that’s your catch-phrase, say it with some conviction.” Ryuji said while shaking his head. “It’s the clown costume, I guess.” Yusuke suggested as the Shadow went unmasked, turning into a duo of child-like beings with big round heads and hair covering their eyes. Obariyon “A duo of Obariyon, could have been worse.” Haru commented. “Sukunda!” Obariyon 1 intoned, making Makoto growl as she felt her body become heavy. “Well said! Sukunda!” Obariyon 2 copied its partner with a happy, shrilly laugh, and casting the same agility debuff on Ryuji. “You were saying?” both teens asked, annoyed. “Just shoot them.” Akira answered as his knife created a nice big bald spot on Obariyon 1’s head because the Shadow managed to dodge at the last second with a shrieking ‘Eeep!’ accompanying his movement. “’kay!” Ryuji accepted gladly, happily showering both monsters in bullets together with his girlfriend Makoto. “Zorro!” Morgana in the meantime summoned his Persona, covering the Obariyon in front of him in hundreds of cuts with a blurry assault of its rapier. “IT HUUUURRTS!” the Shadow yelled in pain. “It is just the beginning, Goemon!” Yusuke answered, barely dodging the monster’s ‘Lucky Punch’ while summoning his own Persona. GOOOOONG! With a heavy and dull sound, the Samurai-dressed manifestation followed its summoner’s plan and slammed the flat side of its giant bladed-pipe on the Shadow’s head, surprising the Phantom Thieves with the great amount of teeth flying everywhere at the impact. “Puh! I didn’t...Even feel it...” The Shadow squeaked-out while still spitting out white fragments of teeth. “That is a lie and you know it...” Haru said with a terrifyingly calm tone from behind the monster. “...Momma...” the Shadow whimpered, turning just in time to see the grenade the girl shoot touch its nose. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM! “KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” “Noir, you sometimes worry me. You enjoy this a bit too much.” Makoto commented as all of them watched the Shadow fly away and crash painfully against the wall, sliding then down boneless in a dead faint. “Hihihi! I am sorry.” Haru answered while giggling cutely and shoulder her grenade launcher. “...Ehm...Ehm...” Obairyon 2 felt uneasy as now every single Phantom Thief present SLOWLY turned to look at its face, and the atmosphere surrounding the group was simply ominous. “...Cupcake?” the monster tried saying, pulling out said little sweet from God knows where. Meanwhile – with Shadow Pinkie – Theater - KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! “Hu? Was that a scream of ungodly pain and suffering?” “...” “Nothing?...Bah! Must have imagined it.” the Distorted version of Pinkie Pie asked aloud, before shrugging her shoulders and dropping the issue, taking less than a second to forget she even heard anything. “Yeah, Pinkie! This party is awesome!” a life-size Marionette of Rainbow Dash said from the middle of the stage, her voice badly-imitated by Pinkie herself. “I-I-I am happy we are finally back together!” Marionette-Fluttershy stuttered shyly immediately after, the strings holding that puppet up making sure to have the fake mare look down at her hooves in pure shyness. “I am glad I dropped my Super-Boring Research to come here! We are friends! We must always stay together!” Marionette-Twilight added, flapping her wooden wings for added measure. “Enough boring tripe, Darling! We are celebrating today, let’s just enjoy ourselves!” Marionette-Rarity countered while tossing back the coif of fake mane on her head with a flourish, the Marionette of AJ nodding along behind her at the same time. “YEAH!” all of them, Marionette-Pinkie comprised, yelled as one. “...Soon. Soon we will be together again, we will be together FOREVER, we will be surrounded by friends and will be able to party all we want...” the Distorted mare muttered with a deranged smile as she stopped controlling the puppets, making them flop down on the floor haphazardly. The Theater’s main room was simply enormous, with hundreds of thousands seats all facing a stage no real world counterpart could hope to match in size standing tall and proud in its elevated position, at the moment only Pinkie was there, watching in silence the unmoving puppets she personally created with even too much care to be as much similar to the mare’s friends as possible; the Treasure securely locked into the stage’s biggest piece of background representing a sun, with its formless shape casting light on the entire scene under it. You can do it… You can have your Friends