//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Persona! 
// Story: Persona: Innocent Wish 
// by Trismegistus 
//------------------------------//

        “Keep up the pace Arata, we’re almost there,” Blaze hollered over his shoulder. To Arata’s surprise Blaze was still wearing his collared shirt; along with his E.W.E.F arm band, which Arata was also wearing. “You’ll get a break when we get to the lake.” To his credit Arata had been moving at a much better rate than Blaze had expected. Despite being encumbered from the rather heavy saddle pack he was carrying. 

        The swamp was nothing like Arata had imagined it would be. From the outside the mangled trees and dull colors had lured him into thinking it would all be dull, monotonous, and a bit creepy. To his surprise once they were past the ring of trees that surrounded the swamp there was an explosion of life and color. Vibrant birds flew back and forth across the roughly carved trail, and even when they flew out of sight their ecstatic chirping carried through the swamp. In addition to the birds there was an abundance of insects. Most of them clumsily bumped into the pair as they walked down the trail, but a few decided to hitch a ride. 

        As they proceeded down the trail it became narrower and denser. Blaze explained that the higher water levels in the soil around the lake led to faster plant growth, as he drew his machete and began clearing the way. The plants that bordered the trail were becoming increasingly vivid, their flowers transitioning from deep reds, to almost translucent violets and every color in between. 

        Suddenly the trees gave way to the lake. The emerald shore was covered with grass, but nothing more. Looking up, Arata noticed that the canopy of the trees covered the entire clearing, but left a small gap just above the center of the lake. The light coming through the hole made the lake shimmer, and highlighted an almost invisible mist that delicately floated above the surface of the water. At first glance the clearing was just as breath taking as the rest of the swamp, but soon the initial wonder was replaced with a sense of restlessness. Something wasn’t right. 

        “Hey Blaze,” Arata called dropping his pack and walking toward the lake. “What happened to all of the birds and bugs? I would think there would be more of them by the lake.”  

        “We don’t really know. I’ve done some reading on the topic, and the closest thing I found were a few spells that halt growth around an area. But there shouldn’t be grass here if that were the case.” Delicately setting down his pack, Blaze pulled out a set of test tubes, and some colored strips of paper. “Here take these, collect water samples in the tubes then dip a piece of paper in each one. Let me know what color the paper turns when you’re done.” 

        “What does this test measure?” Arata inquired picking up the test tubes and placing them on the bank of the lake. 

        Blaze began collecting samples of the grass which surrounded the lake, carefully placing them into more test tubes.  “It’s just to determine if the water is acidic or basic, it’ll help us deduce what’s stopping the plant growth.”

        The water in the lake was immaculate; there was nothing to indicate that there was anything more than water in it. Arata peered over the edge of the bank, taking in the lake’s serenity one more time before reaching over, picking the first test tube, and lowering it into the lake. 

“What the…”  Arata’s hoof had broken the surface of the water, but there were no ripples, no signs that anything had entered the water; just the eerie serenity that seemed to encompass the whole clearing.  Suddenly, a jolt of pain ran across his body. He let out a piercing shriek dropping the test tube into the lake and bracing his temples against his hooves. Still in the haze of pain he opened his eyes, and tried to stand up. As he did he was hit with another burst of pain that broke his balance and sent him toppling into the lake.
The impact upon hitting the surface of the water was enough to knock Arata back to his senses, his immediate reaction was to start swimming. No matter how much he tried his legs wouldn’t connect to the water, He just kept falling. Then, with a gasp, he realized that he wasn’t surrounded by water; he could still breathe. The surface of the lake was now just a white circle against a black fog.  Then another wave of pain shot through his body. This time it started along his back and spread out. The pain was brief but intense, and along with shock came the knowledge that he had stopped falling.

Upon hearing the earsplitting screech, Blaze was already darting to his new partner, trying to get a response from him, “Arata! Are you alright?” But his shouts fell upon deaf ears. Arata had already fallen into the lake before Blaze could get to him. Blaze looked down through the crystal clear water but saw nothing; it was as if nopony had fallen in. ‘Only one way to save him,’ he thought, diving head first into the lake.

Arata was back on his feet and finally able to take in his new surroundings. Darkness engulfed everything in his sight; even the small sliver of light from the lake was gone. Slowly the darkness in front of him began to part, letting out a blinding light. Out of the light a ghostly mare swept forward, halting just before it collided with Arata. It slowly extended a hoof towards his forehead; the leg constantly changing shape and form as it moved forward. The touch only lasted a moment, but it left him feeling cold and empty. 

