Flying ship housing the Phantom Thieves Hideout – Two days before the Deadline Expires -

The Phantom Thieves were all checking the random assortment of papers covering the entire table in the middle of their meeting room as they went, once again, through their plan with a fine comb, and trusting the ponies with them about finding any mistake they may have missed.

“S.S This is just an innocent ship...Aren’t we pushing our luck with a ship named like this as our secret base?” Ryuji asked aloud with an unsure tone.

“Please focus, Skull. We know for certain that we don’t have a Safe Room inside the Treasure Room of AJ’s Palace, meaning that we have to pass over that illusory pavement once again once inside.” Makoto said with a sigh.

“Yeah, I marked that up.” Lyra answered, showing the tiny note on the map of the Palace detailing the catacombs where she jokingly added ‘Panther doesn’t like this!’ on a corner and with an arrow pointing at the bottomless hole.

“Are you sure that tunnel leads outside? We need to be certain, otherwise you will have to traverse the entire Palace and Village to get out, and between AJ’s Distorted Form and every Shadow in there, that is suicide.” Tempest Shadow asked, once again, while looking at the teens in apprehension.

“We opened a hole in that wall and let Mona crawl in and follow it, it’s pretty long and the smell is awful, but it does lead outside, once sure we enlarged it further and then positioned the bricks back in place. Once stolen the Treasure the thing will come undone with a mere push, letting all of us free to enter.” Yusuke answered.

“Yes, that too has been loosened enough to come down at the moment’s notice.” Haru confirmed.

“So we have a plan: We send the Calling Card, get inside the Palace and once stolen the Treasure, we defeat AJ’s monster form and escape through that tunnel.” Futaba declared while still with he face glued to the screen of her laptop.

“Why you even bother with an escape plan if you know already that you will have to fight against the Palace’s owner?” Spike asked, utterly confused.

“...We don’t want to lose hope, okay? Maybe one day we will steal a Treasure without having to go through a Boss battle.” Ryuji answered, his tone filled to the brim in longing.

At that every Phantom Thief left-out a long sigh, prompting Fluttershy to give each one of them a comforting hug as that sound had triggered her motherly side fiercely.

“It got tiring after the second time, Pinkie, and yet it kept happening.” Makoto answered with a low, suffering sigh.

“Just once...To see how it feels.” Akira admitted, gladly accepting having Ann’s sitting on his lap to hug his depression away.

“Hem-Hem!” A very young voice cleared her throat, making the ponies present jump in horror.

“INTRUDER!” Tempest roared as her broken horn got covered in uncontrolled Magic acting like sparks of electricity.

“Master Igor wants you to know that NOW is the best moment to send the Calling Card as AJ will be escorted by force away from her Farm in two days, and while this won’t stop your from stealing her Treasure, nobody will be able to see and hear her confession if Celestia holds her isolated as she plans to do.” the small girl answered, still glaring at Ann with her eyes reduced to two slits.

“Exactly, but you posses a Secret Weapon that can help her escape Celestia’s clutches long enough for the Confession to happen.” Lavenza answered while turning to look at Spike.

“Yes. You will have a very important Mission: as soon as the Calling Card is delivered Celestia will speed-up her plans and hurriedly come to collect AJ, you must act fast and help her escape and bring her somewhere safe to hide until the Phantom Thieves have done stealing the Treasure.” the tiny girl answered.

“Leave the location to me, I will ask Thorax and our Changelings friends to organize a room filled in hidden cameras, so when she will tell YOU the truth, everypony as well will listen and see.” Tempest answered.

“We will also be there to wait for her, so she won’t be alone.” Fluttershy added.

“Nu-uh! We will help! You are our friends so we’ll give you a hoof!...Or a hand and stuff. You helped us when we needed it the most, and now we will do the same!” Pinkie answered with a wide smile.

“Have no fear, the Phantom Thieves will come out victorious.” Lavenza said with a serene smile.

“EEEEK!” Ann yelped as the tiny girl grabbed her wrist and easily threw her away from Akira’s lap so to sit there herself.

“My beloved Trickster won’t let a bad thing happen to his friend, right?” Lavenza declared.

“Bitch.” Ann growled from the floor, watching Lavenza get up from her boyfriend’s legs so to calmly march towards the newly-added blue door on the ship’s belly and disappear behind it.

“...Apparently not.” Tempest answered as soon as that door evaporated, leaving just smooth wood behind.

“Let’s just organize the Calling Card and its delivery. Panther and Lavenza are a situation not worthy of the headache.” Futaba said with a sigh.

“That’s why you should have chosen me back in the days, you wouldn’t be in this mess now.” the Hacker answered.

“Why? You would have shared with her and those Twins?” Ann asked with a challenging tone.

“And you others?! Shouldn’t you deny those words?!” Makoto asked to the other boys, unfortunately all of them opted to just not look towards her at all.

The Element of Honesty was at the moment scowling in annoyance at the royal soldiers doing their rounds around her farm together with the members of her small ‘family’, she didn't dislike them per se, but she could not help feeling a strange sense of coldness set in her stomach whenever she looked at them, as if something inside her was telling her to not trust any pony coming from “outside”. And she could tell that this voice was getting everyday louder.

“Eeyup, Ah don’t feel good lately, musta be the new guards roaming ‘round the place.” she admitted with a sigh.

“I too was unsure, but they seem like nice ponies, they even camp outside!” the mare answered.

“Uh-hu! They just get in for the rounds, but when they change, they get out so that new ones can get in.”

“I gotta go, soon we will need to start preparing the fields.” the mare said while walking away.

“She is a Liar! She will betray you! Those soldiers will bring lies here! Lies are everywhere! Kick them all out!” the same voice growled inside AJ’s skull, making her wince and deepen her scowl.

“Musta get some sleep, Ah’m starting to hear voices too now.” the Elelemnt Bearer whispered while shaking her head wildly, unaware that that voice was her own Distorted Self’s twisted thoughts bleeding through into her real self’s subconscious because of the battle between the Element of Harmony inside her and the power of Ruin trying to corrupt her.

The thin “mental barrier” separating AJ from Shadow AJ was getting thinner every day more, soon it will be impossible to tell the two apart, unless the Phantom Thieves manage to steal her Treasure…

The young mare was just walking towards the outer wall of the farm when she heard a faint knocking coming from next to her, and once checked nobody was around, she replied with a similar knocking.

“I seem to have infiltrated the place successfully, captain Shining, they no longer are wary of me.” she answered.