back… Help the Conversion, create the greatest Party ever seen...And they will be yours...Only yours...FOREVER yours...Nopony else needs to see them, to touch them, to play with them... Only you. They BELONG to you. The shadows themselves of the Palace talked directly to the jester-dressed Distorted mare’s Heart and Soul, so that she could not hear them, and yet be guided by them all the same. “Balloons, I need more Balloons. Time to ask Princess Celestia for more balloons, she said I just needed to ask and she will deliver them already filled...My Super Party needs more, otherwise my friends will never come back! I want my friends, I don’t want to be alone, I want to party, forever...” Distorted Pinkie muttered with a thoughtful expression while moving towards the kitchens, she was in pie withdrawal again, and at the same time, the Pinkie in the real world got the same idea, already writing the letter to Celestia to request more balloons for her Party-Parade. One hour later – with the Phantom Thieves – Safe Room - “We finally found a Safe Room inside the fortress, like this we will be able to pass the walls without a ticket.” Ann said with an elated sigh. “What is our main goal now?” Akira asked while all of them sat at the small table in the middle of the room. “We still have to find the Treasure, and plan an escape route for when we will steal it.” Morgana answered. “Escape won’t be easy, the gates open only for a possessor of a Wonder Ticket, so without one, escaping won’t be possible.” Yusuke added. “Ehm...Apparently the doors only open for people entering, once inside, nobody can get out.” Futaba alerted them. “You sure?” Akira asked. “I am, I just saw the doors melt into the inner wall every time they close,” “That is bad news, what now?” Yusuke asked. “For your escape I would suggest to hijack the flying dance-floor, it comes down every hour to deposit Guests and wait for others. The best option would be to steal the Treasure while the thing is landing and fly it outside once took it, and of course leave that behind once outside the fortress, it’s too slow to use it to fly away from the Palace.” Futaba suggested. “...You do know we’ll have to fight Pinkie Pie for the Treasure, yeah?” Makoto asked with a self-deprecating sigh. “Just because it happened every single time when we started and we had to fight Fluttershy now that we are back, it doesn’t mean we will have to fight with every name on our list once again.” Haru tried saying. “Look at me in the eyes and tell me you seriously believe that.” “...” “...” “I thought so.” “Sooo...” Ryuji said, unsure. “So we will act as if we will manage to escape without having to fight Pinkie, and at the same time get ready to face her for the Treasure, as always.” Akira answered, sighing. “Wouldn’t then be easier to just hunt down Pinkie, defeat her and take the Treasure? After sending our Calling Card I mean.” Ryuji answered with an annoyed frown. “That would make us the ‘Phantom Brutes’, not the ‘Phantom THIEVES’, and contrary to you, Skull, I have an image to maintain.” Morgana answered huffing. “Fine! Fine! We’ll do things all neat and proper...Stupid cat.” “Thank you.” “For now let’s just map out as much of the Palace we can, especially to find the Treasure. Any idea?” Ann asked. “The Theater is the main building inside this ‘Fortress of Friendship’, thus making it the most likely place. But Pinkie leaves it only for two occasions: During a ‘Cake Party’ and once every three flights of the Dance- Floor. The Cake Party takes places every day at midnight (Palace Time) while the ‘Special Pinkie’s Dance-off Fly’ every three hours.” Futaba answered. “How do you know all this?” Yusuke asked. “I stole a leaflet from the Gift Shop.” the hacker answered with a proud voice. “So we have to synchronize our watches with this place?” Makoto asked. “Yes and no; Here apparently a day lasts twelve hours, with an hour lasting like a ‘Normal’ Minute. Meaning that every twelve minutes Pinkie leaves the Theater for a Cake Party that lasts six minutes, while every flight of the platform lasts three minutes. This means that our best option is stealing the Treasure in those six minutes it takes her to leave, have a Cake Party and come back.” “A bit too tight for a schedule, is it possible for the flight and the Party to happen one after another?” Haru asked. “It’s possible, but it will mean waiting here as Time flows differently between the Palace and the Real World.” “We’ll make it do with the six minutes window, then.” Akira answered. “If you are sure, dude, we’ll do as you say.” Ryuji