“You shall have what you wish, but be warned there is a cost to your desire. Are you willing to accept your fate and the cost?” whispered the entity, its words echoing in Arata’s mind. But that was not all he heard, Igor’s prophecy began to replay in his head. ‘You have been summoned here because you are about to enter into an agreement, and we are here to help you uphold it.’ This was it, this was the agreement that he had to enter into. 

“Yes…I… accept my fate,” he breathed heavily as the figure slowly retreated back into the light. 

“Very well, your new fate lies through this door.” The words rang out through the silence, as the white light slowly turned into an ornate iron door with two gleaming gold handles. Before Arata could open the door he heard a shout from somewhere behind him.   
“Thank Celestia you’re okay. What in the name of harmony is happening here?”  A wave of relief rolled across Blaze’s face. 

“I’m not quite sure where we are, I fell through the lake and then I was just here in front of this door,” Arata felt a surge of guilt from lying to his partner, but there was no need to tell him about the figure or the deal. This was his fate and he alone would be responsible for it. 

“Hey… look at your flank,” Blaze murmured staring blankly. Arata turned and saw that he had a cutie mark. It was of a blue card with a black and white face in the middle, each corner of the card bore a lyre. Neither of them could recognize the symbol. 

“What do you think this means?” Arata asked hesitantly. 

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen this symbol before,” Blaze walked up to the door and tried to open it, but his hoof just passed through it. 

“Let me try,” Arata’s hoof slowly pressed the door open. As it opened, the light it concealed engulfed the darkness, revealing a familiar city scape to him. “No… it can’t be… Nippony.” The town was exactly as Arata remembered it. The buildings all had the same uniform design. The ponies that appeared outside of each one. It was all too familiar. 

“Arata, what did you do?” Blaze gasped, taking in the emerging scenery. 

“I… I don’t know, let’s keep moving. Maybe we’ll find somepony who can tell us what’s going on.” His words were nowhere near as reassuring has he had hoped they would be. Blaze took a long look around and then agreed. 

As the pair proceeded down the street more ponies emerged from buildings and went about their daily business. Several of them called out to Arata, welcoming him home. They all smiled, bowed, and generally treated him with respect. The new found politeness initially made him squirm. With each pony they passed the greetings became more and more personal until they finally wandered up to an old mare standing outside of his old school. 

“So, you’re not an abject failure after all. I was surprised to hear that you came back here after being such a disgrace to your family. But the rumors are true, Arata Gokuri has a cutie mark,” Each word from the old mares mouth stung. These were the insults and stigmas that Arata had left behind, and now, even upon getting his cutie mark, they wouldn’t stop. 

Blaze stood back, quietly taking in everything that was happening. From behind he noticed a few of the ponies had begun to watch Arata’s confrontation. ‘If there was ever a time to use Vox’s spells its now,’ he thought trying to relax himself. If he wasn’t calm enough it would be easy for anypony to detect his telepathic connection with them. Inhaling deeply he reached out with the magic in all directions trying to sense the motives of everypony around him. The ones moving in behind him had an almost sadistic sense of joy; each one relishing the harsh words of the mare. Arata was in a panic, it was impossible to make out any specific thoughts. His mind was a frenzy of fear, confusion, guilt, and shame. Taking another breath Blaze reached out past Arata to the mare, but there was nothing to read. Instead of having her own defined thoughts her mind seemed to be a reflection of Arata’s. 

“But what does it matter, you were a failure before. This changes nothing. Now you’re just a failure with a purpose. It’s such a shame that your mother talked you out of suicide. It was really the best solution to your problems,” Arata clenched his teeth as his eyes began to water. “I’m sorry did I hurt your feelings?” Her voice was slowly changing from old and derelict, to demonic and twisted. 

“No… You’re wrong… you were always wrong,” Arata was hardly able to speak through his clenched teeth. His eyes were still wet with tears. Deep down he believed every word she spoke, but he would never admit it. 

“That’s right! Fight it! I love it when you try to hold onto your honor!” The mare let out a deafening howl. Several of the ponies standing behind Blaze turned into black globs, which flew onto the mare. After the first three hit, she began to change form. The entity tripled in size, its jaw extending with rows of sharp teeth sticking out from both sides.  It had no eyes or ears. The black mass continued to pulsate, its mouth still spitting curses at Arata. Each pulse gave birth to a new set of limbs. First two sets of legs, followed by four sets of arms, each set resembling a different type of weapon. 

