//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Adrenaline Rush 
// Story: Personas of Harmony 
// by EricStarstorm 
//------------------------------//

	Ponyville's mood was certainly more somber the next day, but for the most part, daily life was back to normal. The villagers still had responsibilities, after all--they couldn't let their lives stop, even if there was now an important pony missing from many of them.

Twilight had elected to stay home for the morning and rest. She hadn't noticed until she left the Velvet Room, but using her Persona had tired her out immensely. She slept for longer than usual (but still woke up before Spike, somehow), and she didn't have the motivation to do much but read today.

It was about noon when there was a sharp knock at Twilight's door. Spike turned away from his crossword puzzle and stood up, then ran over to answer it. He opened the door to see Rainbow Dash.

"Hey, Spike, Twilight!" Rainbow said. "I brought back Sapphire Statue." She used her wing to take the first Daring Do book from her saddlebag and handed it off to Spike.

"You have GOT to get your own copy of this," Spike replied, rolling his eyes. "Twilight likes to read this sometimes too, y'know."

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed from the upper floor. "Thanks for bringing that back."

"No problem! Hey, I've got nothing to do today. You wanna go get some lunch?"

"Straight to the point as always, I see." Twilight hopped to the floor from her bed and stretched. "Yeah, I'll go with you. Where do you want to go?"

"Hay Burger. Normally I'd stay away from that place, but it's been making me curious for a while." Rainbow turned to Spike. "Do you wanna come too?"

Spike shook his head. "Somepony's gotta hold down the fort while Twilight's gone. Might as well be me."

"Suit yourself, then." Rainbow stepped out of the way, allowing Twilight to leave the library.

"Remember, don't try to put any returns on their shelves," Twilight said as a friendly reminder. "Just put them on the table, and I'll take care of it when I get back."

"I know, I know! You don't have to remind me." Spike grabbed the doorknob. "Go on and have fun!"

Spike and Twilight waved to each other, and Spike closed the door.

"All right, let's go!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, suddenly taking off.

"Oh, for--Rainbow, you know I can't fly that fast!" Twilight yelled as she took to the air herself and tried to keep up.





Rainbow Dash scarfed down her food like a pony possessed. It reminded Twilight of how she herself had eaten last time she came here--but her lack of table manners didn't leave crumbs everywhere, at least. There were so many crumbs on Rainbow's side of the table that Twilight was surprised there was any food left in her mouth to swallow.

"This food tastes amazing!" Rainbow yelled through a mouthful of fries. A few pieces of food flew out of her mouth and hit Twilight in the face, prompting her to wipe it off with a napkin.

"This is your first time eating here, huh?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash still had food in her mouth, and Twilight levitated a napkin into the air to use as a shield. "I know that fast food is bad for you, but I figured I get enough exercise to treat myself once in a blue moon."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're enjoying it." Twilight took a bite of her own burger, making sure to chew it up and swallow it before speaking again. "I never got a chance to ask...did you tell Scootaloo about Filthy Rich?"

Rainbow nodded. "She took it well. She's a strong little filly." She suddenly looked a bit somber. "She tried talking to Diamond Tiara. Poor girl's a mess--puffy red eyes, frizzy mane, that sort of thing."

"It's hard to blame her. Is her mom living here?"

"I dunno. All I know about DT is through Scootaloo." Rainbow noisily slurped at her drink. "As for the other Crusaders...Apple Bloom is fine, since she's been around death before, but Sweetie Belle was terrified."

"I really hope the town heals from this soon...it's just not the same here any more." Twilight began to drink her own juice as well.

Rainbow nodded in agreement. "So, with that out of the way...where were you all day yesterday?"

Twilight suddenly did a spit take directly into Rainbow's face. Rainbow looked mildly annoyed, and wiped the juice off of her cheeks.

"It's just that I tried to visit you yesterday, and you weren't around. Spike was gone too. You didn't tell anypony you were leaving, so I got worried."

Twilight was conflicted. She didn't want to lie to Rainbow, but she couldn't tell her what happened, either. If anyone were to go to the other world despite the dangers, it would certainly be Rainbow. "Well, you see...I, um...I was..."

"Look, whatever it is, you can tell me. I can handle it!"

Twilight then realized that she didn't have to lie--she only had to withhold information. "Okay, okay. Spike and I went to the old castle yesterday. We figured that if there were a book describing how to kill a pony without leaving a trace, it'd be there."

