//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Enter Number 3: Applejack, The Furious Guardian of Truth! // Story: Conversion Bureau: The return of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. // by ClearlyNotTremor230 //------------------------------// Chapter 9: Enter “Number 3”: Applejack, The Furious Guardian of Truth! Floating Island holding Canterlot and the Royal Palace – Throne Room - “Fluttershy is gone, and so is Pinkie! TWO! IN A ROW!” Celestia, having barely recovered from her recent (and mysterious even to herself) bout of anger, hissed while walking in circles in the middle of the room. “Sister, it’s three days in a row that you fail to sleep, when was the last time you managed to rest?” Luna asked in concern as she could actually see the bags under her sister’s eyes turn blacker every day more. “I’ll rest once resolved this.” she answered sharply. “What I don’t get is...How do they do it?” Cadence asked, having been hastily called full-time to the human world so to coordinate the final details for the arrival of the third floating island (That will hold the Crystal Empire on it) that was scheduled to join the others already there above Japan in a dozen days. “Beats me, niece! I scout the dreams of humans to great effort as they are magically ‘Dead’, and not even I can influence them that much! I can add suggestions and the like...But give them an ‘180 degreechange’ in world-view? That is beyond even my powers!” Luna answered, looking scandalized. “Why have you tried adding suggestions to the dreams of humans?” Cadence asked, confused. “I asked her. To my shame, we are meeting way too much resistance, even after Twilight swore again and again that she will find a way to fix the down-sides of Conversion. Ever since it was revealed that the ‘zombification’ as they call it happens 100% of the times, humans are getting...restless...Whenever faced with one of us.” Celestia admitted. “Restless? You are underplaying it too much, sister! It is a miracle our Unicorn soldiers can shield themselves and the others from their bullets, if we still have not had people and pony dying by the thousands daily is all a mere stroke of luck I don’t want to challenge further...” Luna added. “Luna is trying to make humans more open to the idea by mellowing their fears, but it is not easy.” Celestia finished saying with a tired sigh. “And the Phantom Thieves?” Cadence asked. “We have absolutely nothing on them, except for the few, sparse, and near-mythical anecdotes about them...Although we must consider that we are in fact losing support at a rate of one-to-three ponies a day and that twice we got their Calling Card and immediately after saw their targets admitting their part in this ‘Conversion War’ before going into hiding...And both cases seem to suggest the Phantom Thieves are behind it all. I-I-I am baffled, I don’t understand how this keeps happening!” Celestia admitted in shock. “Have you tried guarding both Fluttershy and Pinkie?” Cadence asked, unsure. “Yes...” the mare’s husband, Shining, answered while dramatically collapsing on the floor with a whimper of shame. “Ever since the Fluttershy incident, I had three dozen guards paired randomly follow Pinkie night and day, same for Dash and Twilight and Rarity...AJ kept refusing, so I tried having the soldiers keep an eye out from afar...” the stallion said. “But you failed.” Cadence said with zero mercy, albeit with a gentle undertone. “Ye-heeeeeee-sh!” he answered with a howl of shame. “Even guarding both Pinkie and Fluttershy’s dreams is useless against them, and after they had that ‘Change of Heart’...Their Dreamscape became inaccessible to me.” Luna added, sneering. “...That is new.” Celestia said with a raised eyebrow. “Indeed, and it is always the same: if I try entering the dreams of Fluttershy and Pinkie I now find only a deep-blue, ornate wooden door with an elegant ‘V’ in its middle blocking me, I can’t even pin-point their location...I am completely cut-off from them.” Luna explained. And unknown to them, inside the Velvet room, Igor proudly served Tea to his Master ‘Lord Philemon’, the entity that personally sealed off the two mares’ Dram Realm and location so that not even Luna or Celestia could find them. “So this means we are in trouble?” Cadence asked. “Not yet, I believe. While losing two of the six Elements of Harmony is indeed bad (along having minor ‘Changes of Heart’ happening everyday), We are still on schedule. We have in fact located a perfect place for the Crystal Empire to be teleported on...Floating, we are still far from preparing the terrain to have the various islands land...But we are getting there.” Celestia answered. “Do you need my help? I don’t like the Hostility I can sense in the air ever since I arrived, it makes me feel queasy. Even the Crystal Heart is getting hard to control nowadays.” the Princess of Love asked. “I can bet, tension between us and the humans is at an all-time high these days.” Luna muttered with a tired sigh. Tok! Tok! Tok! It was then that a subtle, faint knocking interrupted their discussion. “Enter.” Celestia ordered, making the giant doors creak open enough for a guard to pop his head in. “Ehm...Ehm...I-I am sorry to disturb...But we may have a problem...We can no longer guard Miss AJ.” “Eh? Why?” Shining asked. “The Phantom Thieves got her?! Where is the Calling Card!?” Celestia asked (roared) at the same time with blood-shot eyes destroyed by a sparkling-new heavy tick. “I-It was not the Phantom Thieves...To our knowledge at least...It was all Miss AJ’s decision.” the poor guard answered, sweating profusely. “Her decision? Why? What has happened?” Cadence asked with her head slightly reclining to the side. “Weeell...” The next day - ‘Untouchable’ - “...A Cult?” Ann asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or at least something darn close to being one...This is how my contact inside Celestia’s own territory tried to describe it as, more or less. It seems like AJ finally snapped, for Harmony-knows what