answered. “No Pain, No Gain, Skull. Be a man and face this challenge with your head held high.” Morgana answered. “I get it, I get it. What will be our first step?” the young man answered with a huff. “I say we split in two squads, one will map the Theater itself while Pinkie is away, while the other group will try to understand the path and time Pinkie needs to come and go from the Theater, even just a second more stolen from her will make our job easier.” Yusuke suggested. “Sounds good to me, we will keep in touch with our walkies-talkies.” Ann answered. “All okay with this?” Morgana asked, soon watching every Phantom Thief there nod. “Good! Where is Pinkie now, Navi?” the cat asked. “Pinkie is just now leaving the Theater, I am watching her lock the main doors, so you’ll have to climb the side and force a window open, I suggest the one on the second floor and on the right-most side, it’s the girl’s bathroom window.” the girl answered immediately. “You heard her, Let’s go!” Akira ordered, making all of them bolt outside in great hurry. “Help us monitor how long she takes, Navi!” Makoto asked. “Of course!” With Squad 1 (Akira, Ann, Haru and Morgana.) - Theater – Girl’s Bathroom window - Clink! Clink! Clunk! Clink! “Hurry up, Mona!” Ann hissed, she and the others barely able to hang onto the wall of the theater. “I am trying, Lady Panther! it’s harder than I thought!” Morgana, sitting on top of Akira’s head so to have both hands free, answered apologetic while still fumbling with the window. “Sssh!” the young man hissed as a Shadow had just in that moment walked under them and stopped to talk with a second one. “No trace of the intruders?” they heard it ask. “Nope! Even if we saw them enter through the wall, we can’t find them.” the other answered with a helpless shrug. “And Pinkie? You know she hates having uninvited guests, she wants everypony to have their fair share of sweets, without unplanned mouths hanging around.” “She calmed down, so I guess the intruders left, but to be safe, let’s just keep our eyes...” It was then that some dust fell on the Shadow’s head following a faint CLUNK! Noise, but when the two looked upward to see from where that came from, they could not see anything out of ordinary from the walls and windows of the theater, making the two Shadows shrug and return to their duties. “We are in.” Haru finally transmitted to Squad 2. With Squad 2 (Ryuji, Makoto and Yusuke) - Giant ring corridor - “Got it! We just entered the corridor following Pinkie.” Ryuji answered. “And the place is swarming in Shadows, we can’t fully tail her or we will be discovered.” Makoto added. “We just got in...The place is a maze...” Ann said, sighing. “How can a theater be a maze?” Yusuke asked curious. “Lots of stairs and corridors, I never visited a theater so I have no idea how to navigate one.” she answered, grumbling. “Have no fear, I will guide them, I have experience in operas.” Haru proposed, smugly. “...” “...” “...Must you all always make it a point to fault my being from a slightly-higher social status than you?” Haru finally asked with a childish whine as the silence mounted on and on. “Nobody of us talked, my dear.” Yusuke answered. “But you all were thinking it!” “Just try to see if you can understand how much time we have before Pinkie returns, we need a precise time limit.” Akira cut-in, stopping the discussion from even beginning. “...Okay.” Haru finally accepted, dropping the issue to just sulk in silence. “Let’s just focus on that mare.” Ryuji said, having never stopped checking his watch every once in a while while following Pinkie’s movement. “There is a window to the Cake Party Room, I can check on her from here for you.” Futaba offered. “Thank you, Navi.” Back to Squad 1 - “Let’s see...This way, we should be able to get to the main entrance from here.” Haru instructed once found the main path. “This place is enormous.” Morgana muttered in awe. “And very rich too, I don’t think there is a theater this richly furnished in the real world.” “I see a big staircase.” Akira said as soon as they turned the corner. “Good! That should lead to the entrance, meaning that there must be several doors leading to the ground level and the stage.” Haru answered, elated. “And there are Shadows too.” Morgana added with a cat hiss. “Then let’s choose a door and simply fight the one guarding it.” Ann answered. Squatting down and moving stealthily, Squad 1 lead by Akira descended the first half of the giant staircase and then jumped down to the ground floor right behind the Shadow closer to the door they needed, and