//------------------------------// // In the void. // Story: Ponysona: Arcana Crusaders // by Phoenix Kitten //------------------------------// August 14,1006 Post Nightmare Moon. The next day Sweetie was back at school, finishing her catch-up work during recess under the watchful eyes of Cheerilee. It was odd... almost like she could feel herself getting smarter with each question she solved. She also felt more and more charming as she answered the vocal parts of her work. Something also made her feel exceptionally brave as she called out Cheerilee on a few mistakes she noted and brought to light. She shook her head and tignored these feelings as she concentrated on her work. 'Maybe we should head back into comic book... try and find some answers. I will be staying with my sister and Twilight for a while so it's not like I have to worry about my parents showing up to take me to Phillydelphia for three months.' She thought to herself as she finished her final question. "Finished." She called out. "Well done Sweetie Belle.And you still have half of recess left in which to eat." Cheerilee praised her, taking the sheet of paper back to her desk. "Go on.Out you go." She smiled. Sweetie smiled as she grabbed a small museli bar from her bag and headed out to the schoolyard, where she saw her friends being picked on by the schools resident bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. She groaned and began a quick canter to put a stop to the bullying her friends were receiving. "You two are constantly telling us to quit bothering you! So why are you constantly coming toward us?" Scootaloo shot accusingly. "Yeah! If y'all don't like us,then stay away from us! Simple." Applebloom nodded in agreement. "We don't get bothered by you and you don't have to be seen with us like y'all are constantly dreading! Everypony wins!" "And what are you gonna do about it blank flank?" Silver Spoon teased while Diamond Tiara giggled. "Yeah?" The other filly asked. Scootaloo smirked. "Well there are more of us then there are of you." "Pfft. By one." Diamond Tiara said, a bored look on her face. "By two." A dark yellow pegasus filly with a pink mane and teal mane band with a cupcake as her cutie mark said as she trotted over. "By three." A pale purple earth pony filly with a flowing cream coloured mane and an EMT line as her cutie mark said after somehow popping out from a nearby bush. "By four." A teal coloured pegasus filly with a two tone blond mane said as she trotted over from the schools soccer team. "By five." A chocolate brown unicorn filly with a honeycomb gold mane said as she trotted over from a now empty blueberry bush. The two bullies sneered and backed away slightly,bumping into Sweetie Belle who was right behind them. "Going somewhere?" Sweetie asked. "Uh...umm.uhh..." The two of them stammered before breaking off and galloping around the six fillies in front of them. Sweetie trotted forward rejoining her friends. "Thanks Dewey. You too Icing." Scootaloo thanked two of the other fillies. "And thank you Sunny. You as well Sugah Cube." Applebloom finished. "No need to thank us." Icing beamed as she trotted fully out of the bush. "Of course we'd help our friends." Sunny smiled before she was called back over to the soccer team. "It wouldn't be very nice if we didn't help Aunty Applebloom and Aunty Sweetie Belle." Dewey smiled, her wings fluttering slightly. "Isn't that the truth." Sugar Cube smiled, licking the blueberry residue from her mouth. In the fillies bathroom... "It's a numbers game right?" Diamond Tiara asked her friend as she leaned on the side of the stall. "Yeah. Two-on-three we can work. But two-on-seven?" Silver Spoon replied as she flushed the toilet and trotted out, heading over to the sink and washing her hooves. "There's got to be away for us to get at them more." "Yeah!" Diamond Tiara nodded. "We can't pick on their families... but I have heard that they have a clubhouse over in the apple orchards somewhere." Silver Spoon smiled and turned around. "So what do we do, just go around and look for evidence we can use to extort them?" Diamond Tiara shook her head. "I was thinking we claim it and everything in it as our own. My daddy can probably convince Appleblooms sister to give up the farm." Silver Spoon looked pensive. "I highly doubt that will work. But the first half of that idea is totally doable." Diamond Tiara waved a hoof dismissively. "If my daddy has taught me one thing it's that everypony has a price. But even if it doesn't work,we can use the time my daddy will be negotiating to sneak around and try to find the clubhouse." "Ohhh. Smart thinking!" Silver Spoon giggled as she turned side on next to Diamond Tiara. The two of them then proceeded to bump their flanks together twice and wrap their tails, pulling each other closer while chanting. "Bump! Bump! Sugarlump rump!" and giggling until the bell that signaled the end of recess rang. School has ended for the day and Sweetie Belle,Applebloom and Scootaloo are trotting towards Sweet Apple Acres. "Why are you girls followin' me home? Ah don't have time to play around with y'all today. Ah have to get ready to start mah first year helpin' buck apples on the farm." Applebloom inquired. "Well I live in the clubhouse, so that's my excuse." Scootaloo said. "I was going to see if I could head back into the comic book and find some more things out." Sweetie answered with a shrug. "You what?" Applebloom and Scootaloo yelled. "That's crazy!" "Well...you girls can come if you want." Sweeite added,trying to appease her friends. "Ah can't. And even if Ah could Ah wouldn't. That place was dangerous!" Applebloom protested. "I don't know. Sweetie was able to handle those creatures pretty easily with that creature thing she summoned." Scootaloo tapped her hoof to her chin in thought. "I want one of them too...Let's go into the comic Sweetie." "I don't think it's something everypony can have..." Sweetie thought aloud,remembering her conversations with Igor. "But it's possible you could have one locked inside you." As they talked a large carriage rumbled past them and stopped infront of the Apple family house,letting a trio of ponies out. "Well howdy Mr. Rich.What are y'all doin' here? Zap apple season ain't for another five months." Applejack greeted the businesspony as she trotted over from her chores, leaving her brother to finish up stacking the haybales. "And Ah see you brought your