“Arata! Run!” Blaze screamed pulling Arata out of his daze and away from the monstrosity. Following Blaze, Arata sprinted down the dirt path that had led them to his old school. In an effort to lose whatever was following them, Blaze darted to the left down an alley. Before Arata had a chance to follow he had already doubled back and was running down the dirt road again, although this time he was being perused by three of the shadowy creatures. 

The chase did not last long. In a matter of seconds the pair had been completely surrounded, Blaze was doing his best to keep the aggressors at bay with kicks, but he was quickly overwhelmed. Arata turned away from his fallen ally to see the monster approaching him. It had grown in size during the chase. It now had eight legs and twelve arms, still no eyes or ears. The shadows surrounded him, but didn’t attack. They waited for the teacher to close in. Arata lowered his head and tried to contain his thoughts.

Just as he was about to cave into panic, his mind went blank. A blue card matching his cutie mark appeared floating in front of him. Now he was smiling; without any idea why he felt himself speaking. 

“Per-so-na” With his words the card shattered and an elusive yet familiar voice echoed through his mind. 

“I am thou… and thou art I... From the sea of thine soul I answer your call... I am Taliesin herald to the true king.”  A surge of energy blew out from Arata knocking all of the surrounding shadows back. Above him floated a cloaked satyr, only its legs and part of its chest were left out of its black vale. His right hand held a quill dripping with ink, in his left hand was a short katana. Its head was completely concealed by the cloak’s hood only it’s glowing red eyes and two curved horns shown through. 

Arata raised his head, he was still wearing an eager grin. He raised his hoof and let out a cry, “Taliesin, Magaru!” With his command the satyr traced a symbol in the air with his quill that erupted with a blast that disintegrated most of the small shadows that surrounded them. Approaching quickly, the large demon opened its maw, and let out a blast of fire. Caught off guard, all Arata could do was stare at the flames which flew toward him. Without any command Taliesin moved to block the flame. He crossed the blade and the quill in anticipation of the attack. The impact sent flames scattering in all directions, igniting the surrounding buildings. Although he hadn’t been hit by the blast Arata felt the pain of the impact on his front legs. 

Once the flames had cleared the creature moved closer, this time swiping at Taliesin with two of its massive arms. Instinctively Arata raised his left foreleg as if to block the attack. Like a puppet the satyr raised his arm in turn.  This attack was less painful than the first, and now Arata understood how to defeat this creature. He raised his right leg, thrusting it forward with all of his might. Taliesin followed letting out a burst of energy which knocked the demon off balance. Sensing his opening, Arata leapt forward wildly slashing with his left leg. The cuts Taliesin delivered severed four of its arms. 

The demon shrieked, and directed another flaming blast at Taliesin. Arata was prepared, he leapt to the side, and let out another series of slashes. Taliesin’s timing was perfect; he dodged the flames and used the opening to sever the beasts remaining arms. Lowering himself onto the beasts chest, the satyr stared into its eyeless face. On Arata’s command he raised his blade one final time, and drove it through the creature’s mouth. Its black body convulsed, and then went limp. Arata’s guardian knelt, and then disappeared. 

Blaze had only witnessed the beginning of the fight. The creatures that attacked him had managed to knock him out, despite his best efforts to fight them off. An ear-piercing shriek brought him back to consciousness. Despite his dazed state he was able to see Arata wildly slashing his leg, and a cloaked figure mimicking his movements. Before he slipped back into darkness he noticed that Arata’s cutie mark had changed, but before he was able to identify what it was, his consciousness had left.

Collapsing to his knees, Arata remembered Blaze. He mustered his strength and walked over to his ally. 

“Blaze… Blaze, wake up. It’s over,” he sighed, shaking the body before him.

With a grunt Blaze’s eyes opened, “I’m going to need a hoof up,” he tried his best to smirk, but could only grimace. 

“Hey, look over there,” Arata gestured to the corpse of the demon. It bubbled as if it were about to rise from the dead, but instead it disappeared into the earth, leaving behind a door. “Can you make it that far?” 

“Yeah,” Blaze coughed, “let’s go.” The pair moved to the door, Arata supporting Blaze’s weight. Reaching out Arata pushed the door open and they stepped through. 

Blaze felt weightless, floating on the lake’s tranquil surface. ‘I shouldn’t be floating… My wounds… Arata,’ his eyes opened to the familiar view of the Equestrian sky.  The pain he had been in just moments ago had disappeared instantly. Turning over he paddled to the shore, where Arata was on his back unconscious. Lacking the cutiemark he had gained in the lake.

...