just as the black living silhouette turned around in surprise, Joker’s hand grabbed its mask to tear it away, turning the Shadow into a medieval knight wearing blood-red heavy armour and riding a horse. “Shit! A Eligor...” Ann growled in anger as the knight rushed towards them to try trample them to death under its ride’s hooves. Eligor “Dirty intruders, I will stop you from sullying Pinkie’s beloved Theater! Nobody will survive my wrath! Double Fangs!” the Shadow roared while thrusting forward with its lance as the horse charged forward again. “JOKER!” Haru yelled in fear as their friend didn’t seem about to dodge the wild charge like they all did. “...NOW!” Akira yelled, diving to the side at the last possible moment to let the Knight’s lance get stuck on the wall, right where his head was a mere instant before. “NOW! Shoot it!” he then ordered while shooting at the unprotected back of the horse’s legs. “Carmen!” Ann yelled, using her Persona to pelt the knight in Fire attacks. “Graaah!” the Shadows roared in defiance as its being fused with the horse meant that as the beast toppled down, the one riding it too had to helplessly fall down. “Milady! PSYO!” Haru yelled, summoning her own Persona to use its psychic attack. “ARGH!” the Eligor screamed in agony while holding its head, feeling as if a blender had been showed right inside its skull. “Arsene!” Akira added, assaulting the Shadow in a flurry of attacks and falling black feathers. “I-I won’t be defeated!” the Eligor answered, both soldier and horse finally returning to their feet to stand tall above the teens. “You are forgetting about me!” Morgana yelled, shooting right at the thing’s eyes with his giant slingshot. “MY EYEEEEEE!” the Shadow shrieked in agony as it reared back, unfortunately dragging the horse head back too, making it fall on its haunches. “Hold up!” Haru ordered while she and the others circled the Shadow while pointing their guns at it. “Why are you opposing Pinkie? She is working so hard to make sure everybody will sit together as friends! She is working towards Peace and Justice!” the Shadow asked hissing in contempt. “Peace and Justice are not something you can achieve by enslaving people and ponies in a utopia where one’s Self and Individuality is oppressed. Conversion is killing people minds, leaving behind empty husks, true Justice and Peace are where everybody willingly join hands towards a common goal,” Akira answered. “And what if Conversion just helps along by speeding-up the process?” the Eligor asked. “It may speed-up the final result, but would it really be right for a single guy to decide for everybody else? What gives Pinkie or Celestia the right to decide for everybody? And doing this by brainwashing the naysayers into compliance at that? Wouldn’t that defeat the core purpose of this idea of Peace and cooperation? Where is Justice if nobody is free to choose for themselves? That’s a dictatorship!” “And you are offering pure Anarchy! Where everybody does whatever they damn well want!” “No, I no longer are a rebellious kid doing this to ‘stick it to the adults’. I am a Phantom Thief trying to save my people from a fate worse than Death by opening the Invaders’ eyes to the fact that they are not Saving Humanity, they are killing us, all to blindly follow the twisted sense of Justice of a mad mare.” Akira answered nonplussed. “...Eh! Well said, kid! Offering a helping hand is fine and dandy, but if the options are ‘Obey or Die’, then every good intention jumps out of the window. Are you working towards co-existence with ponies?” “As long as the Converted return to normal and both sides are open to collaborate and live in peace, I don’t mind having ponies stick around.” “Good, now, before we move on, Partner...” the Eligor answered, returning its horse to a standing position and clearing his throat. “INTRUDERS! THEY ARE RUNNING AWAY! CATCH THEM!” the entity yelled pointing up the stairs with his sword. “CATCH THEM!” the Other Shadows in the room answered immediately after with a furious roar, rushing up the stairs towards the corridors and soon leaving the Phantom Thieves and the Eligor alone. “Good! This should give you some time once inside, Partner. Let’s go.” the Shadow said with a pleased tone before breaking-down into sparks of light and entering Akira’s mask. “And so another Persona joined us,” Morgana declared with a smirk. “With this we have six.” Akira answered, opening the door towards the main room inside. “...Wow.” “...It’s immense...” Haru exclaimed in awe at the absurd size of the stage itself, let alone the