reason, and once closed herself inside her new ‘Farm’, she started collecting ponies of every kind...And now they finally chased away the guards around the perimeter to fortify the thing and turning it into their Main Base.” Tempest Shadow answered from the heavily-encrypted call on Futaba’s laptop. “This is troubling.” Yusuke commented, unsure. “Master Igor wants you to know he was worried this would have happened.” Lavenza, accompanied by the Twins, informed them as soon as the door to the Velvet Room appeared in their hideout. “Uh?” “The Elements of Harmony inside those mares are reacting badly with the Distortion power of the Entity behind all this. Even if submerged under the weight of that and the resulting Corruption it also brings along, the Elements are still trying to fight it, causing the Distortion to happen with unpredictable speed and gravity.” “So while they are losing the battle, the process is not as ‘smooth’ as it was with our old targets or the other names on the List, correct?” Makoto asked. “Yes, the souls of those six mares are being battered by the Elements inside them acting-out by themselves in Self-Preservation and the mixture of Distortion and Corruption trying to take over them and those Magical Artifacts.” Caroline answered. “And this means that if their minds are not strong enough, a bit of their Distorted Self might slip through and influence their real self.” Justine added. “So...If her Distorted self inside the Palace is some kind of Cult Leader...” Ryuji said, unsure. “Then there is a chance the real AJ too might act like that, to an extent, because her Element of Harmony is making Distortion act unstably.” Akira finished saying for him. “Precisely, Inmate! I am glad to see you have not lost your edge.” Justine answered with a proud smirk. “In a sense, it makes our job easier, because we can discover how to enter their Palace easier.” Ann said, thoughtful. “But also harder at the same time, if their Distorted Self gets eyes on the real world too, attacking with the element of surprise will get even harder.” Makoto countered while biting her lips in anger. “We cannot tell if that can also happen, at the moment we can only tell that part of their Distorted Self might influence them a bit, the fact that AJ is at this stage means that this alteration has hit her especially hard, contrary to Pinkie that merely found her love for Parties being exacerbated.” Lavenza answered while shaking her head a little. “Her Element is called ‘Honesty’...” Futaba muttered while looking at the short Bio she had built about their various targets. “Honesty. In other words, Truth?” Yusuke said, holding his eyes closed while deep in thought. “If that is the case, she will of course be hit the hardest, her Element must be feeling that something is wrong in this Conversion affair, it must have sensed the truth behind all this and its fighting Distortion and Corruption the hardest.” Morgana said. “Correct, cat.” Justine said with a pleased smirk. “I have a name, you know…” “There are other two names on that list that are being afflicted just as hard. Three if we count Celestia as well, albeit laterally.” Caroline added. “Who?” Ryuji asked. “The ones named Twilight Sparkle and Cadence. The former because as the ‘Element of Magic’ her own powers are being corrupted heavily by the alien power that is Distortion; while Cadence, as ‘Princess of Love’, is an easy victim of the inner Darkness of Distortion.” Lavenza answered. “And what about Celestia?” “That is easier, the more names on your list of Main Targets you strike down, the weaker the protection of Ruin around her heart weakens, and the Entity that is behind this whole mess will FEEL each Heart being stolen and be removed from their sphere of influence, they will know that they are losing that source of further protection. Their anger at losing that layer of protection/influence will probably cause them to lose their cool, meaning a high risk of their facade faltering and for their Darkness to spill over and influence Celestia herself.” Justine explained. “For now they are staying hidden, unseen even by their own host Celestia, but you will soon force them to come out personally, as soon as every other Heart will be stolen. They will have no choice but showing themselves.” Caroline added. “Oh, nice! I can already smell the trouble.” Ryuji admitted sighing. “Is not like we expected anything else to happen.” Haru answered. “Yeah, I know...But is still a pain in the ass!” The next day – Koishikawa Botanical Garden – Future Location of AJ’s Farm - The entire giant botanical garden had been recently ‘cut-off’ from the rest of the world thanks to the absurdly high walls of crude-looking wood planks that AJ and the various ponies with her had hastily raised so to remain completely unseen by the whoever stood outside, forcing both Equestrian soldiers and human spies to try keep watching from afar and above, either by unarmed drones sent inside or Pegasi armed with binoculars. The only entrance was the main gate, guarded day and night by several young unicorn stallions and mares glaring daggers to whoever dared coming too close...Except for a small dragon that instead found AJ in person waiting for him at the entrance. “AJ!” Spike yelled in elation as he ran towards her. “Heya, Spike! What’cha doin’ here? Ya asked ta see me so darn much, Ah was startin’ ta get worried!” the farm mare answered with a smirk, gladly accepting the tight hug from the small dragon before letting him climb on her back. “They were not letting me in, so I kept coming here to see you.” he answered, sighing. “That ya did! Where’s Twi? She’s not with ya?” “Twilight...Is not okay, she just...She is starting to scare me.” Spike admitted. “How’s so? Ya can tell me.” AJ asked in concern while accompanying him inside while the gate went closed and locked. “She keeps experimenting on the New-Foals and the Potion! She doesn’t sleep and she doesn’t eat, sure, she used to do this in the past too, but then I would just bring her a