Arata’s eyes flick open revealing the slightly familiar sight of the velvet room. Sitting before him wearing the same eager grin he had before is Igor. “Do not be alarmed, I have called for you in your dreams. Your body currently lies peacefully on the bank of the lake. It appears that you have finally entered into your agreement… Now your story will truly begin to unfold,” Igor’s slender fingers resting crossed below his nose. “You have a unique power, the wildcard. Most ponies are of one arcana and one alone, but in you lay infinite possibilities.” 

 “As you grow more powerful you will gain more personas. It is my job to catalogue all of them for you,” proclaimed Caroline with a smile. “This book is called the Compendium, and it is where they will be stored,” she places a thick black book onto the table and begins flipping through its pages. “I see you have already discovered the persona Taliesin, he will no doubt be a great help to your journey.” 

“I should let you return to your friend, but before you leave, take this,” A silver key appears on the table in front of Arata. “This is the contractor’s key, it allows those who are in a contract to come to the Velvet room at their convenience…. Farewell Arata, the next time we speak it shall be of your own accord.” 

...


"Where am I?" Arata asked flicking his eyes open to find Blaze standing beside him.	

"You're back in the swamps, and you're safe," Blaze answered looking down at Arata.

"Was all of that a dream?" Arata asked in disbelief of what had just occurred.

“Did your dream include a trip to Nippony, hundreds of shadowy creatures, and a cutiemark?” Blaze looked away from Arata, and paced over to the lake. 

Slowly getting up with one hoof massaging his temple, “So it wasn’t a dream?  I did fall into the lake, right?”

Blaze hesitantly touched the surface of the water and cocked his head.  Despite how it had acted before, the lake seemed to have transformed back into a normal lake. “Yeah, you did. I heard you scream then you plunged head first into the lake, I jumped in after you, and well, you know the rest apparently. But look at your flank.” 

      Arata turned his head and found that his cutiemark had vanished. He let out a long sigh of disappointment.  “Blaze… there is one more thing,” Arata, who now stood next to his partner, slowly running a hoof though his own mane with a guilty expression on his face. “Before you fell in, there was something that came up to me and said that I will have my wish. Then it turned--”

        Before Arata could finish his sentence Blaze had grabbed Arata’s shoulders and was staring intently at him. “Arata, this is very important. I need to know exactly what that thing looked like,” releasing Arata’s shoulders Blaze took a step back but never broke the stare. 

        “It was a mare I think… I couldn’t really get a good view. It was like she was made of a mist. She didn’t really have a defined shape.” Arata couldn’t meet Blaze’s stare. Instead he looked into the lake, which glistened on his right.  

        “The stories are true… do you feel well enough to go back to camp? I have a lot to discuss with you when we get back.” 

        “Yeah I think so- wait... what happened to your wounds?” Arata began to assemble his pack and hoisted it onto his back. 

        “I have no idea; let’s just be happy that we’re both unharmed,” Once Blaze’s pack was ready the pair embarked on the march back to the camp. 

        The walk back was uncomfortable to say the least. Blaze bombarded Arata with questions about what had happened before he fell into the lake, but none of the answers provided seemed to satisfy him. He also took the time to explain the story of the wish granting Alicorn to Arata, but he did it with a certain uneasiness. Arata understood that he had probably caused this tension by not telling Blaze the whole story from the beginning. But he also resented the perceived lack of trust; after all he had just saved Blaze’s life… if all of that had really happened. 

        After Blaze had finished describing the tale to Arata, both ponies withdrew into their own thoughts. Arata was lost in those of his cutie mark. Although it had only been present for a brief amount time, he had a cutie mark. He didn’t have a clue what his special talent was, but that didn’t matter. He had a cutie mark, and he would have finally been able to blend in with everypony else. His mind began to wander to the monsters they encountered in Nippony. They ignored his cutie mark and continued to act the way they always had. But wasn’t that just a dream? That couldn’t have actually been Nippony, that wasn’t his old teacher. And what about Igor, was any of that real? 

Upon their return to camp, Blaze led Arata to the library tent then walked out; ordering him to stay put. He then disappeared from the door. 

“Hey Blaze, what’s up?” called Vox to the figure who stood in her door. She finished tinkering with a radio, set it down, and then walked over to him. 

“I need your help with Arata,” Blaze always spoke with a serious tone, but this was different. There was a sense of uncertainty behind his words that Vox didn’t recognize. 

“Alright what do you need me to do?” She asked slightly confused. 

“I want you to use your magic, and take notes on what Arata is thinking while I question him. Can you do that?”  His voice was smooth and unwavering. There was almost no indication that he was phased at all. 