“Good! Keep us informed at all times, Blunt Force. We need to have a pair of trusted eyes in there to keep those civilians safe, we must not let those Phantom Thieves or anypony else have free reign.” Shining Armour answered, tone strict and fierce.

“Yes, Captain! But I have to report that AJ is getting restless, I fear that her sister’s continue refusal to come here is not helping her nervousness. She seems in a constant state of suppressed anger lately.”

“I can understand that she wants her close so to keep her safe, but until this Conversion War is on-going, this world is not a safe enough place for colts and fillies. Keep us informed and continue your mission.” Shining answered.

“Yes, Captain!” Blunt Force answered before trotting away to re-join the groups of farming ponies she had managed to infiltrate into.

“...So the soldiers infiltrated the place too, this is not good news.” Spike muttered once exited from his hiding spot.

“That was to be expected, that farm and its ‘No Outsiders’ mentality is a giant security risk so Celestia will do everything in her power to make sure no other Element of Harmony will fall into enemy hands. They have been Gutted too much for her to feel comfortable.” Yusuke answered, his voice ringing quietly in the tiny radio transmitter in the dragon’s ear.

“The projector Confetti gave me is in position, when do I have to transmit the Calling Card?” he asked

“Ten minutes, we are organizing the streaming of the same video in the human side of the barrier too, like that in a way or another everybody will learn of this, either because both sides keep spying on each other, or because the soldiers there will report to Celestia and those farmers to everybody within earshot. I will send you a Beep when it’s time to turn it on.” Futaba answered.

“Also, remember to talk AJ into running away as soon as she hears the Calling Card, if Shining Armor is there already, he may try to drag AJ away immediately without waiting for Celestia’s direct order.” the Hacker said.

“That would be hard...But I can use that undercover mare as a justification...I can play on her fear of Lies to follow me. Or fear of Truth, if you are right about the meaning of her Palace.” Spike answered.

“Ready, as soon as we get out we will stream the Calling Card to AJ and everybody else.” Makoto replied.

“It depends, Rarity seems to have gone under the Radar, not one of them apparently know where she is while Dash is literally too into her own hype as a Hero to be held down by the soldiers, but the other targets after the Elements are a mystery: Twilight is Celestia’s pupil so she will be the hardest to reach without the Princess noticing, while the others are public figures that need to be seen so they can’t go into hiding without severely hurting the Propaganda Machine Equestria needs to promote a super-fast Conversion.” Yusuke answered.

“So they will soon get ‘Easy to find, but hard to reach’?” Haru asked.

“Everything Ready, I am transmitting the Calling Card, you get out of Memento and get near AJ’s farm.” Futaba alerted them as soon as she sent the message.

“It’s time! Gogogogogogo!” Ryuji yelled making every other member of the group hurry out of Memento.

The poor mare was helping few ponies going through the last touches of the plans for the upcoming ‘Refitting’ of the botanical garden into a full-fledged farm when a gasp of a near stallion caught her attention.

“What Lo...WHAT IN TARNATION IS THAT THING DOING HERE?!” AJ yelled as she saw the giant hat and mask symbol of the Phantom Thieves that was being projected on the whole side of her giant barn/church, just like every other pony, either guard or farmer, was looking at it in utter shock.

“Oh...Nononono! How did they get in here too!? How? HOW?!” Shining, eyes too wide to be healthy, yelled in horror as soon as Lavenza started once again to read the message the Phantom Thieves prepared for their victim.

And as usual, the target of said Calling Card was inexplicably unable to ignore or look away from it, without even imagining that it was her own Shadow Self making it impossible to look away from it since that was a direct attack to the Treasure hidden deep inside the Palace, something her Distorted Self was simply unable to ignore.

As soon as the transmission ended, just to restart again into a loop, utter bedlam exploded inside and outside the Farm as there was not a single pony not reacting to the outrageous message of the mysterious teens, especially AJ that got extremely pale in complexion.

“Okay! Nopony moves! This is an official order from the Royal Guards: we are taking over!” Shining Armour ordered as soon as Blunt Force unlocked the main doors from inside while ignoring the rest of the farmers telling her not to, giving to Shining the chance to blast the tall thing open and tear it off from its hinges with an over-charged kinetic push from his horn.

“Sorry, Miss AJ. But this is a security matter, you have to come with us.” Blunt Force replied unfazed as she donned again her armor while Shining and many other soldiers flooded the place.

“It is for the best, AJ. You are the next target of the Phantom Thieves, we are going to protect you.” Shining answered.

“What about the others!? What about mah farm!?” she asked, slowly walking backwards and eyeing every pony around her in distrust.

“This place is compromised, if they managed to deliver here their message right under our nose, it means somepony here is an accomplice. We’ll need to question all of you.” Shining answered, and while moving as one every Unicorn soldier started immobilizing every farm pony they came across.

“My name is Blunt Force, Miss AJ. Now quit being unreasonable and please come with us, do not make this difficult. We won’t hesitate to use brute strength otherwise.” the mare soldier answered with a cold tone.

At once, several smoke bombs rained between AJ and everybody else, obscuring her in a thick smoke-screen.

“Sssh! Follow me!” the small dragon answered, pulling again on her hoof before running away.

“GRAB HER!” hearing Shining bark that order with zero mercy, AJ had no choice but trusting him and watching him as he scampered to hide behind a cart so to not be seen by the guards.

“To where?” she asked once seen where he was hiding, and barely missing a grabbing attempt from a pair of Pegasus soldiers trying to assault her from the sky.

“T-There is a warehouse not too far away, we’ll hide there until night...T-Then we ill figure-out something.” the small dragon answered, hoping nervously that she will believe him.

“Works for me! Hold on, gonna go fast naw, they’re not Dash, so Ah’m gonna teach them how slow they’re!” the Farm Mare answered in determination, and demolishing a side wall to leave the Farm without losing her momentum she grabbed Spike’s tail in her mouth to swing the small dragon on her back.

Unknown to her, a Changeling under Thorax’ orders mimicked her and moved in the opposite direction once grabbed the attention of every guard, just like the PT and Tempest had planned for, luckily also making sure nobody could link Spike to AJ’s escape yet.

“Nope! This was my idea! The guards are keeping a close eye on Twi too, and I don’t really trust them.” he admitted.

“Ah can’t blame yah! Looks like one can’t trust anypony nowadays!” AJ answered between gritted teeth, turning furious at the mere wondering about how many members of her ‘Family’ could actually be soldiers in disguise.

“Listen, let’s lay low until things calm down...T-Then we’ll think about something!”