crazy amount of seats and the huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. “THE TREASURE!” Morgana yelled in excitement while pointing at the huge sun-shaped prop. “We found the Treasure.” Ann said to their radio. “That’s good news.” Yusuke answered. “But it is at at least a couple hundred meters up in the air and we don’t know how to get to it.” she then added. “...That is not good news.” the artist admitted. “Pinkie?” Haru asked. “Stuffing her face, we’ll alert you as soon as she gets out.” Ryuji answered. “Thank you.” “Okay, Team! There must be a way to pull it down! We just need to find it!” Morgana declared while jumping on the empty stage right under the giant sun. “Split-up.” Akira suggested. “Okay!” “...” “...Ehm...Where do we start? We don’t have a lot of time and this place is immense...” Ann asked, unsure. “Maybe this will help!” Haru called-out from behind the scene. “Uh?” the others uttered in confusion. “It seems to be some sort of control mechanism...” the young girl explained, pulling a random lever and making a Giant cut-out of a fairy-tale castle pop out of the floor to act as background. “Uhm! They are only labeled with numbers, see if you can find the one controlling that sun!” Morgana asked. “Okay!” Thunk! “No, that’s a forest.” Akira answered, shaking his head. Thunk! “Try again, that looks like that Luna Princess of our List...Only done as a scarily life-like puppet.” Ann answered. Thunk! “Again, that was a cut-out of a bunch of bug-like Ponies...” Morgana answered, sighing. “We are wasting time, pull them all.” Akira said. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!… One hundred levers later and the sun was still up there, unmoving, while the entire stage was filled in props, puppets, water effects, light effects, fake mist, a full moon with an angry mare face on it, a fake town background, a fake hive background, a fake castle inside background and way too many more… “Nothing! Can it be that it is fixed up there?” Haru asked in dread. “I can see one end of a lowering mechanism from here, but I can’t tell where the other end of the rope goes.” Morgana answered. “Let’s look around, there must be a clue somewhere.” Ann proposed. “Me and Mona will control the main room.” Akira said. “Me and Panther will check behind the scenes, then.” Haru answered. “Guys! Not to be a bother, but the pies and pastries are almost all gone! Pinkie will finish eating soon!” Ryuji alerted them with a worried tone. “Hurry! Hurry! Pull all that stuff up! We can’t leave behind proofs of our coming!” Morgana ordered with an urgent tone. Once the stage returned being empty, the Phantom Thieves hurried to look in every nook and cranny for anything that could help them lower the Treasure enough for them to then cut the rope holding it up. “Maybe I found it!” Morgana yelled elated while carrying a giant book above his head. “What’s this?” Akira asked while carrying the book with some difficulty to its stand nearby, close to the alcove housing the musical instruments right under the stage. “It seems to be a collection of operas, maybe one of them will tell us how to pull down that sun.” the talking cat said. “Let’s see...’When the Changelings attacked’, ‘The Crystal Empire’, ‘When the Changelings attacked AGAIN’...’Too many Pinkie Pies’…’The Revenge of Trixie’...Are those all those pieces we saw appear once pulled the levers?” Ann red aloud with a scrunched nose. “THERE! ‘The Elements of Harmony: the Magical Beginning’!” Haru exclaimed. “Most of the pages are gone though, torn away...only the last page remains: ‘...And everypony lived happily ever after, with the Sun of Friendship now forever shining on the group of friends, all of them promising to never separate, but to be together forever...” The girl quoted while jamming a finger on the last paragraph. “…‘The Sun of Friendship’...So there must be a specific combination of levers we need to pull to lower the Sun. That must be why the pages are missing, Pinkie likely knows the story by memory since this is her Palace, so she doesn’t need others to learn how to steal her Treasure.” Akira said with narrowed eyes. “This seems to also be the most important story, the first page is way too decorated compared to the other stories.” Haru said, thoughtful. “We only know it starts with ‘There once was a poor Pink Filly in a Stone Farm, sad because she could feel something was missing in her life in the plain grey of her days, but her destiny changed when a magical Sonic Rainboom signaled that a new adventure was about to start...Then the rest of the pages are