"Oh. Well, did you find anything?"

"An alarming number of death-related books, but nothing conclusive. The closest thing we saw was this martial arts technique that let you hit somepony in a certain spot and then they'd die in 20 years or so, but even that would leave evidence."

Rainbow nodded. "I see..." Her eyes narrowed. "But there's something else you're not telling me, isn't there?"

Twilight tried to keep her composure. "Wh-what makes you think that?"

"Well, when I first asked you where you were, you panicked. Your response wasn't anything worth hiding, though...which means you must be hiding something else."

Twilight would have kicked herself, were she alone. She stuffed her mouth with fries.

"Does it have something to do with the case? We all vowed to solve this together!"

Twilight shoved what was left of her burger into her mouth as well.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Look, we're not leaving here until you tell me."

Twilight looked for something else to stifle herself, but she saw nothing. She resigned herself and held up a hoof, then began to chew through the food invasion that was stuffed in her cheeks. Her mouth was empty again after about three minutes.

"You can't tell anypony," Twilight said. "At all. Not even our friends."

"Whoa, why not?"

"For their safety. Trust me on this, okay?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. She made the familiar motions of a Pinkie Pie Swear, which Twilight reciprocated.

"Come with me. There's something in the old castle that you need to see."





The portal was right where Spike and Twilight had left it, still glowing with otherworldly light. Rainbow Dash didn't look very surprised to see it.

"I'm starting to wonder just how many different worlds we're going to visit in our lives," Rainbow said as she observed the light.

"We're not going in there," Twilight replied flatly.

Rainbow turned to Twilight. "Why not?"

"It's extremely dangerous in that world. There are monsters called Shadows inside, and they'll kill you if you step hoof into their territory!"

"That sounds AWESOME!"

"No, it does not! You'll get overwhelmed if you try and fight them!"

"I ain't afraid of some low-down monsters!"

"Fear isn't the issue! This is life and death!"

"You came out alive, didn't you?"

"I got lucky! EXTREMELY lucky! If even the slightest thing had gone wrong, I would've been a Twilight pancake!"

"And how exactly did you get lucky?"

"I...found an escape route."

"If you did, I can too! Look, here's what I'm gonna do. I'll just head in there, beat up a Shadow or twenty, and show you that it's not a big deal!"

Twilight glared. "RAINBOW, DON'T--"

Rainbow took to the air. "TOO LATE!" she exclaimed before flying straight into the book.

"Oh, NO!" Twilight followed directly afterwards. She waited for her vision to adjust when she got to the other side, and miraculously, Rainbow Dash was just trying to see through the fog.

"Okay, where are those Shadows? I can't WAIT to see Twilight's face when I bring back a pile of 'em!"

Something in Twilight snapped just then. Rainbow Dash was treating this like a game. She was in the some world from which Twilight had only barely escaped, and in which Spike thought he would be stuck forever...and Rainbow Dash was treating it like a game.

"...Why do I smell something burning?" Rainbow asked herself. She turned around and saw Twilight glowing with heat. "...Ooohh...that would explain it. Heh heh..."

"I HAVE HAD IT!" Twilight bellowed. Her mane and tail were suddenly set ablaze as her fur turned tan. Her eyes turned red and held the fury of a thousand suns. "DO YOU HAVE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST INKLING OF WHAT SPIKE AND I WENT THROUGH HERE?!? I ONLY SURVIVED BECAUSE OF SOME OUT-OF-NOWHERE DEUS EX MACHINA! SPIKE THOUGHT I WAS DEAD! IF I HADN'T SHOWN UP WHEN I DID, HE MIGHT'VE BEEN DEAD TOO! SO YOU ARE GOING TO START TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY RIGHT NOW, AND WE ARE GOING TO LEAVE BEFORE I HAVE TO SAVE YOU TOO!"

Rainbow Dash had never been so guilty in all her life. "...Can I just--"

"NOW!"

After that, Rainbow Dash sighed. "...Yeah...you're right. I don't know what came over me...I guess I just wasn't thinking." She then smiled weakly. "Gotta say, that's some impressive moxie."

"Are you KIDDING me?"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash jumped in surprise. They both turned to the source of the very familiar, yet slightly warped, voice. Upon seeing who spoke, the color drained from the ponies' faces, and Twilight returned to normal.

Flying beside the two was a cyan pegasus...with a rainbow-colored mane and tail...and a rainbow-colored lightning bolt for a cutie mark.

