“I’m sorry,” Alec said, his head bowed slightly while still looking into his teacher’s eyes, “I can’t help set up the Fall Formal. Something’s come up, and I’m going to be busy for the next few days.”
She gave him a soft, warm smile. “Okay, I understand. Thank you for telling me.”
Alec left the classroom and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “That was hard.”
“I get you,” Devon said, leaning on the wall by the doorway. “It reminds me of when I first talked to you.”
“You were a nervous wreck,” Alec said with a laugh.
“Yeah. You handled that better than I did.” Devon had a wistful smile. “You didn’t have to say you were busy, though. You could have just said you didn’t want to do it.”
“Well, baby steps and all. Besides, it doesn’t have to be a lie.”
Devon gave a big grin. “I’d act surprised, but I’m more so that you ever hesitated in the first place.”
Alec shrugged. “Well, I was in a high of being done with following other people. Once I thought about it clearly, there wasn’t much of a decision. I really want to take down Sunset, and I finally have the powers to do it.”
“Well then, let’s go make the team official. We’ve got a Palace to topple.” Devon pushed himself off the wall and the two started their walk into another world.
Whatever the boys were planning, they weren’t being quiet about it. Granted, Hana had no idea what they meant by powers or palaces, but they could have been more discreet about planning something against Sunset. She could hear Sunset asking why she was complaining, but the complaints subsisted in her head.
Tailing the two was quite simple, the halls being quite empty and giving no-one to cover them. Actually following them was trickier, however, with no-one to cover her either, but thankfully they weren’t looking behind themselves. Not until they reached outside, at least, and walked behind the school. Her heart skipped a few beats the first time they looked back, thinking they had seen her before she could take cover.
Behind the school, they took out their phones and started talking to each other, perhaps going through their evil plans to defile Sunset. Or maybe just talking like most people do. Who knows. Hana tried to listen to their conversation. They mentioned Sunset, Canterlot, and a kingdom? She shook her head; concentrating from this far made her feel lightheaded.
Then everything suddenly went berserk. The entire school transformed before her eyes, turning into a castle. She saw stone where there should have been brick and towers reaching to the sky, donning symbols of the sun where equestrian statues should have decorated the roof.
At first she thought it might have been a dream, but dismissed it with a few looks at her hand looking completely normal. She then thought it was a hallucination, but dismissed it just as easily, not able to think of anything that could have caused such an illusion.
Distracted by her new apparent location, Hana barely noticed three shadows dash past her and towards what would be the school entrance. She didn’t know who they were or where Alec and Devon had gone, but she figured that the castle was important to both answers. Around the front, it was more than the school that had changed. Wooden houses were scattered across the landscape, rather than those made of concrete that she remembered. The clouds looked lightest above them, as opposed to the dark purple that hung over the castle.
The school statue had also been replaced, by a mirror, of all things. Upon a closer look, it might have doubled as a door, but either way it was currently locked, thick rusted chains adorning it.
She shook her head. None of it was relevant, or answering anything. She headed inside the castle and couldn’t figure out if it was trying to be a castle or a school. Aside from all the cosmetic differences, the halls were just like that of Canterlot High, or at least as far as she could remember. There were also knights throughout the halls, their armours sparkling like gems; amber, ruby and emerald, but they paid her no attention.
Without realising it, habit took over and Hana wandered the halls as she would through Canterlot High. One turn later and she was at where her locker would be, and where she normally met Sunset at the beginning and end of the day. She wasn’t entirely sure if the locker was hers in this place, but if it was, it was very telling of who owned the giant locker – almost its own door – next to it; the person with fiery hair in front of her, facing it.
“Sunset? What are you doing here?”
She turned around. “Hana? You’re here!” Hana froze at the sight of her. Ignoring the sudden change in outfit (which blended in with her surroundings, looking like the armour of a Queen) and putting her callous, echoed voice aside, Sunset’s eyes threw her off. She had seen those eyes before, albeit rarely. They were the eyes she wore when she thought no-one was looking, not even Hana. She wondered how often those eyes decorated her face when she was alone, and wondered why they were permanently on her now.