missing until the Sun shining is mentioned in the last one.” Ann added. “We saw the doll of a small pink horse and the background of a farm between rocks...But what is a Sonic Rainboom?” Akira asked. “I have no idea, and discovering this and the rest of the story is the key to pull down that sun.” Morgana answered. “Maybe-” “ABORT! ABORT! Pinkie is moving back towards the Theater!” Makoto screamed urgently, almost scaring her friends to death. “Damnit! We have no time for this! Let’s leave, it’s still too soon to be found!” Haru hissed while dropping the book and pulling her friends away through the door they used before and all the way back to the women’s bathroom to leave the Theater. “Maybe she has hidden those missing pages somewhere!” Ann tried saying while they sneaked down the wall to stealthily return to the Safe Room. “Have you noticed, though? Every story had as Main Characters Pinkie and the other Element Bearers. Their Puppets were the ones that had been created with the most care, everybody else except Luna and Celestia were only cut-outs or part of the background. She and her friends were ALWAYS the center of attention.” Morgana said. “Over here!” they saw Makoto hiss loudly towards them while keeping the door to the Safe Room open for them, so that they could dive inside to catch their breath. “Ah!...W-We are safe!” Ann moaned in relief as soon as the door closed. “That was close, we too almost went discovered.” Ryuji confirmed as he sat down on a chair with a groan. “But it was not useless: We now have the location of the Treasure and an escape route, we only lack a proper strategy to steal it.” Yusuke confirmed with a more calm expression. “Do we also have a time frame to work with?” Akira asked. “Yes, even if a very strict one. If we stand by Navi and our calculation, we have between seven to eight minutes to steal the Treasure once Pinkie locks the Theater door to go having her Pie Party before she returns and unlocks it. The unlocking of the door is our deadline as we need time to leave the theater’s main room, escape through the girl’s bathroom window, hijack the flying platform and leave the Fortress.” Yusuke answered. “All this before Pinkie notices we stole her Treasure.” Makoto added. “Precisely.” “That is good to know, but we have a problem: If we guessed right, in order for us to Reach the Treasure we must go through an entire puppet show so that the Sun prompt, holding inside the Treasure, is automatically lowered to ‘Shine’ on the stage. And the book telling the story lacks the pages detailing the exact order of props we have to use to properly play the story.” Haru explained with a defeated sigh. “Shit! What now?!” Ryuji growled-out, kicking a near chair in anger. “Seven minutes are clearly not enough to play it properly, meaning that we also have to hope that just pulling them in order will suffice.” Yusuke added, massaging his temples with a tired sigh. “But this becomes a moot point if we don’t even know which lever to pull, there are hundreds of them!” Morgana said. “Should we try to guess it?” Futaba suggested unsure. “We can’t waste time coming and going to try every possible combination, even without the added issue that every day the Barrier advances more and the ponies are getting always more daring in their Conversion Raids, it may take us YEARS to find it just by trial and error.” Haru answered. “...Fluttershy.” Akira said out of the blue. “EH?” the others replied, unsure. “What do you mean, Joker?” Futaba asked. “We should try ask her for help, she is Pinkie’s friend and may know something.” “And tell her what? ‘Hello, we are the Phantom Thieves and we need your help to steal your best friend’s Heart?” Makoto asked mockingly. “...” “...” “...Why are you looking at me like that?” Makoto asked as everybody was now looking at her rather intensely. “...No! We are NOT asking my sister for help!” she finally said, with wide eyes. “She is good t interrogation.” Ryuji explained, shrugging. “She interrogated me, she was good.” Akira added. “That because you had been drugged and beaten a minute before she started asking you.” Makoto answered. “But she acted nicely...Most of the times.” “I can make a tiny microphone plus camera for her to wear, like that we can hear what Fluttershy says, we’ll just give her a list of questions and hear what she has to say.” Futaba said. “The fact remains that we don’t know what and how to ask it, how is Fluttershy supposed to know what the correct order of levels to pull?” Haru asked, unsure. “Well, she was sitting next to some puppets during her