"What the--what ARE you?!" Rainbow demanded.

The copy of Rainbow Dash looked up at the real one, revealing eyes of sickly yellow. A dark fog surrounded the impostor's hooves. "I'm Rainbow Dash, of course."

"But I'M Rainbow Dash!"

The copy grinned crazily, ignoring Rainbow. "You said you weren't thinking, huh? We both know that's a load of horse apples! You knew EXACTLY what you were doing...didn't you?"

Rainbow's surprise turned to anger. "Hey, what're you talking about?!"

"It's not that you didn't THINK about how Twilight felt! It's just that you didn't care!" The impostor cackled. "I don't care WHO I piss off, as long as I get to feel some excitement in this boring ol' town!"

"You take that back! I love Ponyville!"

"Rainbow, we should get out of here!" Twilight yelled.

The impostor ignored Twilight. "I never said you didn't LIKE living here...but nothing EVER happens here that's actually exciting! When's the last time you got to do what you REALLY love? Y'know...doing stunts, throwing punches, all that reckless stuff! All that FUN stuff!"

"You shut up!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Why so angry? Are you upset that I'm telling the truth?"

"So what if I love doing reckless things?! I don't care about that nearly as much as I do this town, and my friends!"

As soon as Rainbow finished saying that, the impostor began laughing uncontrollably. It took a good thirty seconds for her to calm down. "Oh, now THAT'S a good one! Since when do you ever let your silly little friendships get in the way of looking out for number one?!"

"ALL THE TIME!" Rainbow was livid. "Stop spouting these lies! I oughta deck you in the face!"

"Thank you for proving my point! That's what you really care about, isn't it?" The impostor chuckled. "When Twilight told you about this place...you know you were excited! A new world, just ripe for exploring! There are even monsters to fight! Sounds like my kind of vacation from this dull life!"

"S-stop it!" Now Rainbow's anger was turning to panic. "That's not true!"

"Face it! You came in here for one reason and one reason alone: because it sounded fun. You had to jump at this chance! You might never get another one like it!"

"Shut up already! What makes you think you know me?!"

The impostor looked into Rainbow's eyes, not tearing them away for anything. "I told you already! I know you...because I AM you!"

Rainbow Dash glared harshly at her copy. Twilight felt an extreme sense of foreboding.

"Rainbow, calm down!" Twilight yelled. "I have a really bad feeling about this...we should just get out of here now!"

Rainbow ignored Twilight. "You...you MONSTER!" she screamed. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT ABOUT ME!"

"And why is that?!?" the impostor demanded, her crazy smile growing even wider.

Rainbow flew up to the impostor and stopped only inches away from her face. "BECAUSE YOU AREN'T ME!"

The impostor started laughing. It was a terrifying sound, despite that it was in a voice much like Rainbow Dash's. The laughter escalated into a wild, crazed cackle. "OOOH, IF ONLY THAT WERE TRUE!" she bellowed. "I bet you'd feel so much BETTER!"

Red clouds began to flow into the impostor. Twilight decided she couldn't stand this anymore, and she grabbed Rainbow Dash.

"Hey! Lemme go!" Rainbow yelled. "I gotta--"

"It's going to ATTACK us!" Twilight yelled. "I'm going to put you somewhere safe, and then I'll take care of this!"

Before Rainbow Dash could protest further, Twilight flew towards the exit...only to find that it was blocked by the red mist. She looked down and went into a steep dive. She put Rainbow Dash down and turned to fly back up. Before she could, however, four gigantic swords fell from the sky. They landed about ten feet in front of Twilight, all in a line. Directly following them was a gigantic, cyan shape. It crashed into the ground, kicking up dust that Twilight hadn't known was there. When she could see through it, she saw a gigantic, cyan bird with a human torso and legs. Its legs ended in talons that looked strong enough to crush solid bedrock. It had two gigantic wings in lieu of forelegs or arms, with enormous blades instead of feathers. It was mostly cyan, but its tail feathers were in all colors. It spread its wings, revealing a colossal wingspan and a streamlined head with blood red eyes and the beak of a falcon.

"I am a Shadow," the bird said, speaking with the warped version of Rainbow Dash's voice. "The true self!"

"Wh-what's happening?!" Rainbow asked frantically. Twilight had never seen her so afraid.