plate and a pillow and she would return to normal, but it is not working this time.” “I see, this whole Conversion mess is gettin’ worse by tha day, that’s-a why I created this farm.” AJ answered. “Uh?” “Ah decided to wash mah hooves of this thing, me and the farmers of Ponyville will wait here until this whole thing is ovah. We’re tired of all these lies flyin’ round and round. There’ll be only truth here, no stinkin’ lies to be seen.” the mare explained as she moved towards a giant barn that had been built in the middle of the park, sticking out like sore thumb in the normal ‘feng shui’ of the place. “That’s a big barn...” Spike muttered in apprehension. “Eeyup! Modeled after the one I had back home...Only five times biggah!” AJ said with a sing-song tone full of pride while she watched that strange mix of a Barn and a Cathedral. “So...Truth?” Spike asked. “Truth, only Truth, ALWAYS Truth!” AJ and every pony within earshot answered as one in a creepy chorus. “Hehehe! That’s our motto.” the farm mare explained with a sheepish laugh. “Nice one.” the small dragon answered with a dry tone while he was accompanied inside, to see rows after rows of bales of hay act as seats for the audience to sit on and watch the small, raised platform at the opposite end. “Is almost time, sit here, you’ll see.” AJ instructed, depositing Spike right next to her on the podium while the mare took the center of the stage to admire the rapid flow of ponies coming to take their seats. When the giant barn was filled by every pony in the park eagerly waiting for their meeting to start, AJ cleared her throat and started addressing them. “Brothers and sisters! Finally tha wall separatin’ us from this Conversion War is completed!” she declared with a giant, happy smile. “AYEEEEE!” the ponies present howled as one in happiness, stomping on the ground or clapping their hooves. “This’ just tha first step, though! We may have took distance from their lies, but out there there are still ponies victim of them!” she then said. “BOOOO! DOWN WITH THE LIES!” a freckled red-maned mare yelled from the back. “ONLY TRUTH! ALWAYS TRUTH!” a stallion echoed from the opposite side. “Ah know how ya all feel ‘bout this! It pains me too ta see everypony, human and pony, fall for the lies of Conversion! Both us and them are sufferin’ because of this, as we are bein’ accused of just mercilessly tryin’ to kill innocents!” “BOOO! BOOO!” the crowd booed angrily, but rapidly calming down at the gentle motion of one of AJ’s hooves. “That was tha First Lie:Tha Barrier is just a bubble of light that was just meant to help us come here! But what are they sayin’ instead?“The Barrier is eating everythin’, like a dog not letting go of tha bone.”! That is why we are here! We’ll welcome everypony that doesn’t want to fight and protect them! Celestia says the Barrier will go away soon, that means that even a war can start when that happens! And we are here to stop it! We must make sure we all become a family before that!” AJ explained. “YES!” “Tha Second Lie was the Potion itself: promising to unite all of us into a single family, but is instead killin’ the poor Hoomans inside their head! Ah knew this was wrong, but Celestia opened mah eyes! Yah know what she said? That this’ problem will soon be resolved! But Still, there are ponies and hoomans spreadin’ the Lie about this never gettin’ fixed! And now, I learned that my poor friend Twilight is fightin’ alone against that lie! Ah say, let’s pray for Twilight! So that tha Light of Truth will help her defeat the lies!” “DOWN WITH THE LIES!” “HOORAY FOR PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” “...Oh, god...” Spike muttered, unease. “And then, tha Third Lie: The soldiers and the ‘Nobles’ are pushin’ for Conversion to happen faster to help everypony have time ta adjust! But still, there are foals uncarin’ for tha pain Humans and the common pony are goin’ through! Spreading lies about New-Foals being treated as objects! We all know why their doin’ this instead, isn’t it?” AJ asked with narrowed eyes. “They are blind! They are blind!” an old mare answered from the first row. “Exactly! They’re blind to Truth! Conversion is the only way to save humans from getting sick from Equestria Magic! We are welcoming all of them between us as a family, not as owners and pets! There are Foals like those Phantom Thieves spreadin’ lies everywhere, but Ah say nay!I saw tha Truth of this world! Tha Truth hidden behind their Lies! And if yah all are here with me, it means yah all can see it too! And if yah see it, just like me, yah want everypony ta see it too!” AJ declared with wide eyes. “YEEEEAH!” the crowd answered as one with a deafening roar. “Celestia herself understands our fear! She accepted to let us live here and Ah got word that she will soon send here seeds and fertilizer to help us finally start growing our crops!” “HURRAY! LONG LIVE CELESTIA!” the crowd answered. “But our work is not ovah! As we grow our crops, we’ll also need to grow the future generations! That’s why Ah say we need to enlarge our family! We need to convince everypony ta join us here! Safe from Lies and senseless wars! And once we’ll be numerous enough, we’ll be the ones marchin’! Because remember! The more we’ll save, the more will open their eyes to Truth! What do you say?!” AJ asked. “YEEEEESSSSS!” the giant barn trembled heavily under that unanimous scream, almost blowing back Spike with its sheer volume. “We’re almost there! Soon we will be enough to force the ones behind those lies to back down!” “YEEEEEES!” “WE WILL HELP THEM!” “YEEEES!” “WE WILL HELP CELESTIA IN HER QUEST FOR A PEACEFUL CONVERSION!” “YEEEES!” “WE WILL DEFEAT THE ONES USING LIES TO USE CONVERSION FOR THEIR ENDS!” “TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH!” “Nice isn’t it? A bit noisy, but yah get used ta it after a while, Ah promise the rest of the meeting will be quieter, just some minor stuff about our work here, how do yah call it? Management stuff or something like that.” AJ said with a low