cake party. One for each of our Targets, so maybe they are very good friends...Or Pinkie wishes them to be.” Ryuji said. “And the entire premise of this Palace is ‘Playing together with Friends’, so something must have happened between Pinkie and the others to have her Distorted Self be so focused on Friendship, Playing and Partying together and even have multiple sets of puppets made to be as much similar to her best friends as possible, with unhealthy obsession to details.” Yusuke added. “I say we show this to her, and see what she can tell us about it.” Morgana said with a smirk as he showed the others the two pages he took from Pinkie’s book of stories. “You stole those two pages?!” Ann asked, shocked. “I say we copy them down and show them to Fluttershy, maybe she can tell us what they mean and help us understand if we have to look for the pages somewhere, or if it’s just a story every pony of Equestria knows, maybe Pinkie is just role-playing with herself and her friends as Main Characters in it.” the cat answered with a smug expression. “Let’s try like this, in a way or the other we may get enough details to understand how to tackle this job.” “Thank you for the trust, Lady Panther.” “I just hope Pinkie won’t notice you tok those two pages.” Yusuke muttered while looking towards the door of the Safe Room. “Naah! I am sure she wo-” AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! A deafening howl of anguish echoed inside the room making the walls tremble, and causing a violent shiver to climb the spine of every Phantom Thief present. “We’ll copy those pages in the Safe Room outside the Fortress! Gogogogogo!” Ryuji yelled as he hastily opened the trapdoor connecting that room to the one in the Theme Park area of the Palace. “She shouldn’t be able to break in here, but better safe than sorry.” Akira answered as the group rapidly switched Safe Room, just in case. Several Days later – Secret Location – Fluttershy’s holding cell - The butter-coloured mare was trying to sleep on the small bed that had been installed inside her tiny cubicle, even if thanks to how tightly her wings had been tied to her body to stop her from opening them, breathing in itself was hard, let alone sleep. Buuuuuzz! A high-pitch, electronic sound cut through the deep silence of the secret location, waking-up the lone occupant of the entire place abruptly. “Rise and shine, My Little Pony! You got visitors.” one of the two guards in front of her door said with a mocking tone from the intercom, he and his partner waving at her with the combat riffle in their hands. “There is no need for that...” Fluttershy answered with a small voice while walking towards them with her head held low. “There was no need for Conversion either, but here we are!” the second guard answered, her voice still sounding incredibly angry even with the statics of the intercom. “I am sorry...” the mare whispered, already ready to burst to tears once again. “Spare us the whining.” the first guard answered once opened the door to let her out. “The director wants to-” BOOOOM! It was while the female guard was talking that a near wall exploded, throwing both humans to the ground and scaring the mare to her core. “FLUTTERSHY!” Lyra yelled from outside the hole. “OVER HERE!” Tempest Shadow added. “W-W-W-What?” “Come with us, hurry!” Lyra hurried her, pulling on her with her Magic. “I-I-I am coming!” she answered, still scared, while hurrying to join the two unicorns. “Jump in! Jump in!” Tempest instructed as she and Lyra jumped on the back of a van. “O-Okay! B-But who is driving this?” “We guys of the SIU, darling. It was time for us to switch location for you to stay at since this was leaked, and doing this with a fake attack was a nice way to murky the waters enough to hide your relocation.” the old man at the head of the SIU answered from the front seat while showing a knowing smirk as he rapidly drove the van away. “A-A-And those two poor dears?” Fluttershy, now squeezed between Lyra and Tempest as her personal guards for the day, asked in dread. “Considering they were the ones that leaked your position to several Pony-Friendly groups, I hope they at least broke a leg or an arm. Your new jailers will hopefully be more on our side than the pony one.” “O-O-Okay.” the mare answered, trembling heavily in fear. “Good! Now, let me make a call, we may need to make a small detour before that.” the old man said before pulling out a nondescript flip phone. “...Hello, dear! I just finished shopping and was taking the long way home, want to meet?” he asked as soon as the other