“You know I can… But Penzance would freak out if he found out… Wait a second, why are you interrogating the new guy?”  Vox cocked her head and questioningly stared at Blaze. 

“Again, I’ll explain later. I just need you to help me with this. It is very important to my mission.” Blaze let out a sigh, and waited for Vox’s response. 

“All right, I’ll help you. But you have to tell me everything okay? You know I hate it when you hide things from me.” She grabbed a notepad and quill that were sitting on the table, and followed Blaze out. 

When the pair entered the tent they found Arata peacefully sitting at the desk. 

“Arata, Vox is going take notes on what you say so we can get a clear picture of what is happening, okay? Hopefully between you and me we have enough information to piece together what happened.” Blaze sat across from Arata and pulled out the book on local legends. “Let’s begin.” Blaze started off by repeating the questions he had already asked on the walk back: how Arata had fallen into the lake, why he had been screaming, and what he had seen. 

Vox began to tune into Arata’s thoughts; she wasn’t worried about him catching on to what she was doing. Blaze’s questioning would keep his focus off of her. Even her horn’s glow could be easily passed off as taking notes with the floating quill. Everything Arata was saying matched his thoughts; it didn’t seem like he was trying to hide anything.  

“Now what did this fog mare say to you?” Blaze flipped through the pages of the book before him, and stared at a particular passage in the story of the Alicorn. It stated that the creature only granted a wish if the pony she was speaking to ‘Accepted the cost of their desires.’ 

“She touched my head and said ‘You shall have your wish,’ then she turned into that door, and you showed up.” There was still no need to tell them about the agreement he entered into. That was between him and the Alicorn. And they wouldn’t have believed anything about Igor or the velvet room even if he had told them. 

Vox briefly looked up from her note pad. Arata had left out most of his interaction with the Alicorn. His mind was a bit hard to read due to the clutter of thoughts that crowded it after he answered the previous question. But Vox was able to extract two thoughts in particular; “but be warned there is a cost to your desire. Are you willing to accept your fate and the cost” and Arata’s clear acceptance of this. She wrote this down and continued to sift through his thoughts. 

“So she didn’t tell you what wish she was granting you?” Blaze asked in disbelief. “Do you have any idea what it could have been?” 

“Well I got my cutie mark after that… that was probably what it was for. It would also explain why we were in Nippony. But I guess that doesn't really matter now that its gone,” Arata sighed.

“What do you mean? Can you explain that a bit more?” Blaze followed. 

Arata tried to describe how he had been treated in Nippony, and how devastating the lack of a cutie mark and been to him; but he didn’t have enough expression. 

“Remember what that old pony said to us in Nippony?” Blaze nodded, “That’s why I left… I had wished that this journey would give me a cutie mark. Then I could go back and show them that they were wrong. I guess I got my wish in the end.”

“Okay, I have one last question. That thing that saved us, what was it?” Blaze pressed.

“I have no idea… I felt something call out to me. Then there was a card floating over my hoof. I broke it, said ‘Per-so-na,’ and it knocked all of the shadows back as that thing appeared. It felt like it was tied to me somehow. It followed any command I gave it.” This had confused Arata as much as it confused Blaze. He had no idea where this power had come from. 

“Maybe that was part of the wish too… that’s all the questions I have for you. Sorry for the interrogation, but it was important that we got all of the details of this story written down while it was fresh in our minds. You should head home. Luckily we’ve got the next two days off to rest up,” Blaze escorted Arata out of the tent and sat back down. “Okay Vox, now it’s my turn I’ll tell you everything that happened from my perspective… but before that, did anything come up during his interview?” 

Vox walked over to the desk and slid Blaze the notebook she had been writing in. “He only left out those two things. They didn’t seem to be particularly important, and before you ask, no, I couldn’t tell why he left them out.” 

“Interesting, I’ll try to find out later... Thanks for the help, Vox.” He smiled.

 The pair finished taking down Blaze’s recollection of events. Before he went to sleep Blaze pulled out everything he could find on shadows, wish granting, and personas. Needless to say there wasn’t much to go on, but at least now he had some interesting research to do over the weekend.

Arata went back home and went straight to his room. He haphazardly threw his pack on the ground, which caused its flap to open. He watched as a silver key slid out and stopped just before him. He slowly picked it up. ‘This must be the contractor’s key… so all of that is real.’ Arata rummaged through his suitcase until he found a thin silver necklace, he threaded the key through it and placed it next to his bed. 

Blaze and Arata both slept well that night, the stress of the day had taken their toll on both of them. Despite all that had happened there was still a lingering feeling in the back of their minds that this was only the beginning…