“SO THE LIARS DARE OPPOSE ME!? COME IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS! I WILL BURN YOU AT THE STAKE LIKE THE HERETICS YOU ALL ARE!” the Distorted Form of AJ had just finished roaring her answer to the teens’ challenge when they saw Shining Armor force his way into the Farm and the explosion of the smoke bombs they have given to Spike.

“Angel here! T-The Target is running away! I repeat, the Target is running away!” Fluttershy alerted them from her radio as she stealthily followed the real AJ from the sky.

“Good, we are going in then, you and Confetti be careful and keep us informed, we’ll tell you to start recording her confession as soon as we did steal the Treasure.” Makoto answered.

“Easier to say than do...” Haru answered sighing, and with a well-practiced maneuver, all of them pulled their phone out to enter the Metaverse and AJ’s Palace while skillfully ignoring the screams of apoplectic rage tearing their way out of Shining’s foaming mouth; they’ll get him soon enough...Or an aneurysm will do the dirty work for them, whichever happened first.

“We can’t risk blowing our way out, Skull. Even if I admit that it would make things way more easy.” Morgana answered with a sigh.

“YES! EVEN IF WE WILL STILL FIGHT AJ, SKULL!” Morgana answered with a roar worthy of a wild beast.

“You sure you are a cat? I would pin you for a very small tiger.” Akira asked, utterly serious.

“Let’s just go, AJ is already super pissed, so she’ll be personally hunting us down.” Ann said with a sigh as the group slowly made their way towards the village.

“LOOK FOR THEM! FIND THEM! KILL THEM!” and already they could hear the mad rambling of the mare’s Shadow Self barking orders nonstop.

“She is angry all right...” Makoto admitted, secretly impressed by how badly the mare took their Calling Card.

“Ready to run for the Safe Room? I fear we’ll need to dash our way through towards the Treasure the whole time.” Yusuke said.

As Yusuke had predicted, the Phantom Thieves had been forced to run towards the Safe Room inside the Village and dive inside it so to not be jumped by Shadow AJ and her servants, making the door of the room shook and whine under the stress of keeping all of those monsters outside, thing that worried the teens fiercely no matter how many times Morgana reassured them that no Shadow was permitted entrance there as per the Rules of the Metaverse. Even if the small cat himself kept stealing glances at the door in apprehension while saying that.

And once reached the inside of the Cathedral through the connections between Safe Rooms, from there to the entrance to the Catacombs was another daring escape...Until they reached the ground floor, where they found the place empty and utterly silent, along the hidden trapdoor to the underground labyrinth already opened.

“Probably she thinks we’ll have to leave from the front door once stolen the Treasure.” Akira answered.

“I can confirm that, there is a HUGE crowd waiting for you just outside the cathedral, all of them with torches and pitchforks, as you can imagine.” Futaba confirmed for them.

“I can’t tell, too many ponies amassed together.” she answered with an unsure tone.

“Then maybe we’ll be lucky, she doesn’t seem to know about the collapsed wall.” Makoto said with a relieved sigh.

“Then prepare the blindfolds, we have a fake pavement to walk on...” Yusuke said.

The eerie silence both inside the bottomless chamber and the inner sanctum of AJ’s Palace was making their skin crawl as they neared the abandoned farm house, opening the door with a light push that gave the finishing blow to its utterly-rusted hinges that turned to dust making the old thing fall to the floor with a loud THUD! Soon followed by the sound of hundreds of splinters of wood clattering on the floor as the thing broke into fragments as soon as it touched the ground.

“Like everything in here.” Ryuji answered while the group slowly walked inside the house.

“Dust and cobwebs everywhere...I wonder how long ago it was since anybody entered this place.” Yusuke asked, amazed by the thick layer of dust covering everything.

“This place looks very homely, you think it represent some place dear to AJ?” Ann asked, looking with sad eyes at the abandoned rocking chair lying onto its side in front of a fireplace.

“Listening to Angel and Confetti, along Claws...This place should be very similar to AJ’s house back in Ponyville, they say she lives in a farm.” Akira answered.

“It does give a very cliche-esque Farm feeling, after all.” Yusuke admitted.

“So the very heart of this Palace is AJ’s childhood house fallen into abandonment, hidden deep under an entire village of lies...An house buried under the manifestation of all the Lies she is telling herself and everybody else for so long that she pretty much forgot who she really was. Is as much literal as you can make it.” Makoto commented while studying the dilapidated kitchen and shaking her head.

“This way, I found the stairs to the upper floor.” Haru alerted the others from a corridor.

“Or what remains of them. Most of the steps have fallen down by themselves, we’ll have to climb our way up.” Ryuji added with a sigh.

“Better than nothing, let’s go.” Morgana answered, prompting the others to climb up the step-less staircase to reach the upper floor and the abandoned bedroom holding the Treasure.

“They must be her big brother, little sister and Grandmother.” Akira confirmed while grabbing the thing.

“A memory of happier times with her family, there isn’t any bigger Treasure than this.” Yusuke commented while they all hurried out of the house and towards the fake wall separating them from their escape tunnel.

“Here it is, let’s remove the bricks and get out of here.” Ann hissed while looking at the only entrance to the secret cave in utter paranoia.

“LOOK OUT!” Akira’s answer went cut abruptly by Futaba barely a second before the wall itself exploded inward due to two hooves bucking backwards through it and nailing Joker in the chest blowing him back to be caught by Ryuji that barely managed to stop both from falling to the ground.

“Now I see why I could not find AJ! She was waiting for you behind the wall!” the hacker growled in fury, angry at herself for missing that possible outcome.

“So I was right! You all want to steal my Treasure! You all want to commit this outrageous Sin against me! I will take care of you sinners personally!” looking apoplectic in rage, Shadow AJ called to herself the small framed picture to hide it under her robes.

“Sinners? Us? You go around preaching your Lies as the only possible Truth! YOU are the one pretending everybody to start thinking like you!” Makoto answered.

“I am saving everypony! Giving them Hope in a land of misery! I SEE THE REALITY OF THE WORLD! I AM THE ONE DEFENDING TRUTH!”

“That is not truth, that is your own delusion you are trying to spread like an illness. You cover everything written with your own version, you force everybody to wear blindfolds so that they can only see things the way you want, and you punish harshly and mercilessly whoever dares calling you out on it. You are the worst kind of Liar, one that refuses to acknowledge Truth even when it is clearly presented right for everybody to see.” Yusuke answered.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I won’t hear all that rubbish coming out of some Sinner’s mouth!” Shadow AJ yelled madly in answer, her body already transforming into her grotesque True Form and shredding her once pristine robes and turning them into beggars’ rags due to her body expanding exponentially.