"Let me handle this!" Twilight yelled. She closed her eyes, and Merlin's Magician card appeared before her. Without waiting for it to float down, she blasted it with magic energy, releasing Merlin.

"Oh, so the little wizard wants a fight, does he?!" the bird asked, her tone mocking. "Fine, I need some excitement! I'll slaughter ALL of you!"

The bird spread its wings, and Merlin was surrounded by a small green whirlwind. Merlin was knocked back, and Twilight's knees buckled. She could easily tell that this Shadow was much stronger than the others she had faced.

"TWILIGHT!" Rainbow yelled.

"I'm...fine!" Twilight stood up again. "It's gonna take more than that! Merlin, let's hit it hard!"

Merlin aimed a hand at the Shadow's torso. An fiery conflagration consumed it, but it didn't seem to affect it very much. It cackled crazily again.

"Is that all you can do?!" the Shadow demanded. It flared its wings, surrounding itself with orange electricity. "What a JOKE!"

Two of the bird's blade feathers launched themselves at Merlin, but he was able to narrowly avoid them. He aimed his other hand at the raptor, blasting it with lightning. This time, the Shadow fell over onto its back.

"Hey, that worked really well!" Twilight said to herself. "It's weak to electricity!"

The Shadow stood up again. "Grr...I'm gonna CRUSH you!"

Merlin fired another lightning blast, but this time, the Shadow retaliated with its own blast of wind. The two attacks hit each other in midair and cancelled each other out. The Shadow laughed again and grabbed two of the swords embedded in the ground, with one in each talon. She flew higher into the air.

"Oh boy...this one's gonna hurt," Twilight said nervously.

"HEADS UP, GOAT-BOY!" the Shadow roared. It dove down feet-first, aiming the swords directly at Merlin. The mage tried to fly out of the way, but it was too fast--it only managed to avoid one of the two swords. The other impaled it directly on the shoulder, causing Twilight to cry out in pain.

"Ugh...it's...so powerful!" Twilight said wearily, collapsing onto her stomach. "I...don't know if I can win this..."

"Ready to go again?!" The Shadow withdrew the sword from Merlin's shoulder, and he flew back to avoid another strike. It flew higher again, this time going even higher than before. "This is just plain boring! I have much more exciting things that I could be doing!"

Merlin aimed both hands at the Shadow and let loose an enormous stream of electricity. Despite the size of the blast, he managed to focus it towards the Shadow, and it hit its mark. Countless sparks danced across the raptor's body, and in its painful stupor, it dropped the swords it was holding and fell to the ground in a heap. It stood up again.

"You're REALLY starting to make me MAD!" the Shadow bellowed. "No more playing around! It's time for me to DESTROY YOU!"

Twilight suddenly had an idea. She grabbed one of the swords that the Shadow had dropped with her telekinesis. At the same time, the Shadow grabbed the other two swords from the ground. Twilight held the sword up to Merlin, who touched the blade and charged it with electricity. Merlin then stayed perfectly still, and Twilight hid the sword behind him.

The Shadow went into another dive, aiming its swords at Merlin. "STOP SQUIRMING AND DIE ALREADY!"

Merlin waited until the last possible second, until the Shadow's swords were a fraction of a second from impact. He twisted his body around the twin blades, avoiding both swords at once. Twilight acted fast, revealing the electrified sword. The bird saw this and tried to fly back up, but it wasn't fast enough--Twilight immediately shoved the sword's blade directly into its heart.

"You...can't be serious!" the Shadow yelled. Red clouds began to leak from the sword's point of impact as its flight became shaky. It fell down and landed with a deafening crash as the clouds completely shrouded its body from view.

"Twilight...please tell me you're okay!" Rainbow said, running over to her friend.

Twilight looked up at Rainbow and gave her a gentle smile. "I'm...a bit roughed up...but nothing serious."

The clouds of darkness finally dispersed. The Shadow had taken Rainbow's form again, but it was still lying on the floor, only just conscious. It looked up at Rainbow Dash, its eyes full of pain.

"I should take you down for hurting my friend," Rainbow said. Despite this, her voice wasn't angry. "But I'm not a huge fan of hitting myself."

The Shadow looked directly into Rainbow's eyes, a glint of hope appearing in them. She waited for Rainbow to continue.

"It's true...all of it is true. I really do seek excitement in my life, and I don't always find anything there...and this is how that ended up. I was so ashamed that I would even think of putting the thrills of flying and stuff over my friends...some Element of Loyalty I turned out to be." Rainbow's expression hardened. "I am loyal to my friends. I love them like family. But...you're part of me at the same time."