voice, looking amused by the overwhelmed expression on the dragon’s face. “Okay...” Spike answered with a weak voice, still perturbed by his ringing ears. Later that night - “You sure? I can easily walk back home by myself.” Spike said. “Nonsense, Ah won’t let a friend of mine walk home alone at night, lately things out there are hella dangerous, tomorrow morning Ah will ask to one of the pegasi guards outside to take you home, otherwise Twi will have mah flank mounted on her wall!” AJ answered, laughing. “You know she will! And it will mounted right next to mine!” finally letting out an honest laugh, Spike entered the small guest room in AJ’s own personal house. “Eeeyup! Ah’ll be just right next door if yah need anythin’! Just call me and Ah will come trotting to tha rescue.” she answered with a joking wink as she watched him climb onto the small bed and fall asleep in a matter of seconds. “...Ah’ll be darned, he was dead tired...Musta be his worryin’ for Twilight. Have no fear, Ah will protect yah and Mah Friends, Ah won’t let the Lies of this Conversion sweep you all away.” AJ muttered to herself before blowing-off the candle next to her so that complete darkness could fall inside the room. “...” “...” It was deep into the night, when AJ’s snoring signaled that she was dead asleep next door that Spike gave a short cough. “...Good, You are alone?” a voice said inside the dragon’s left ear. A single cough followed. “I see, I will call the PT, so you will talk with them.” The male voice at the other side of the radio answered as the changelling in charge switched channel. “...Hello? Can you hear me?” Futaba asked barely a minute later. Once again, the small dragon coughed once, moving to the side so to cover his ear holding the small radio with the pillow. “Okay, ‘I think I am alone, but I am not certain’, I understand. Grunt from now own, same codes.” Yusuke instructed, he and the others talking with a low voice just in case. “Hrrrn.” Spike answered. “Good, We are going to ask you few questions about entrances, guards and the like, you ready? We need only the bare basics, tomorrow we will meet at the hideout with P and F and talk properly.” Makoto said. “...Hrrn.” Spike answered. The next Day – Pony side of the Barrier – Shujin Academy – Classroom - The group of rebellious teens known as the Phantom Thieves where calmly sitting on the desks while listening to Spike’s retelling of what had transpired inside Aj’s ‘Farm’, all of them still wearing hoodies and masks to cover their identities while Fluttershy and Pikie sat with them, or better, on them as both seemed to need some physical contact to help them recover from their Change of Heart. “And apparently in a week Celestia will start sending barrels of both seeds and fertilizer, after that, they will start demolishing the place to turn it into a giant farm.” Spike finished saying with a sight. “Barbaric, destroying such a paradise just for that!” Yusuke hissed with narrowed eyes. “I am more worried about that fanatic attitude they seem to have towards Truth and Celestia herself.” Ann countered, mindlessly petting Fluttershy as she sat on her lap, Pinkie was instead sitting on Akira’s. “She is the Element of Honesty, her Distorted Self has transformed her innate Power into an obsession, so much that her real self is being swayed as well, slowly turning her into a mockery of herself; the belief that Princess Celestia is pure and innocent is instead not as surprising, with that Alicorn being the host of the one responsible of all this, of course AJ and the ones around her will never put the Princess in their list of enemies.” Makoto answered. “What’s worse is that her obsession for Truth is spreading, she is mounting a freaking army!” Ryuji added, shivering. “Just like it was with me, isn’t? My own...C-C-Corruption was influencing those soldiers to act like me...” Fluttershy asked with an ashamed expression. “It was not your fault, you know?” Ann answered, patting her head. “Thank you, Miss Panther...” the mare answered with a very low voice. “Yes, its is happening again, and that is not normal! Distortion is not supposed to be contagious! It is not something you ‘catch’ by standing too close to somebody suffering from it. Otherwise the school would have been overflowing in Palaces by the time me and Joker arrived here.” Morgana said unsure, thing that Haru then translated for the ponies and dragon to hear. “You said that behind all this there is Somebody or Somepony using Distortion the same way that Yaldabaoth guy did here in the past, then maybe whoever is behind this wants Distortion to spread, so they are actively making sure this happens?” Spike asked. “Then the problem would be...Why? What would they gather by having everybody getting a Palace? Because the greater the influence of Distortion is, the higher are the Chances of a Palace to be born, and those ponies are being almost ‘drown’ in Distortion, just to be sure their twisted desires are nurtured enough to form a Palace.” Makoto countered. “The Memenotes are getting absurdly spacious too, meaning that more and more ponies are being swept in. What can they be after?” Haru added. “Maybe-” What Ryuji was about to say went interrupted by Akira’s phone ringing. “Yes?” the taciturn young man asked as soon as he picked-up. “Boy! There is something you have to see! I had recently sent a couple guys to scout around Akihabara, and they saw something nasty! I sent a video to your friend’s laptop, I think there is something ugly going on here, and even the ponies may be a target after all!” Iwai said in alarm. “What kind of bad? And don’t use names, I put you on speakers.” Akira asked while Futaba turned-on her laptop. “Remember the balloons that Pink mare had prepared by the thousands? They were filled by a gas version of Conversion Serum! And worst still: that stuff works on ponies too!” “WHAT?!” Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike yelled as one. “It’s like he said! They were spying on the guards while they dismantled everything, and look! One of those balloons pops and immediately six Ponies start acting like New-Foals!” Futaba said as the short video showed the scene of normal ponies gaining the same dumb smile of New-Foals as soon as one of the balloons popped, covering them in a dense purple cloud of smoke. “It makes no sense, why would that work on ponies too?” Yusuke asked. “More importantly, why was that shit used to fill balloons?!” Ryuji countered him. “That is what I hoped you could tell us, those men said that then Shining Armour appeared on the scene with several guards to hide everything and take away the balloons, sweeping everything under the rug.” Iwai explained. “Probably under Celestia’s own orders, to hide everything or just deny her involvement.” Makoto tried guessing. “We’ll see what we can discover and then call you.” Ann answered. “Good, and be quick, the total number of balloons is up to several thousands, and I don’t like the idea of those ponies having that Conversion stuff ready to be used like some damn mustard gas!” the gruff man answered before cutting the call. “I-I-It wasn’t me! I-I swear! I would never have done that!” Pinkie said immediately, looking extremely unnerved by the thing. “Are you sure?” Akira asked. “I-I-I-I think so...It’s all so confused...B-But I know I didn’t want to harm anypony!” “Wait! When we were spying on you, you said Celestia was sending you the balloons already filled, isn’t it?” Futaba asked, making the mare go wide-eyed. “Y-Yes! I think I remember that! She said she was happy I was organizing such a party so that everypony could celebrate together after Conversion was over!” “If she knew the party was for after every human was Converted...Then why sending balloons filled with Conversion Gas?” Fluttershy asked. “...What if she knew that the Potion worked the same way with either Humans and Ponies?” Spike asked in dread. “Then things would look even worse, whatever is influencing Celestia has such a deep control over her that they can use her to advance an agenda of total submission; one that requires Humanity to be Converted into Ponies, the resulting mass of ponies then to gain Palaces and at the same time have their real bodies become extremely pliable and susceptible by erasing any form of resistance...The Conversion Serum would then be just another precaution.” Morgana muttered with a heavy shiver. “So maybe they want to control both collective subconscious and conscience of everybody?” Ryuji asked. “In a sense, but that is the worst possible scenario.” the cat answered. “It would mean Yaldabaoth, Chapter 2.” Makoto hissed angrily. “Unfortunately yes. That is why we must stop them.” “AJ said that Celestia will send them seeds and fertilizer to start their farm...Do you think she will try sneaking the Conversion Serum in there too?” Spike asked. “We cannot say for certain, but having ‘poisoned’ food go around would speed-up Total Conversion even more, we cannot exclude it.” Yusuke answered. “Then it means we have at best six days to get inside AJ’s Palace and steal her Treasure, like that she will make sure those seeds and fertilizer are destroyed.” Haru said with narrowed eyes. “I will help you! Whoever is behind this is using my friends like pawns! Tell me what I have to do!” Spike said immediately. “You should keep spying on AJ for us. Can you join her ‘Family’ for us? I already have an idea about what is the physical form of her Palace, but we need to be able to get in and out as we please at least once to enter her Palace the first time.” Futaba asked. “That I can do! I will join her immediately and look for a good, isolated place to dig a tunnel for you to use, then I will memorize the guards patrol so that I can help you get in and out.” the small dragon answered. “Thank you, you should also stick to AJ like glue and alert us should something happen.” “Of course!” “Okay team! We have a plan! We have seven days before AJ starts destroying that garden, it means that we have at best three days to enter the Palace for our scouting, past that, we either steal the Treasure in the next four or we will add another way for Celestia to destroy this world!” Morgana said. “Yes!” the Phantom Thieves answered as one. “You have a plan already? Then I may have a way to further help you.” Tempest Shadow said as she entered the room. “Miss Tempest!” Ann said in surprise. “Good evening, I guess you already know of the balloons?” “Yes, you too?” Akira asked. “Yes, me and Lyra were keeping tabs on the Royal Guards, so I saw the incident myself. Our best guess is that soon the full blame will fall on Pinkie alone, especially since Shining Armour was there personally and discovered the altered balloons, his will be an iron-clad testimony.” “And since I was the one organizing the parade...” Pinkie tried saying with downcast eyes. “You will be the first suspect, especially since Celestia (and whoever is controlling her) needs to look beyond reproach.” the horn-less Unicorn answered. “Once stolen Celestia’s heart, she will admit her part in that too, just be patient.” Haru offered with a kind smile. “Okay...” “Why are you here, Tempest?” Ryuji asked. “I prepared a flying ship for you to use as HQ, soon your first base will be overrun as Shining Armour has issued the order to several squadrons of guards to help clean and prepare this place to be inhabited by ponies since they have started moving civilians here. By flying nonstop, you will be less likely to be caught. Thorax and the changellings will take care of piloting it and act as normal soldiers, nopony will suspect a thing.” the mare explained. “Thank you, Tempest.” Akira answered. “No problem, we are fighting a war here, so we must do everything in our power to win. In the meantime, Sunset Shimmer managed to get in contact with Sunburst, he will be our spy on Twilight and Starlight Glimmer, and if you can get to Starlight too, with those two as Spies we will have more chances against Twilight and Cadence as those two pass most of the time together nowadays, Sunburst