daughter and her friend." "Well I'm here because my daughter suggested quite a good idea. Rather than simply wait for Zap apple season and then buy the jam wholesale from you before retailing it, she suggested that I purchase the rights to the Zap apple fields from you and simply add you all to payroll as workers for making the jam." Filthy Rich responded, looking quite proud of his daughters prowess. The friendly look on Applejacks face hardened as she stepped aside. "Why don't you and Ah...negotiate? Ah'm sure your daughter and her friend will find somethin' to keep them amused." The two fillies smiled and nodded, watching as the two adults headed inside before smiling wickedly to each other and galloping off into the orchard just as Applebloom and the others trotted up to the house door and knocked. "Sis! Ah'm home!" Applebloom called out as she pushed the door open. "Little busy sugahcube!" Was the response. "We'll start introducin' you to applebuckin' another time!" Applebloom sagged. "Aww...alright sis." ""Why don't you take your friends and head out to your clubhouse?" "Okay..." She sighed. "Come on Crusaders." Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stumbled upon the clubhouse after twenty minutes of searching. "Wow...it actually looks pretty nice." Silver Spoon said. "Too cozy for my tastes." Diamond Tiara scoffed as she trotted up and into the door. "You're too used to your mansion Diamond." Silver Spoon rolled her eyes and cantered after her. "Hey. Wait up!" A bright white light shone through the window, accomponied by a pair of loud shrieks before dieing away. "Did you girls hear that?" Sweetie asked Scootaloo and Applebloom. "What sounded like a bomb dropping?" Applebloom pouted. "Or a siren shrieking?" Scootaloo rubbed her ears. "Yeah! Let's go!" Sweetie said as she galloped toward their clubhouse with renewed haste. The three of them reached the clubhouse after about three minutes of a full sprint gallop and burst into the door. "I don't see anything..." Scootaloo said as she looked around. "Look! The comic!" Applebloom pointed to the middle of the floor. The comic book was laying open in the middle of the floor. Sweetie trotted over and looked at the page and saw the page had changed to a double spread of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon screaming, "I think Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon found this place and got sucked into the comic..." Sweetie deduced. "We need to get them out of there!" "Why would we do that?" Scootaloo scoffed. "Yeah? They've been pickin' on us for the past three years." Applebloom agreed. "Ah say, let 'em suffer." "Even if you two aren't going to help me I'm going to help them!" Sweetie yelled. "Bullies or not they're still ponies! And I'm going to use my power to help anypony in need, no matter who they are!" She told Applebloom and Scootaloo. "I chooseth this fate of mine own free will." She uttered before she leapt into the comic. "Argh...dammit Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo half yelled before she dove in after her. "Hey! Don't you leave me here to have to face mah family with what happened!" Applebloom called out before she dove in as well. As they fell through the white of the comic and towards the city that resided within, Sweetie spied a small blue door on one of the rooftops. "Crusaders! Aim for the rooftop with the two water towers on it!" She called out as she angled her fall towards it. "What? Why?" Scootaloo asked. "Because. It's safe up there." "How can you tell?" "I just can." "Ah trust her!" Applebloom said, angling her fall to follow Sweetie. "Fine." Scootaloo groaned and flared her wings,gliding toward the rooftop on instinct. After they all landed (suprisingly without injury) Sweetie told the others to wait where they were and slowly vanished from sight. Sweetie found herself back in the Velvet Room with Igor and Theodore. "Ah...greetings once again miss Belle. I take it you are here because you wish to rescue the two who fell in?" Igor asked. "I am, and one of my friends wants to know if it's possible for her to awaken a Persona." Sweetie informed the human. "Ah. So your friends could see it. Well I have good news for your friend then. If they can see your Persona, then they can awaken their own. How and when they do...depends on them." Igor replied. "I will start watching your friends through the cards." He told her as he spread a deck of Tarot cards in front of him. "Where's the Judgement card?" "You hold that. It's how you summon your Persona, Nightmare." "Oh." Sweetie said, directing her attention back at the cards to see who would be represented by what. The Chariot and The Fool lit up, revealing Applebloom and Scootaloo.The Empress and Strength lit up as well, but pulsed with light instead of displaying an image. "It seems that your friends are close to awakening. I can sense great healing abilities from one and amazing wind strength from the other. But the other two are a great mystery to me. Perhaps they are...acquaintances of yours you have not yet formed a friendship with." Igor elaborated. "Most interesting." He chuckled as he scooped up the cards, somehow stacking them in their proper order and sliding the deck into Sweetie's saddlebags. "You hold onto those my dear, they shall alert you to when another potential wielder is nearby. Only those with the potential to awaken a Persona will be able to see the deck." "I see. I really only came here for that. I don't have any gems on me at the moment." Sweetie said. "Thank you for the gifts, and sorry to waste your time." "No apologies are needed my dear. We denizens of the Velvet Room have all the time in any world we visit." Igor smiled and waved as she left. "Do come again." Sweetie waved back and left,reappearing before her friends. "Where that hay did you go?" Scootaloo asked. "Somewhere." Sweetie said simply. "I can tell you both though that you will have access to a summon like mine soon." "Awesome!" "Well...at least ah'll be able to fight back soon." Applebloom shrugged. "Now come on. The sooner we rescue those two idiots the sooner we get our summons!" Scootaloo cheered and leapt off the building, gliding down to the streets below. Sweetie shrugged and charged forward, leaping off the building with her legs splayed and falling. Applebloom sighed and and climbed onto the edge, tipping herself over and falling face first after her friends.