“I WILL FORCE YOU TO OPEN YOUR EYES, EVEN IF I WILL HAVE TO GOUGE THEM OUT MYSELF!” The now monstrous mare roared as her body shifted into an erect position with clawed hands taking place of her frontal hooves and gaining long claw-like nails.

Her spine and limbs loudly popped as her bones grew rapidly and unevenly, her spine especially transformed without control to the point of almost bursting out of her back with spikes protruding through her flesh in random points while giving her a hunchback stance, her skin itself was turning faintly green and sick-looking while the rest of her body thinned to the point of almost turning her into a walking skeleton.

Her nuzzle enlarged and elongated to match her now towering height of three meters, and her mouth filled in yellow fangs unfitting of a former herbivore; when an iron mask with no eye holes closed around the faun monster’s head and heavy shackles bounded her wrists together the Phantom Thieves knew she was finally ready to battle, especially when a giant rusty dull-looking sword covered in brownish dried blood appeared in her hands.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” throwing back her head, Shadow AJ let out a bestial roar barely muffled by her mask, a scream so loud that it blow back the teen Thieves and utterly destroyed the few glowing stones around the cave providing light in there, making the entire farm and dead orchard fall into complete darkness to the point NOTHING was visible, even one’s own feet.

“I can’t see her-GAH!” Ryuji yelled, gasping in agony as the monstrous Mare tackled him with a shoulder charge that threw him to the ground.

“Maybe she can just hear-EEEK!” Makoto tried saying with a whisper, only for a sword swipe to catch her side and made her tumble boneless on the floor, and if she didn’t get torn in half was only because the sword was utterly dull, acting more like a club than a blade, but it still hit her with the strength of a speeding car, and that hurt her A LOT.

“Nope! She sees and hear just fine!” Morgana answered, and as a cat, he could actually see the monster Faun just enough to manage to dodge AJ’s attack, even if by a hair.

“The blindfolds! Maybe we can us them to see like we did before!” Yusuke tried saying, groaning in pain as his own weapon (held in a defensive stance) almost snapped in two when the Shadow Mare’s blade collided with it before pushing him back.

“Really!?” Ryuji answered while blindly shooting in front of himself to try using his shotgun’s muzzle flash as an improvised light source, and hopefully put a bullet or two into AJ’s liver through luck alone.

“We are already blind without light sources and underground! A blindfold will hardly make a difference if it doesn't work!” Haru answered, shrieking as she managed to dodge AJ’s shoulder tackle by mere luck.

“May as well try!” Akira answered, grabbing and wearing the same blindfold he used to pass over the bottomless pit.

“IT WORKS!” he then finally said, gaining in answer a chorus of elated sighs as the others as well covered their eyes.

Not only now they could see clearly, they actually saw how the entire cave looked through AJ’s own eyes, luscious green grass and abundant fruits on the trees bathed in the warm rays of the sun comprised; the entire place was a heavenly garden of absolute peace and beauty out of some religious text about the Garden of Eden, even the house was pristine clean and new, and the Phantom Thieves could swear they could actually smell the fresh paint used to paint the building in bright red and hear the cheery music coming from a gramophone somewhere inside.

A vengeful horse-woman-angel being with wings of fire and a mane of raging flames, only a pure-white strip of cloth covering her eyes in place of the rusty, crude mask covering the entire head of her real self; her body instead was covered by a fierce-looking golden armor over white priestess robes and golden gauntlets on her hands; no shackles were on her delicate hands while the sword had become a glorious giant sword covered in holy flames.

“She sees herself as a goddess? What a surprise.” Yusuke commented with a frown of distaste and his voice overflowing in irony.

“She even wears a crown of thorns on her forehead like a circlet...Made of gold of course, God forbid a Palace owner shows some humility.” Haru added, equally mocking in attitude.

“It changes nothing, we need to get through her if we want the Treasure!” Makoto answered as the monster mare jumped high in the air to assault them with an overhead slash of the flaming sword.

The thing hit the floor with enough force to cause a small explosion soon followed by a column of fire rising high in the air, surprising the Phantom Thieves that had barely enough time to dodge the attack.

“Sorry, dude! I don’t want to know! Captain Kid!” Ryuji answered while summoning his Persona.

“Ram her!” he then ordered, and the spirit lunged forward towards the Shadow.

“Guhh!” Shadow AJ groaned as she tried grabbing the ship as soon as that painfully slammed on her chest, but getting pushed back of few feet all the same from the power of the charge as she failed to stop the charge.

“Persona: Sandman!” in the meantime, Akira had summoned the moon-headed spirit to attack AJ.

“ARGH!” the angel of wrath growled as she felt herself get sleepy, and even if she could not fall fully asleep, her blurry vision offered the right opening for the others to attack her.

“JOHANNA!” Makoto yelled, jumping on her bike Persona to bombard the mare in ‘small’ nuclear explosions.

“I shall not be left behind. Goemon!” summoning his own Persona, Yusuke guided it to assault the monster with the bladed pipe it held in its hands so that both beings could cross blades in a chorus of clanging sounds.

“I will defend this holy land with my life!” even AJ’s voice had turned into a melodious, angelic voice, the direct opposite of the animalistic, uneven growling tone of her real self.

“What holy land!? What Truth!? You are just a mad mare biting everybody around you! Milady: Psio!” Haru, looking particularly tired of the mare’s ramblings, answered with a tone of finality, and her Persona reflected said anger with a stronger-than-normal psyonic attack that made the monster double over while clinging her head.

“Found the weak point!” Ryuji said with a wide smile as he happily hammered her with zero mercy while the dazed mare had troubles defending herself using the flat side of her sword as an improvised shield against the young man’s wide hammer swings.

“She is in a constant state of stress and anger, of course psy attacks are effective! Her mental health must be a mess!” Morgana added while pelting the monster’s back in bombs from his giant cartoonish slingshot.

“Good to know! Milady: Triple Down!” Haru answered as a storm of bullets, rockets and grenades went shoot from under her Persona’s dress to rain on AJ, unfortunately only dazing her further.

“Is she damn invincible?!” Makoto bellowed furious as she tried running AJ over only for the mare’s ‘armor’ to make her bounce away.

“We are fighting her own delusion. She sees herself as the invincible defender of Truth.” Akira answered with narrowed eyes, he too failing to scratch that armor either with his knife or Arsene (and other Personas at his disposal) attacking in tandem with him.