in particular will be perfect to spy on them since he is Cadence’s favourite foalsitter for her daughter.” “We’ll look into the Mementoes for Starlight then, as soon as her Distorted form appears there, we’ll strike.” Ryuji answered. “Good. I already had your stuff moved on the ship, now follow me, I’ll show you.” Tempest said, immediately moving out. “We’ll come too, soon they will take over this school too, it won’t be safe to remain here.” Pinkie added. “Y-Yes! We’ll help you!” Fluttershy added. “Thank you.” Ann answered with a grateful smile. Two days later – AJ’s Farm – night - “You sure you wanna keep bein’ in the night round? Ah got tha idea yah liked yer sleep!” AJ asked amused. “Now, now! I am not that lazy!” Spike said with a pout. “Oh, really?” the mare asked with a knowing smirk. “...Not always at least! I can be professional when I want to!” he then added with reddening cheeks. “Ah will trust ya this one time, but this’ the last night, yer a new recruit, so you’ll start slow.” “...Nepotism?” “Lotsa and lotsa.” AJ answered with a smirk, giving him a small kiss on his forehead before walking away. “...Don’t worry, AJ. We’ll save you...” Spike muttered with a determined tone as he calmly moved into an isolated corner of the wall around the farm, and once sure not a soul was around, he knocked on it twice. Immediately after that, two knocks came from the other side, meaning that both dragon and Phantom Thieves were ready to start digging their hole under the barricade, and in barely ten minutes, a passage big enough for the teens to pass through was open. “We are inside, Navi.” Ryuji, he and the others still wearing the copies of their Phantom Thieves masks, said to his radio. “Yes, I can see you! I just now landed a drone on top of the giant barn, I have a nice-enough coverage of the area.” Futaba answered immediately. “Perfect. Can you please take us there, Claws?” Yusuke asked. “Claws?” “Eh! You others are official Phantom Thieves now, you need a codename too!” Ann answered smirking. “Oh!...Cool!” Spike admitted with a small smile. “A-A-Angel in position, I-I can’t see anypony around you, you are clean.” Fluttershy alerted them from the sky, hidden in the scarce clouds up there. “Heeey! Confetti Here! The royal guards outside are about to go through the ‘Change of the guards’ with the night rounds! You have to hurry as the new ones will be here soon!” Pinkie added from her position at the opposite side of the garden. “Good, let’s move then.” Akira asked, making Spike nod and signal them to follow him. “This way, this is my own patrol route, we should not cross too many ponies, just be careful.” “Have no fear, we are used to this by now.” Makoto answered with a low voice. “I don’t think that ‘Breaking and entering’ is something we should be proud about...” Haru commented as the group slowly made their way towards AJ’s gigantic barn. “Almost there.” “AH! Young Spike, good evening!” a mare said with a big smile as she trotted towards him. “Darn it! Hid...Wha?!” Spike tried saying, but as soon as he turned, the Phantom Thieves had already found several hiding spots, disappearing from the scene. “...Yeah, definitely professionals.” the small dragon thought in wonder as he chatted a little with the young mare. “I am happy to have you here.” the mare said with a smile. “Really? Hehehe! Thank you!” Spike admitted with a shy laugh. “Yup! The more, the merrier! AJ has a big heart and just wants everypony to be safe from Conversion, with her help and Celestia’s guidance we will be safe! Our hammer of Truth will destroy their Lies once and for all!” “Celestia? Hammer?” “Of course! She is helping us build all this! I heard she is helping Rarity find the wandering new-foals to corral them into Equestria, and is organizing with the Wonderbolts a series of aerial shows to welcome those dears as new ponies! Your Friend Dash is even helping soldiers securing the wounded of both parties following Celestia’s orders! With her as our Leader, we have nothing to fear!” “And the Hammer thing?” “Huhuhu. Lies will never go away if we do not destroy them completely! And there is no fiercest enemy of Lies than AJ! You should see her every time we meet a Liar, they always run away crying with their tail between the legs like a dog!” “You sure? It doesn’t...It doesn’t look like the AJ I know...” the dragon asked, worried. “Aah! That is because she knows we others and you are not blinded by Lies, she can rest when with us all because she knows we are not in danger! She too is a victim of the lies of Conversion, after all! She knows that the Barrier will soon go away, and she knows that if not for those Lies about the Potion, Conversion would have happened in peace! Soon the New-Foals will return to normal as Celestia promised, and we all must be ready to welcome them in our big family, that’s why she is helping all of us in this battle against Lies! If we work together, we will fix this mess and save both humans and ponies!” “Hurray for Celestia and AJ, then!” Spike answered, trying desperately to sound convincing. “Hurray for Celestia and AJ indeed! Hihihi! Have no fears, We’ll do our best to help your friend Twilight in defeating the Lie of the Potion, we will give her all the support she needs!” the mare said with a giggle before walking away. “...This is what I was talking you about...” Spike muttered sighing, watching the Phantom Thieves get out of their hiding spots once sure nobody was around. “It’s very unnerving.” Yusuke admitted. “I know, Fox. But is just like I told you during these two days...AJ is...She is ‘Normal’, you know? She is still the AJ I know, she just is determined to save her friends, only sometimes she gets this...This Heat about lies and stuff that lasts for a few seconds...It’s the others that are...Strange...Like...Like...” The small dragon tried saying, struggling with his words. “Like ‘Out of their fucking minds’, you mean?” Ryuji asked while scratching his head in thought. “In a sense...” “Do you think AJ is aware that the Farm