“Here?” she managed to get out. “Where is ‘here’? What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” Sunset chuckled. “This is my Palace! The place where I rule over! That’s what I’m doing here!”
“What do you mean your Palace? I thought the school was supposed to be here!”
“Oh Hana. This is the school. The little corner of Canterlot I can conduct as I wish with an iron fist.” She made a fist with her hand as if to prove a point. “And soon I’ll expand it to the world and beyond.”
“The world and beyond?” Hana asked, bemused. “How?”
“That’s my little secret. Just a little thing I’ll finally be able to get this week.” Hana immediately thought of her comment the day before. “This is an important week for me.”
Sunset continued. “First, I need to make sure I’ll have no interruptions. Then I’ll find out who will fight me –” she turned to face Hana “– and who will fight for me.” She extended her hand. “Fight for me, Hana. Pledge fealty to me, and I’ll let you rule over the school, no, over Canterlot, while I go on for far more!”
Hana struggled to answer. There was too much running through her head. How badly would Sunset react if she said no? How badly would she react if she said yes? How long did she have to answer before Sunset lost her temper? It was all interrupted by the arrival of a knight with silver armour. “My Queen,” he said, kneeling with his head bowed, “we have the intruders.”
“Excellent,” Sunset said. She turned to Hana. “Shall we go deal with them?”
She felt as though she wore a leash again; it tugged at her neck as Sunset followed the knight to the “intruders.” As she was pulled along, she wondered who they could be. Her mind immediately jumped to Devon and Alec. Had they come to this place and brought her with them?
As her mind wandered, she wasn’t paying attention to where they were going; her eyes only followed the back of Sunset’s boots. She almost bumped into her when they came to a standstill.
She was half surprised to see the two boys in front of her, standing limped but firm and surrounded by a troop of knights. All of their armour gleamed like gems again, the silver messenger being the odd one out. She almost didn’t recognise the boys; they both wore costumes complete with masks. Whatever they were up to apparently required dressing up like shadows with how they blended in with them, but their hair and skin pointed them out. Perhaps if she weren’t looking specifically for them, she wouldn’t have noticed.
There was also a third person with the boys, though she couldn’t see him, only hear him call out to her. “You there! Help us!” She didn’t recognise his voice.
Sunset laughed. “I asked you to look into what they were doing, and here they are. They mean to take me down, to topple me from my Palace.”
“Don’t bother,” Alec said. “She works for Sunset.”
“Now that we know what they’re doing, I think it’s fair to deal with them, don’t you?” Sunset raised her hand, and the knights all raised their swords in turn.
Hana couldn’t see the boys’ expressions under their masks, though Alec stared at the two girls and Devon shrank under the raised hand. Sunset paused, as if reading her thoughts. “I have a better idea.” She lowered her hand, but the knights kept their swords raised. “You do it. Give the order, and my knights will cut them down.”
Hana whipped her head to look at Sunset. “I-I can’t do that,” she stuttered. “I can’t kill someone!”
“Then I’ll make this easy for you,” Sunset said. She snapped her fingers, and the silver knight drew his sword out and raised it towards Hana. “If you do it, I’ll give you a simple life. Give the order and pledge fealty to me, and I’ll give you anything you want. Refuse, and you’ll join them. Your choice.”
A pit formed in Hana’s stomach. She felt the leash tighten, and iron bars surround her. She couldn’t do it, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse either. The fortune teller’s words echoed through her head. The easy path is not always the right path . . . if you listen to your inner voice, you can decide for yourself. It was not the fortune teller’s voice that ran through her head.
“My inner voice,” Hana mumbled. She had no idea how to listen to it, but she tried anyway. She cleared her mind, stopped thinking, and listened for a voice in her head.