The Shadow smiled gently. Rainbow walked over to it and held out a hoof. It accepted the gesture, and Rainbow helped it up.

"I am you...and you are me."

Shadow Rainbow Dash was then encased in bright blue light and floated into the air. There was a blinding flash, and when it cleared, it had been replaced by a cross between a falcon and a human. It had a bird's head and a human body, along with large wings. It wore a cotton gi and a black belt, and had several large blades on its hands that emulated enormous claws. It stayed there for just long enough for the ponies to absorb its details before turning into an Arcana card. This card depicted a knight in a chariot being pulled by two Sphinges. The card, too, disappeared, encasing Rainbow in a gentle glow.

"How do you feel?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow smiled. "Relieved, more than anything. If you hadn't been here with me...I don't know what would've happened."

Twilight sighed and stood up, dismissing Merlin. "That's what friends are for, Rainbow. You should know that better than anypony."

"I don't know how you can stand to be around me right now." Rainbow turned to Twilight. "You learned all of that...horrible stuff about me, and then part of me attacked you...can you ever forgive me?"

Twilight looked directly into Rainbow's eyes. "There's nothing for me to forgive. Now let's go...I think we could both use some rest."





Twilight and Rainbow Dash went back to the Golden Oaks to rest. As they recovered their strength, Twilight told Spike everything that had happened while he labored over dinner.

"A Shadow Rainbow Dash, huh?" Spike asked as he chopped up a carrot. "And it turned into your Persona?"

"Her name's Peregrine," Rainbow replied. "And yes."

"Weird...none of that happened to Twilight when she got Merlin."

"Yeah, couldn't tell you why," Twilight said. "But I think we can assume that how you got yours is the 'normal' way of getting a Persona, Rainbow."

"What I don't get is why MY Shadow didn't show up. I was in there for way longer than Rainbow!"

"Well, if it had, you'd probably be dead now," Rainbow said matter-of-factly. "So let's just count ourselves lucky on that one, huh?"

Something clicked in Twilight's mind. "Waaaait a second...I get it now!" she exclaimed.

"Get what?" Spike and Rainbow asked in unison.

"Filthy Rich's death! The Shadow attacking, the gingerbread house being tied to him...it's all connected!" Twilight's face was probably a bit brighter than it should have been. "Filthy Rich got killed by his Shadow. Nopony was there to stop it from going berserk!"

Spike's eyes widened. "Whoa! Are you sure?"

"No, it's just a theory. But it would explain nearly everything! And since Filthy most likely had no way of knowing about the book, it reinforces the homicide theory!"

"Am I missing something here?" Rainbow asked. "I don't remember any gingerbread house."

"You guys must've left before you saw that," Spike replied. "There was a gingerbread house in the other world that we think formed because of Filthy Rich's hidden thoughts--his Shadow."

"Oh. That...doesn't make much sense."

"Yeah, we didn't get it either."

"So should we tell Looking Glass?"

"He would never believe us," Twilight replied, shaking her head. "But we SHOULD tell our friends. If I knew what I did now when I first decided to hide it, I never would've made that decision in the first place. This is vital information for the case."

"Even so, it wouldn't hurt to talk to Looking Glass again tomorrow," Spike said. "If they've figured out a cause of death by now, that blows it all out of the water. We're going to have to be thorough."

"Wait, didn't you say that not telling them about the other world was for their own safety?" Rainbow asked.

"I did," Twilight said. She grinned. "But THEY'RE more likely to listen to me."

Rainbow cleared her throat and averted her eyes. "Well, uh, I should...probably go. I'm feeling better now, and there's rain scheduled tomorrow."

"Before you go," Spike interrupted. "Can I see Peregrine? I bet she looks AWESOME!"

"Not HERE, Spike!" Twilight exclaimed. "We're in the middle of town!"

Spike slumped over. "Oh...right."

Rainbow stood up. "Maybe tomorrow I'll get a chance. We'll see!"

Twilight opened the door for Rainbow, and she left, closing the door back behind her.

"Man, I want a Persona," Spike muttered.

"Well, you know what? You have to clean your plate before going and raiding the gemstone jar before you can have one."

"THAT WAS ONE TIME!"

Twilight laughed. "One time too many. Now let's eat dinner and head to bed early tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a big day."