side picked-up. “...Of course I will take Fluttershy with me, you wanted to meet her, yes? I guess our dear friends the PT contacted you in the end.” “...OF COURSE you are not admitting anything! I know that! I taught you well...But remember what you promised: I will be there with you while you ask your questions, and in exchange you can ask everything you want.” “How did they even contact you to ask for this small favour?...That Phan-Site of theirs, of course. And what you got in exchange?...They’ll steal my Heart? I thought you believed I didn’t not posses one to begin with!...Even if said as a joke, that was in terrible taste…Your father never used such foul language, dear, I know I made mistakes, LOTS of mistakes, but this does not justify...” “...I’ll shut up, I get it. But remember: we are on the same side, IF you and the PT are working together, we can also help, you can trust me...Hello?...Hello?...” the old man called out as the call was subtly interrupted. “Why she doesn’t trust me?” he asked aloud while snapping the phone in half and burning the sim card with a lighter. “After what you told me about the last time you faced the PT and your involvement in it, you can’t blame her.” Tempest answered, shaking her head. “A man can change,” the other answered. “I know that, but unless you give her some darn solid proofs, it will just be your words against your past sins.” Tempest answered. “Maybe you are right...” “W-W-Where are we going?” Fluttershy asked. “Before delivering you to your new prison cell, you are going to meet a former colleague of mine, the Phantom Thieves need some information to Steal the Heart of your friends, and you WILL answer.” the old man answered. “O-O-Or else?” Skrieeeee! At that the van stopped abruptly and the old man marched to the back of the van to open its doors. Click! And gently push the mouth of his gun against the mare’s forehead, making her gulp loudly in fear. “In a way or the other, we will make sure the Elements of Harmony won’t be a threat.” “E-E-E-Eeep!” “Glad to see you understand.” the man answered with a pleased smile while closing the doors and returning to drive the van away. “I was just asking...” she muttered with a small voice. “I have no idea what the Phantom Thieves do, but whenever they act, their victim spit out everything bad they ever did and came clean, a complete 180 in attitude and becoming model citizens immediately after. Madarame for example started doing community service left and right, while dear Kamoshida wrote several books uncovering the rotten side of the sport world! Last thing I heard was that many former super stars of sport wanted him dead, and all this after a single visit of those guys! And the fact that they got you even through that magical Barrier means that they can get the others too, and make you all come out clean and turn yourselves in! And many of us would prefer this to just slaughter your lot, there are still people out there that believe in Justice.” “...I-I-If I help you...P-Promise me m-my friends won’t be hurt. I-If they confess like I did, n-n-nopony must hurt them.” Fluttershy asked. “Help us give the Phantom Thieves enough information to get to our targets, and I will pull enough strings to get you and your precious friends under the same protection detail we offer to human informants, nor humans ponies will hurt you. But you have to make it worth the effort.” the old man answered with a predatory smile. “O-O-Okay.” Fluttershy answered with a weak nod, only she noticing the winks both Lyra and Tempest sent her. “Consider this, the Phantom Thieves are Humanity last try at using ‘non-lethal’ methods to stop this war, if even them fail, then our race as a whole will take away the kid gloves, and we will declared open season on Equestria. It’s a good incentive to hope those guys will succeed.” “That is not comforting...” Fluttershy admitted. “Ops!” the old man countered, clearly not sorry at all. End of Chapter 7. Writing intermediary chapters is awfully hard! Next Chapter will be about the delivery of the Calling Card and the Stealing of Pinkie’s Treasure: meaning a short part will be dedicated to Fluttershy’s interrogation, then a rapid cut to the Phantom Thieves trying to discover the correct order of the levers and THEN the delivery and Stealing of the Treasure. And the Boss Battle against Pinkie. Boss battle that will have two phases, two phases inspired by two things…. This lovely guy And this "Lovely" Toy With a dash of this for extra flair: Thank you for reading this story, I hope you will continue enjoying it.