You know the right choice, it said, confident and arrogant. You always have. Why have you never taken it?
She swallowed. “Because I was afraid of adversity,” she said under her breath. “I feared the life so many others lived that I kept to the one I didn’t want.”
And what about now? the voice asked. Are you still afraid? What do you have to answer now?
Hana didn’t need to answer. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest, her knees buckling underneath her, and her hands shaking in front of her. But... “No,” she said out loud. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this to someone else. I can’t keep doing this to other people. I should have never done this to anyone!”
Sunset frowned. “So be it, then,” she said as she raised her hand above her head.
It’s about time. Let us form a contract.
Hana’s entire head froze, clenching in agony. She held it in her hands with her eyes shut. Her cries ran through clenched teeth, her body quivered, and yet she stood her ground through it all.
I am thou, thou art I…
Sunset stepped back, her eyes wide and her mouth open. “No! Not you too!” she cried.
Thou art willing to walk the path of justice despite all hardship thy will encounter.
She threw her hand down, and shouted “Execute them, now!”
Step forth unto thy own path and never turn back!
Hana felt like she was boiling inside, but she felt the air around her become as cold as ice, lightly touching her skin, but never cooling the pain. It all disappeared when a mask appeared on her face, its aqua trim seeming to glow against the navy blue colour, and a single point extended straight up like a small horn.
When she opened her eyes, the silver guard’s sword was inches from her face, but still in the air. She took a step back and looked at Sunset, who seemed afraid of the mask. All the guards were frozen in place, like statues. She smiled, grabbed her mask by the horn, shouted, “come, Ame-no-Uzume!” and pulled it off with all her might. Blood spewed out into the air and turned to blue flame, dripping down and engulfing her, reaching outward and enveloping her, all in an instant. The flames faded, leaving Hana with two fans; some new attire (a collared tunic and trousers, both navy blue with aqua trim on the tunic); and a lady floating behind her, chains linking their wrists together.
Ame-no-Uzume also wielded two fans. Her face was covered by another, and a fourth covered her torso and chest. Her hair looped around her arms and hung down to her legs, and a sheet wrapped around both of her arms hung below even them. She was decorated with purple circles (two in each case; one within the other) around her body and on her fans.
She stepped towards Devon, Alec, and the guards surrounding them, still all frozen. She smiled and reached deeply into the Power of Bufu. It ran through her and into Ame-no-Uzume, sending chills through her as it did. The two crossed their hands in unison, a giant shard of ice formed above the boys, jagged and oddly shaped, and with one motion, she and her Persona spread their arms and the ice exploded, its shards hitting every guard around them (the guys took cover, though none came close to hitting them). The guards all stumbled as they were peltered with ice, those in ruby collapsing, and one by one, they all turned to dust until the only one left standing was the silver guard behind her, still frozen in place.
Gingerly, Alec and Devon looked up, and slowly stood as they looked around. The room was empty, except for them. Sunset was gone, nowhere in sight. They then fixed their gazes on Hana, though she couldn’t see their expressions. The third she couldn’t see then said, “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here!” and the two nodded in response. They turned around and, after one step, crumpled to the floor and groaned in pain.
Before she knew what she was doing,she reached out again, this time to the Power of Dia, and channeled it into her Persona. It didn’t touch her, rather it seemed to leak out through the chains as if it was already in her. She then extended her arms and sent it to the group, enveloping them in a cyan light. When the light faded, the two stood much more easily, and checked themselves, clearly surprised even with their faces covered.
“How did you–” the third boy started, but Hana interrupted him when her Persona vanished, her mask reappeared, and she fell to the floor. She didn’t realise how tired she was, nor recall when it had taken over her.
A cat rushed to her side on two legs, and tried to pick her up, to no avail. She was surprised when it then turned to Alec and Devon and said, in the third boy’s voice, “Aren’t you going to help? She saved our lives!”