she has built is becoming a cult?” Ann asked. “By how she acts, I fear she is unaware of it to some extent, even if by that pony admission, she herself is tackling this situation with zero mercy whenever faced with something she sees as a ‘Lie’. She still tries to smooth things here and calm her followers down when they get too intense in their act, but she doesn’t seem to get the real meaning of what this place is, or the full impact of what she is doing.” Makoto answered. “Either willingly or not.” Akira added. “Precisely.” “Everybody is a liar...Except AJ and the Elements of Harmony...And Celestia, of course.” Haru added. “Celestia is the host of whoever is behind this, OF COURSE she is good and a saint.” Spike answered with a grimace as they resumed walking towards the barn. “And she gets utterly pissed when she meets a Liar, that must be her Corrupted Self slipping through whenever that happens, inside her there must be one damn nutjob!” Ryuji added. “If that is the case...Then I must wonder...Is it possible for everybody being wrong except for one single Pony? Everything clearly points towards Conversion being an unstoppable catastrophe that is trying to erase humanity instead of being of any help, but then why is a single Mare sure this is all false? That everything is just propaganda from agitators? We know the truth behind all this because Mister Igor called us to steal the Hearts of Equestria...But what is giving AJ a similar, albeit totally wrong, intuition about something Evil being hidden behind everything?” Yusuke asked. “She is shooting in the dark.” Akira answered, unsure. “Probably. But who is the bad guy then? If she is innocent, the Elements are innocent and Celestia is innocent...Who is AJ fighting against?” Ryuji asked. “...” Nobody of the group knew how to answer to that as they fell into a long silence. “Everypony, maybe?” Fluttershy tried saying. “So...’Lies! Lies everywhere! I must destroy the Lies’?” Ryuji asked while imitating AJ’s voice at the best of his abilities and giving it a maniacal tone. “That is pretty much a form of psychosis.” Makoto answered. “Since when the owners of Palaces were normal people?” Akira asked. “Well...My sister...I mean...Okay, you win.” Makoto tried saying something against that, so to at least keep her own sister out of the group of Psychos they met last time, before admitting defeat. “Do not look the outside only, we deal with our Targets’ innermost, darkest self, something usually kept deeply buried in their subconscious, either willingly or not. This time we are admittedly seeing a more evident reaction to Distortion compared to last time, but just because apparently the ponies of Equestria are really susceptible to corrupting powers.” Morgana reminded her. “You have no idea.” Spike admitted with a shiver of dread. “Even Rarity got Corrupted once, it was not nice. It was super awful actually.” Pinkie confirmed, and the Phantom Thieves could literally hear that Capital C in corrupted. “And somebody/something is mixing together Corruption and Distortion, God only knows what this will mean for its victims.” Futaba confirmed. “We are seeing it already, Navi! Everypony is going crazy.” Spike answered with a low voice. “We’ll stop it, okay? We will save your friends.” Ann offered with a small, encouraging smile. “Thank you, Panther.” the small dragon answered, grateful. “Here we are.” Yusuke said as they arrived at the back of the giant barn. “As always, I am sure things will make sense once inside. How do we do this?” Makoto asked. “Let’s start with some Key Words, any suggestion?” Morgana asked. “Ho! Ho! Ho! I say apples!” Pinkie offered. “Apples?” Akira asked. “Match not found.” the App answered. “Oh, poo!” the party maniac answered, pouting. “Family?” Fluttershy tried next. “Match found.” “Y-Yay.” “Hey! Good job!” Ryuji answered. “Thank you.” the pegasus mare answered with a shy smile. “Now the next one.” “Try ‘Farm’, AJ always calls this place like that.” Spike suggested. “Uhm...Farm?” Haru tried saying to her phone. “Match Found. Location found, Beginning Navigation!” the App declared. “We’ll be going then, be careful, Claws!” Ann said as the human teens rapidly faded-away. “O-Okay!” Spike answered, a bit unnerved by their disappearance. “Ponies incoming! Act natural!” a very scared Fluttershy alerted him. “YIKES!” the small dragon yelped in surprise. “...” “...What are you doing?” the poor stallion asked at seeing Spike’s outrageous, and clearly uncomfortable, pose. “YOGA! JUST DOING YOGA! NOTHING STRANGE OR SUSPECT!” “Yoga...At 4 AM?” the second stallion asked. “Y-Y-Yes?” he answered, sweating profusely. “Oh!...Can we join?” “O-O-Of course!” “...Not even I saw that coming...” Pinkie admitted, impressed. Meanwhile – Inside AJ’s Palace - “GUAAAAH!” Ryuji shrieked in annoyance as he and the others finally managed to get out of the thick plantation of wheat they had landed in. “God, there was barely enough room to breath in there!” Makoto admitted. “I thought we would have found only apple trees.” Haru admitted. “To be fair, even AJ must know a pony can’t live on apples alone.” Yusuke answered. “That may be true...But I can’t see fruits or other stuff here.” “Everything is dead...” Haru commented, as everything around them was either rotten or just desiccated, as if nothing had ever been watered, every crop had just been left there, abandoned to itself. “The ground is so arid, it’s basically hard soil unfit to life.” Yusuke confirmed once patted the terrain. “It explains the hard landing.” Makoto said. “Hard landing?! I landed on top of the scarecrow, you at least landed on something...Especially Joker.” Morgana said, bitterly. “Panther’s chest is indeed soft.” Joker answered, nonplussed. “Yeah, I saved you from breaking your neck, but at least do not boast about that face-full in public!” Ann countered with a red face. “Sorry.” “Returning to the matter at hand, here we are, finally.” Ryuji said while looking at the enormous, heavily fortified farm on top of a giant hill not too far from