“So we either get lucky and hit her real self without being able to see her or we see her and just fight a fake Shadow AJ we cannot hurt because her own perception make her untouchable? This is hardly fair.” Yusuke commented.

“A Miracle?! We hardly get miracles when fighting Shadows, Sku-CLANG!” Morgana’s answer went interrupted by his own Persona’s blade managing to land a clear hit on AJ’s cheek producing a loud Clang! Sound and various sparks.

“EEEEK!” the surprised, and scared, shriek of AJ soon following as well caught everybody’s attention.

“That sounded like AJ’s mask getting hit! She is dressed in rags but the armor still sound metal when hit, but a mere blindfold still sounded like the metal mask it is in reality!” Futaba, having just moved to heal Morgana from the wounds of the heavy counter of AJ, said in surprise.

“Found the miracle!” Ryuji said, laughing in victory as his Persona Captain Kidd gave the mare a heavy headbutt making her flinch.

“We are in a Palace built on lies...Lies twisting reality into its exact opposite, so clothes became armor and a decrepit catacomb become a mansion!” Haru said in realization.

“So if we force her eyes free, we’ll shatter her idea of invincibility?” Ryuji asked, hopeful.

“Either forever, or for long enough for us to do some damage, we must drag her into the ‘Real’ Palace, the shock of seeing how things really are should distract her enough...Or turn her into a raging beast.” Yusuke answered.

“GET OVER HEREEEE!” AJ roared as she charged them in blind fury, waving her giant sword left and right in wide swipes leaving behind giant tongues of fire at every movement.

“Zio!” Ryuji answered, and watching dismay as the lightning attack wash over the armor doing no damage.

“IMMUNE TO LIGHTNING! IMMUNE TO LIGHTNING!” the blond young man shrieked as he saw the blade hit a near tree doing no damage, and yet almost incinirating him with the fire following the attack.

“Jack Frost: Mabufu!” Akira ordered to one of his Persona, covering AJ in frost long enough to help his friend escape from her grasp.

“Ice doesn’t work well either.” Joker added with a hiss as both boys hurriedly moved away.

“OVER HERE!” Makoto called-out, soon having the other Phantom Thieves regroup around her.

“This is getting annoying, how are we going to break that mask? That psycho never stays put enough for us to land a clear hit!” Ann asked with an annoyed growl.

“Maybe. Mona?” Akira answered while kneeling down and patting his back with one hand.

“...I’ll trust you, Joker.” Morgana answered, jumping on the young man’s shoulder so that he could charge AJ head-on with the cat riding him.

“COVER THOSE TWO!” Futaba, eyes way too wide to be healthy, yelled in fear as their Leader faced the monster alone, unafraid of the raging, wide swipes of flaming sword raining on him.

“STAY STILL, INFIDEL!” AJ unknowingly bellowed in answer as she breathed-out a long stream of fire to try incinerate the Phantom Thieves’ Wild Card and Mascot in a single swoop.

“That’s my boyfriend you are trying to roast, you flaming bitch! CARMEN!” Ann roared as she emptied her gun on the mad mare while her Persona kept summoning fire columns around AJ, even if those were not hurting her.

“That thing is fire-proof, Panther!” Makoto yelled while riding her Persona to circle around AJ and shoot her from every possible angle.

“It’s all about distraction more than damage! I want to blind her!” Ann countered.

“WHY WON’T YOU DIE?!” AJ yelled, by now angry beyond belief, as he flaming sword kept missing its target by a hair until it slammed on the ground, and to her surprise, the teen she was trying to kill used it as a springboard to jump on her back instead of simply dodging it.

“MEEEEOW!” letting-out a scared yowl, the small cat held for dear life as he dangled from the back of AJ’s neck with one paw while whacking nonstop on the back of the mare’s head with Akira’s knife held in his other, right where the iron mask hiding her face was in reality.

“LET GO OF MEEEEEE!” AJ screamed and screamed while wildly flaying her free arm behind her to try and grab Morgana.

“Eligor: Double Fang!” Akira in the meantime summoned the crimson horse-riding knight Persona to charge the Shadow Mare.

“KI-HYAAAAA!” the knight bellowed with a mighty cry as its steed rammed AJ’s raised sword, pushing her back at the same time as its lance tried piercing AJ’s head with a loud CRACK! Soon coming from the point of impact on her forehead.

“We are getting there, finally!” Yusuke said in victory, timing his own sword strike with the disappearance of the summoned knight Persona so to have a free shot himself on the mare’s head, and as expected, a tiny fragment of metal briefly fell from her face before disappearing as his sword drew a line on the side of her jaw.

“NO!” AJ answered with a horrified scream as she finally managed to grab Morgana’s tail to throw him away, and in the arms of Akira that managed to intercept the cat’s fly.

“Thanks, Joker.” Morgana said as soon as the young man let him go to walk by himself.

“...Friends?” in a surprising turn of events, AJ repeated that word as if it was an alien concept to her, a voice sounding similar to the one of an extremely defenceless kid.

“Sounds strange, eh? Guess what, you crazy bitch, we humans can have friends too!” Ryuji answered with a sarcastic tone and a snarl as the Phantom Thieves regrouped.

“You make that word dirty! Liars are not friends! Liars cannot have friends! Lies destroy Friendship!” AJ answered.

“Surround that psycho! The mask must be close at breaking, we have almost done!” Futaba instructed them.

“You won’t stop me! I will protect my family and friends from the Lies of Conversion! You are finished!” AJ answered by plunging her sword deep in the ground to summon several giant towers of fire all around her.

“Scatter!” Morgana ordered, making the Phantom Thieves disperse to surround AJ once dodged the fire attack.

“GRAAAAH!” looking left and right unsure who to attack first, Aj’s angelic face twisted into the mad scowl of a rabid animal as she glared at the Phantom Thieves around her.

“You are wide open!” Makoto yelled first as her riffle pelted the back of AJ’s head in bullets.

“She is not alone!” as soon as the mare turned around, Yusuke jumped in the air to give to the monster’s head a diagonal slash of his blade that made her head snap back from the whiplash, and made another tiny fragment of metal fall from her head.

“Peek-a-boo, you idiot!” using the opening of AJ’s launching a flaming crescent moon of fire from her blade towards Fox as a counter, Haru gave a wide swing of her battle-ax right on AJ’e eyes that almost had the mare topple over backwards from the sudden impact that messed with her balance.

“Zorro!” not to be left behind, the moment Morgana saw Akira help Haru dodge the mare’s counter (A right hook punch that once covered in fire looked like a meteor) the cat’s Persona went summoned to unleash a flurry of thrusts of its rapier right on AJ’s cheek.