Devon sighed and picked her up, wrapping her arm around him, but keeping silent and never looking at her. It reminded her of the night before, when Devon held Alec similarly. Then she thought of Friday and Devon’s collapse in class. Did this really all start that short a time ago?
He looked over to Alec as if expecting him to help, but he never did, instead keeping his distance and glaring at her. “How did she get in here?” he asked as if she wasn’t in the room.
“She probably followed you guys,” the cat said. “By accident or on purpose, it’s the only way she could have as far as I know.”
“But she wasn’t anywhere close to us when we came in. How could she have followed us through the door? I thought you needed the three keywords to find it.” Keywords. Alec’s question made Hana’s mind slip back to earlier when she was watching the boys.
“The door’s just a simple explanation of what happens,” the cat said as it shook its head. “As long as she got those keywords, she could get in along with you.” Sunset Shimmer, Canterlot, Kingdom. And then everything had gone berserk.
Before anyone could say more, their attention was caught by snapping and cracking from one side of the room. The silver knight was slowly moving, breaking out of its frozen prison. They took that as their sign to stop talking and start moving. Alec went scouting ahead, while Devon and the cat – mostly Devon – carried her along.
On the way out, she asked about the place they were in and what Sunset had to do with any of it. The cat – Fahran, he called himself – initially refused, saying it would be best to explain when she was in better shape, but she insisted. If they were to take their time leaving the castle, she may as well use the time to learn, rather than being given a lecture another time.
It was a little complicated, but despite her weariness, she followed as Fahran explained to her Palaces and Shadows, both the guards and Sunset herself, or at least the version of her she met in this place. He explained the Metaverse, and the effect of people’s desires on it, particularly in this case with such a big example. It was then that it clicked.
“And you’re trying to steal them,” she said. “If you take her desires away, this place disappears, and she returns to being a good person. That’s what you’re doing here!”
Fahran was quiet for a moment. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” he eventually said.
Eventually they found the exit, or at least what they considered to be one. Hana didn’t enjoy climbing out of the window, even with reluctant help from the others. They followed her out more quickly and soon they were all outside, catching their breaths. She couldn’t help but look at Devon; he was shifting around uncomfortably, and she still hadn’t heard a sound out of him since she first saw him.
“Don’t mind Devon. He’s just a bit shy,” Fahran said. Devon muttered a reply to himself, the first sound she heard out of him.
“Not what I’d expect from someone who’s actually standing up to Sunset,” Hana replied.
“It’s better than someone who’s all talk but no action. Besides, I think silence is quite fitting for a thief.” Fahran looked her in the eye. “Do you want to join us?”
She nodded, but Alec shook his head, and said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. After everything she’s done...”
“I don’t care about what she has done,” Fahran interrupted. “I care about what she will do.”
Alec stared at Fahran, and then looked to Devon. “How about you? Do you think it’s a good idea to work with her?”
Hana waited for the inevitable “no,” or at least a shake of the head, but as the seconds ticked by, Devon looked more conflicted, and his answer became more clear to all four of them. He nodded, and Alec tensed up.
“I’m not asking you to forgive her or be friends with her after this,” Fahran said. “I’m just you to let her work with us.”
Hana could see the second Alec stopped resisting and gave in, letting out a sigh. “Okay. But I’m not helping her walk in the real world.” Devon shook his head in agreement.
“That’s fine,” she said. “I can make my way by myself. I’ll figure something out. So when are we next doing this?”
The other three agreed to continue the next day, and Devon helped her up one more time, helping her walk until they reached a blue, ethereal door. He let her walk through on her own strength, and the Kingdom faded away, only to be replaced with the dullness of reality.
She didn’t see when or where Alec and Devon came through, only that they did. “See you tomorrow,” Alec said, though she wasn’t sure if it was aimed at just Devon or both him and her. Devon walked in the opposite direction, and looked over his shoulder at her for a small bit. She couldn’t read his expression, and soon he looked forward again.