where they landed. “A bit old fashioned.” Haru added. “Yep!” Makoto conceded. It looked like an amalgamation of a farm and a medieval village, perched lonely on top of a hill surrounded by endless fields of every possible crops, from fruits to vegetables; and right in the middle of the village, a giant, enormous church, but just like the small village-farm around it, every building looked unkempt, dreary and austere. The church in itself, while very Gothic-like in style, had a very unwelcoming feeling to it with its walls darkened by either the remains of a dead climbing plant or mere abandonment, it had a dozen of black-and-white stained glass panels and almost one hundred of pointed spires, the gate itself was enormous, made in dark wood and covered entirely in engravings. Cleng! Cleng! Cleng! When the giant bell on top of the tallest spire rang, the darkest, lowest chime the Phantom Thieves had ever heard echoed everywhere, it was even heavily off-key, as if the bell itself was cracked. “Well, I believe we found what influenced AJ while drawing the blue-print for her barn in the real world.” Yusuke admitted. “The Palaces are getting creepier, or is it me?” Haru asked. “Yes, I think so too...” The sky was...Black, there was no other way to describe it as there was simply nothing up there, neither sun or moon or stars or clouds, just flat blackness, and between that and the unnatural silence and the total absence of wind giving everything a sense of ‘stillness’, the atmosphere of this Palace was so unnatural to make one’s skin crawl. “The Treasure must be inside that cathedral, problem is...That thing is simply enormous! It will take days to map every room and find the Treasure one!” Futaba alerted them with a distraught tone. “And we have not much time to explore.” Akira answered. “Then we must hurry! We have no time to waste!” Morgana declared as he moved forward, chased immediately by the other Phantom Thieves towards the entrance of the village. “That place will be swarming in Shadows, we must be careful too!” Makoto added. “Yes!” They all knew what was at stake and what their Mission was, and especially how little time they had to scout, plan and finally steal AJ’s Heart. “There she is!” Ryuji said while pointing at what was clearly AJ’s Distorted Form, dressed in purple hooded robes with a golden lining, she was addressing the monks-dressed Shadows acting as villagers the bell’s chiming had summoned around her; AJ, the Shadows and the shades acting as villagers wore a similar strip of cloth over their eyes, blinding them completely. “LIARS! DO YOU SEE!? THIS IS HOW YOU MUST DEAL WITH THEM!” having clearly been in the middle of a speech when the PT arrived, the mare finished talking with a furious tugging of a rope to uncover the two squirming bundles behind her that had been tied thigh in chains. One was a humanoid shadow, the other pony-shaped, both had been gagged and neither of the two had the cloth covering their eyes. “They are culprit of refusing the Truth I bestowed on them! They preferred to feed on the lies going against us!” “Liars! Liars! Liars! Liars!” the crowd of Shadows and shades roared with just as much fury as Distorted AJ. “Yes! They are Liars! And what do you have to say for yourselves, eh!?” the corrupted Element of Harmony roared, roughly pulling away the gag from the humanoid shade. “Please! Open your eyes! This is no promised land! Everything is in ruin! There is no Sun, no Moon, no rain nor does the wind blow!” “LIAR! You are blinded to Truth! Our land is prosperous and our people happy! WHY MUST YOU TRY TO DESTROY OUR PARADISE?!” AJ answered with a snarl, bucking the shade in the stomach before putting back the gag. “And you?” she the asked to the pony one. “Please! You must snap out of this! The crops are rotten! The land is barren! There is only death around us! Please! Just open your eyes!” the pony-shaped black silhouette begged with a mare voice scarily similar to the one of the real AJ back in the real world. “WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! YOU ARE LYING! WE HAVE PLENTIFUL CROPS! OUR LAND IS PROSPEROUS AND RICH! YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO DESTROY OUR PEACE!” Distorted AJ looked apoplectic in rage now, putting back the gag and ordering two near Shadows dressed in black robes and holding torches in their mouth to step forward. “THOSE MISCREANTS ARE DOUBTING ME! THEY ARE DOUBTING US, THE GUARDIANS OF TRUTH! AND THEY DESERVE NO MERCY!” the Distorted Mare bellowed in fury. “LIARS! LIARS! LIARS!” the crowd chanted. “I will defeat the Lies! I will burn the Liars! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!” Distorted AJ ordered as behind them the two shades that had been tied to a stake went burned alive. “Oh, god...” Ann muttered in horror. “She is crazy, a fucking psycho!” Ryuji added in disbelief. “We must stop her at all cost, if her influence on AJ grows any stronger, I fear scenes like this will repeat in the real world too.” Yusuke said with a tone of disgust. Cleng! Cleng! Cleng! As the bell of the church rang again, the crowd dispersed and the Distorted version of AJ calmly returned inside the church, soon slamming the door closed behind herself… And to the Phantom Thieves’s Horror, the two shades tied to the stake slowly regenerated as if nothing happened, soon to be covered again by the same white cloth of before, it was clear that it was a scene bound to be repeated over and over and over again, until the Palace was finally destroyed. It was clear they had to hurry-up in stealing the Treasure, it was imperative that the Distorted version of AJ ceased to exist as soon as possible, before real victims of that endless rage against ‘Lies’ started appearing in the real world too. Mission: Stealing AJ’s Heart. Avoid destruction of the Garden. Deadline: Celestia’s Delivery of Seeds and Fertilizer (Probably enriched by Conversion Potion). Total time before Deadline: 7 Days. Time remaining before Deadline: 5 days. The Village, what inspired it.