Immediately after that assault ended, both Ryuji and Makoto used their Persona in a double attack on the mare’s back that forced her on her knees, making it easier for the two of them to hit her face with their own weapons.

“STOP!” having enough of the assault, AJ ordered with a demonic roar as fire erupted like a supernova from all around her in an explosion that FINALLY managed to give her some space as it forced the Phantom Thieves to enact a desperate dodging maneuver, not without Akira getting caught in the tail-end of the explosion covering his back in fire.

“Hang in there, buddy!” seeing his best friend covered in flames, Ryuji hurried to save him and heal him as soon as he stopped rolling on the floor to put-out the fire.

“Yeah, a good blow and that thing should come off now...” the punk boy answered with a thoughtful expression.

“Can you others throw me? I am the one with the heavy hammer as a weapon, I can bash that thing extra hard if you throw me at her hard enough.” Ryuji answered.

“We’ll distract AJ, you just worry about taking Skull to her as fast as you can, we need as much speed you can give him for maximum impact.” Yusuke instructed her.

“Okay!” she answered, sprinting at the end of the apple orchard as soon as Ryuji mounted behind her on Johanna.

“That Persona is faster than my car form, she can do this. You others are ready?” Morgana answered.

“I am buffing you all as much as I can, give her your best shot!” Futaba added.

“SEE!? You are no friends! Two of you left in fear already! And now, you others will die!” AJ said in triumph as she jumped high in the air to reach them with a fierce attack as the fire around her blade turned it into a towering giant blade of condensed flames of colossal sizes.

“Show-off.” Akira answered, and the remaining Phantom Thieves once again scattered to dodge the attack that curiously did not damage a single tree in the orchard, no matter the ocean of fire that surged from the blade on impact.

“Lucky for us, trees are acting as a perfect defense against fire!” Ann commented, amused.

“And as I expected, that attack moved on a straight line instead of all around her.” Yusuke commented as he summoned Goemon.

“GUH!” AJ groaned in fatigue as the attack forced her knees to bend a little under the weight behind the vertical slice she had barely time to defend against.

“No time to dwindle, darling!” Haru said as she gave a wide swing behind AJ’s knees, finally forcing the mare to fall kneeling on the floor on both knees.

“Goemon: Giant Slice!” Akira and Yusuke said at the same time, and the combined attack of their Persona made AJ’s head snap back heavily accompanied by a loud whining of strained metal.

“Incoming!” Futaba alerted them, making the teens jump back to give AJ some room.

“Uh?” the monster Mare had barely the time to return looking in front of herself to see Makoto’s evil smirk fill her vision as she came sprinting towards her.

Johanna’s engine roared at full speed as the two teens riding her came into view at ludicrous speed.

“NOW! GRAB HER!” Ann yelled as she and Haru latched to one of AJ’s arm, just like Akira and Yusuke did with her other.

“NOPE LOOK IN FRONT!” Morgana, having climbed the mare’s back, used his whole body to hold her head in place and make her look towards Makoto.

“JUST BREAK, GODDAMNIT!” Ryuji roared, jumping forward and away from the Persona bike as soon as Makoto clamped on the brakes with all her strength so that he could use the full momentum to propel himself towards AJ.

The metallic sound was LOUD, and accompanied by the complete shattering of the mare’s mask in a wide rose of fragments as the strength behind the attack almost sent AJ herself flying.

“WHOA!” Ann shrieked as she and the others fell to the floor since still holding down on the mare, the only one unaffected was Morgana tat had instead let go of the Mare an instant before Ryuji’s hammer landed on her.

“What...What have you done? What is this place? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FARM?!” AJ asked as her Fake appearances melted away to let her rag-covered real self appear in that heavenly landscape.

“We did nothing, you are just seeing the real form of this Palace, we have forced you to face the truth of your actions!” Makoto answered.

“No! NO! NO! NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!” AJ yelled in utter madness, spitting and raving without control and slamming the rusted blade on the ground again and again in fury, and to the Phantom Thieves’ shock, the sparks that kept erupting at every hit managed to have the trees around her catch fire even when her illusory flaming sword couldn’t.

“We should have a light source now, I believe it’s time to finish this fight once and for all.” Yusuke suggested as more and more trees went covered in flames.

“FINALLY!” Ryuji answered, and as one, all of them removed their blindfolds to return the Palace to its real appearances.

The orchard was already turning into a sea of fire as the flames were easily going from a tree to the other thanks to the abundance of dead wood in the place, all the while AJ, now having descended into full madness, kept attacking everything in sight with her dull blade.

“THIS IS A LIE! A LIE! MY ORCHARD IS FULL OF LIFE! MY FAMILY IS SAFE! THIS IS ALL A LIE!” AJ shrieked in fury as she was now destroying the house itself once got tired of destroying the trees surrounding her.

“We just shattered an illusion that represented her entire life, it was a given.” Haru said with a sigh.

“Then we’ll save her from that madness, by kicking her ass!” Ann answered.

“YOU! YOU BROUGHT LIES HERE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” AJ screamed with wide unblinking eyes, her droll dripping to the ground like a river.

“Arsene: Cleave!” Akira answered by using his Persona to open a wide gash on AJ’s belly as soon as he slipped under the savage attack of the mare.

“That’s it! We can hurt her now!” Makoto said in victory as she happily emptied the last clip of her gun on the mare to enlarge the thick flow of ichor escaping nonstop from her wounds.

“Halleluja!” Ryuji answered as he made Captain Kidd charge AJ once again, forcing her to try and push back so to not be throw to the ground.

“Kyaaaa!” seeing the monster occupied, Haru assaulted her with her ax, and managing to cut one of her arms clear off with two swings.

“AAAAAAH!” AJ bellowed in agony as her remaining hand let go of the sword to desperately held the bleeding stump while ignoring the cut arm still dangling from the manacles at her wrist.

“You are surprisingly frail for somebody believing herself to be a goddess.” Yusuke said with an icy tone as he delicately poked the mare’s throat with his sword.

“Oouuoooh!” in answer his Persona Goemon appeared with a fierce cry to use its bladed pipe and cut away her remaining hand at the wrist, right under the manacles.

“Ahh...Ahh...W-Why? I-I did all this...For the sake of my family...” AJ said with a groan as she watched the heavily bleeding wound on her chest and the stump that used to be her arms with dispirited eyes, and yet her anger was still there, simmering under the surface.

“You all did. Fluttershy kept Converted prisoners for their sake and Pinkie tried creating an insane super-party for the sake of her friends...You all want what’s best for your loved ones...Too bad you are trying to do this in the worst possible way.” Haru answered.

“You don’t understand! You will NEVER understand! If I do this, it was to protect everypony from the Lies of Conversion! I will create a safe farm for everypony! Bloom will be safe here! everypony will be safe here! YOU WON’T STOP MEEEEEE!” opening her equine maw wide, AJ lunged forward to try and bite Makoto’s head clean off.

“STAY BACK!” Ryuji countered with his very last shotgun blast that turned the mare’s mouth into a mass of broken flesh and teeth as he caught her mid-jump.

“NOW! SHE IS DAZED! GO FOR AN ALL-OUT ATTACK!” Futaba yelled as soon as AJ fell sitting on the floor dazed and with her low jaw hanging precariously from few strands of flesh once unhinged by the close-range blast.

What followed, for AJ, was then a chaotic mess of movement and sounds as multiple hits kept raining on her body from all sides in a cacophony of tearing flesh and breaking bones, until she tumbled on the floor like a rag-doll as soon as the Phantom Thieves’ assault came to an end, leaving the monstrous mare lying face-down on the floor, immobile.

“...W-W-Why?!...Why you want to live a giant lie?” AJ asked between hiccups, still lying there and crying softly.

“We should be asking you that. Why you are trying to force your version of things on everybody?”

“AJ? Why are you doing this?” Ann asked again, by now the Phantom Thieves had neared the downed mare with a more relaxed posture.

“...You want...You want me to admit that nothing is right? That this mess makes no sense? T-That my friends are going crazy?! Ever since we came here, everypony has started acting strange!” AJ answered.

“Define strange, please, because I think we have a different idea of what ‘Strange’ is.” Ryuji asked, rolling his eyes.

“Strange, ‘kay?! T-that Barrier was supposed to pop away as soon as we arrived! It was a way to ‘Make room for the island’. Like...Like making room, kay? You move stuff aside so you can put something down...And instead it keeps growing! And-And then Celestia starts talking about humans needing Conversion to survive...And Twilight first is all ‘No, no’, but then she starts saying the same and even makes the Potion for that...And then everypony else starts going crazy and do their thing, like Pinkie or Shy...I-I-I was scared, okay!?” AJ answered.

“...Yeah. I-I was just so angry all the time. I wanted things to make sense...And then one day I got this idea of creating my Farm, to protect everypony and trying understand what’s wrong, but the more time passed, the more angry I got...W-W-Why?!”AJ asked with a scared voice.

“It’s called Distortion, AJ.” Akira answered, kneeling in front of the mare.

“The Elements don’t work if their users are Corrupted themselves.” Morgana answered.

“The others too are under the effects of Distortion, we are trying to help them, but to do this we need your Treasure as well.” Haru answered with a gentle smile.

“M-My Treasure?” AJ asked, scared, while her monster form slowly melted away to let her return into being her old orange earth pony self.

“We are trying to save the Elements of Harmony, we will need their help to stop this Madness.” Yusuke answered.

“...I-I-I’m going to trust you, ‘kay?...Please, just help my friends.” AJ finally relented and fished-out the family picture from under her ruined robes to hand it to Morgana.

“My brother BigMac...And my lil’ sister Applebloom...She was against me doin’ this, ya know? She said she’d a bad feelin’ about the whole thing...What will happen now?” AJ asked while her body started fading into small lights.

“Once taken the Treasure away the Palace will disappear. And so will the anger you feel. You will be free.” Morgana answered.

“No more anger?...Thank goodness...Ah want mah life back...” the mare said as the Palace started to tremble heavily.

“The Palace is crumbling! Run!” Morgana yelled with wide eyes as the ceiling of the cave started giving-in to the point the outside could be clearly seen, and when entire houses as well started falling down inside the place, the teens understood that they had to leave fast.

“THE ESCAPE ROUTE! NOW!” Ann yelled while pointing at the hole in the wall towards their exit point while desperately dodging the downpour of debris.

When they finally exited the tunnel and ran through the fields, they looked back to see the entire hill where the village stood collapse on itself and disappear in a giant cloud of dust similar to a volcano erupting.

“It’s over.” Akira muttered as he walked away, towards the very edge of the Palace so to leave the Metaverse.

“Another one down, and many more to go.” Morgana confirmed with a sigh, all of them finally relaxing completely as they left the place.

“Nooo! NOOO! This can’t be happening! I CURSE YOU! I CURSE YOU! I CURSE YOU!” for the third time, as soon as the last piece of the Palace crumbled to dust, and right before that entire alternate dimension inside the Metaverse was about to cease to exist, a shadowy figure erupted from under the ruins to give a last demonic roar of defiance towards the mysterious intruders that destroyed the Palace, before ‘dying’ and fading away together with the entire area until absolutely nothing remained.

“Aaah! Aah! Aaaah! W-We did it!” Haru exclaimed in relief while gasping for breath as soon as they all returned to the real world.

“No time to rest, we must leave before somebody finds-out we are inside the Barrier.” Yusuke answered.

“Right! Let’s get back into Mementos and then back to our hideout.” Makoto added.

“Navi? Please alert Claws and the others that we did it, so they can organize everything for AJ’s confession.” Akira asked.

Several days later – Floating Island housing Canterlot and the Royal Castle – Throne Room

“Sister, please get a hold of yourself, this rage won’t help.” Luna asked with a calm, unfazed expression as she watched Celestia smash everything inside the room with bolts of Magic, even uprooting sections of the walls she then threw outside the giant holes that used to be the windows.

“AJ IS GONE TOO! HOW CAN I STAY CALM?!” Celestia answered back with a roar of near-madness.

“We have no idea about who helped her, we had surrounded the entire place and got inside to grab her as soon as we heard the Calling Card being delivered! We even had several soldiers in there under alias spying on her 24/7! She should not have managed to escape!” Shining Armor, scared down to his core, answered talking rapidly while behind the safety of a small barrier erected by his wife Cadence.

“She built the place, she knows the layout of the area like the back of her hoof, OF COURSE SHE KNEW HOW TO ESCAPE!” Celestia hissed back in answer, making the poor stallion shrink a little under her furious gaze.

“My husband did his best, Auntie! Please do not put the full blame on him! Everypony did everything to take AJ back to safety here.” Cadence, she too looking not scared of the Alicorn’s rage, countered with narrowed eyes.

“He apparently tried chasing AJ for a while but then lost her, he has no idea where she is.” Shining answered.

“It’s okay, the poor dear loves his friends, he will help us as much as he can.” Cadence answered with a small smile.

“At least there is somepony I can trust in here, you all are the only thing stopping me from going bald in anger.” Celestia answered with a small sigh, finally calming down from her moment of blind fury.

“...Is it a bad moment?” an orange stallion asked timidly from the busted door.

“Please, do come in, Sunburst. Justignore our sister’s lack of manners.” Luna answered.

“What? Nono! She is still sleeping. I just got delivered this letter...It’s addressed to her Majesty, but there is no sender...Just this strange Hat logo on it...” Sunburst answered, unsure.

“H-Hat Logo!?” Celestia growled, tearing away the letter from the stallion’s own magical grasp so to tear open the envelop and read it.

“Dear Princess Celestia, we stole AJ’s Heart as well, and today at noon we will transmit her confession to every human willing to listen in our side of the Barrier, and we both know that soon your beloved ponies too will hear it. Best regards, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts...”as soon as Celestia red aloud, a heavy tick overtook her left eye while her mane slowly turned from ethereal and colorful into a long stream of fire, and Sunburst decided that fire was his cue to leave.

And that was a good plan because as soon as he left the room and turned the corner in a desperate run, Celestia threw back her head and…

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Expressed her fury with a world-ending scream of rage followed by an intense explosion of fire that forced even Luna to raise a shield to defend herself from the incinerating blast that almost leveled an entire floor of the Castle.

“TO US!” the other Phantom Thieves answered as one, followed by their pony friends doing the same.

“Another Element of Harmony has been saved, we are almost there.” Tempest Shadow said with a pleased tone.

“Shucks, sugar! Ah’m happy to be back too! All that anger was turning me mad! That and the voices talking about everypony bein’ a stinkin’ liar, enough to drive a mare bonkers, let me tell ya!” AJ answered with an elated smile.

“This Distortion thingy is really mean, you know? It makes us act all strange and over the top!” Pinkie admitted.

“It feeds on your inner darkness, but normally it doesn’t change people’s attitude.” Yusuke answered.

“As yah said, this is some hella mixture of Distortion and Corruption put together, yes? The two things are bad for any good mare and human. They make ya act crazy.” AJ said.

“That’s why we are here, the Phantom Thieves can remove the taint of Distortion while the Elements can destroy Corruption, we’ll need both to stop Celestia and stop this Conversion War before it wipes-out humanity.” Tempest declared.

“Shucks...And you say that they will use the Conversion stuff on the ponies too once done with humans?”

“It’s our best theory at the moment, Celestia has given Pinkie balloons filled in Conversion Gas for a parade that will be held after Conversion is over while you where about to receive seeds spiked in Conversion Potion to create food filled in that stuff, meaning that whoever eat it would have then unknowingly consumed it...That too sounded like something planned to happen once every human has been Converted.” Makoto answered.

“She is the only source of Conversion Potions and the only pony fully controlling its delivery, it stands to reason that she would be the prime suspect.” Tempest admitted.

“Good thing Thorax and the others destroyed all those seeds.” Haru said with a sigh of relief.

“They torched everything they could put their hooves on, and we are certain we got everything since Celestia has been reported being utterly mad about it.”

“If we keep targeting the other names on our list, she should get determined enough to stop us to not attempt it again too soon.” Akira answered.

“Everything is ready to deliver AJ’s confession as well, I have already uploaded into several social networks, by tonight everybody will know...In the human side at least.” Futaba said with a pleased smirk.

“That small detour to that Internet Cafe was worth it: zero traceability and maximum anonymity! You think Celestia will be mad that we lied about when we would have released the Confession?” Ann asked.

“Will everypony back home hear that too? Ah want BigMac and Bloom to know I understood I was wrong and that I am okay.” AJ asked with downcast eyes.

“They will know, and soon we’ll have to move them somewhere safe, just in case whatever is controlling Celestia will suggest using them as a bait to get to you.” Yusuke suggested.

“I’ll get in touch with Lyra, we have several safe based back in our world just for this occasion, she’ll take them there and then here with us, Thorax and the Changelings will keep them safe.” Tempest answered.

“Ah will write ya a letter for them, shoulda help them trust Lyra and follow her.”

“Technically it should be Dash, but we can actually jump over to Rarity as well and then find Dash. Twilight unfortunately will be the last because of her closeness to Celestia. Twilight’s Change of Heart will hit her the hardest about her plans since Twilight is also the greatest contributor in producing the Conversion Potion; we’ll need to leave her last so that in case of emergency, we already have the Elements of Harmony at ready.” Makoto answered.

“More and more ponies are starting to revolt against the Conversion Propaganda, soon we’ll start making real waves, so we must get ready.” Tempest said, sighing.

“That is the trick, Tempest, we are always ready!” Ann answered with a smug tone.

“Ah don’t know what came over me...Ah kept lying and lying, switching tha blame on everypony against Conversion and covering tha truth always more lies…

We are destroying everything we shoulda protect, we are killing instead of befriendin’...We are lying to ourselves about us bein’ in the right…

Ah cannot do this anymore, Ah cannot lie to mahself anymore…

Conversion is a giant Lie, don’t believe what anypony say, this never gets better, nopony ever does!

Twilight!

Twilight if yah can hear me, we need to stop this! This isn’t us!

We...”

While AJ’s confession slowly circulated to every corner of the human side of the Barrier, and also started making its way through the pony side by word of mouth of few dissenters divulging copies of it, it was not only Celestia to get restless, many humans too were clamoring for answers, first of all the old man at the head of the SIU branch dealing with Celestia and her ponies.

“Bring me those horses! They must be hiding somewhere! I want those Elements of Harmony in a cellroom, NOW!” the old man ordered with a barking scream, he too foaming at the mouth just like the Sun Alicorn was.

- End of the Chapter -

Fighting scenes are a nightmare to write! I never understand if I am making a proper one, a pathetic one, a short one, a too long one, or if I put enough details or too little details...It wrecks my nerves every time I have to update.

On more important matters: Should I go for Rainbow Dash or Rarity Belle as the next Target?

I am almost done with the Elements of Harmony so I can let you decide who is next Target.

And remember ONLY ONE OF THE ELEMENTS will join the Phantom Thieves as a pony member, I won’t tell who that is!

A little extra, if you want, to get a clear picture of Celestia’s anger fully…

Conversion Bureau: The return of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

by ClearlyNotTremor230

Chapter 11: Open your eyes! AJ's Rage subsides!