The next morning was a cloudy one. The sky was a murky grey behind the clouds as well, what with the early time of day. As such, no beams of sunlight greeted Twilight's newly-opened eyes. She knew when she saw the weather out her window that time was running out, and she climbed out of bed. She picked up and nudged Spike with her magic, waking him up as well.
"Morning, Twilight," Spike said, his voice a bit groggy. Twilight guessed that he must have slept rather soundly--he was exhausted from yesterday, after all.
"Hey, Spike. Listen..." Twilight put Spike down on the floor by his basket. "Do you remember what happened yesterday before we found you? While you were sleepwalking?"
Spike put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hmm...nothing comes to mind. But...I think I heard a voice."
"You did?!" Twilight's eyes widened. "What did it say?!"
"I'm...not sure. I think it said something about...'showing'...something...to somepony." Spike shrugged. "Sorry, but that's all I've got."
Twilight's surprise was replaced with contemplation. "It's okay. I honestly wasn't expecting you to remember anything at all."
"Why do you ask, anyway?"
"Well, it just strikes me as really, really odd that you would just sleepwalk into the old castle, up two flights of stairs, and sleep-jump onto a pedestal. Especially considering that this is the first time you've ever done something like this."
"Yeah, good point...I was too busy worrying about my Shadow to think much of it, I guess."
"Well, don't worry about it. Are you ready to go save Applejack?"
Spike's eyes lit up, and he pumped his fist. "You bet I am! Let's do this!"
The skyscraper was much more obviously run-down when the ponies saw it up close. The walls were worn, the windows were cracked and dirty, and some pieces had even fallen victim to erosion and been completely severed from the building. It nearly hurt Rarity just to look at it.
"Welcome t' the Great Renovation Project!" Applejack's voice yelled. "If'n y'all just step inna the door, the elevator'll take ya all the way up to the roof! See y'all here soon!"
"What...in the world...?" Rainbow asked, her profuse confusion evident in her voice.
"Maybe she's, uh...trying to..." Spike held up his hand as he tried to think of an explanation. This went on for a good thirty seconds. "...Yeah, okay, I've got nothing."
"We'll just ask the Shadow while we're fighting it or something," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "Let's go."
Everyone nodded and entered the unfinished skyscraper. The very first thing they saw upon entering was not a lobby or a parlor of any kind, but an elevator. As soon as everyone was inside, it began to move. It was surprisingly spacious--easily able to hold at least twenty ponies.
"All right...I can't stand it anymore!" Spike exclaimed. His Arcana card appeared before him. "Xanthias!"
The others looked at Spike strangely as he incinerated the card with a plume of fire breath. Spike's Persona appeared above him.
"Why'd you do that? There aren't any Shadows yet," Rainbow Dash said.
"Well, uh..." Spike chuckled sheepishly. "I've been waiting for a chance to do that since yesterday."
"Well, while we wait for the elevator, let's confirm our situation," Fluttershy suggested. She put a hoof to her chin in thought. "I think we can safely assume that Applejack is at the top of this building--along with her Shadow."
Behind the ponies, a group of Shadows that looked like small colts attached to each other with swords passed through the elevator walls. Spike noticed them, and Xanthias whacked one with his bag of grain.
"I'm willing to bet my entire Daring Do collection that this thing will stop mid-way and we'll have to fight a stronger Shadow," Rainbow added. One of the Shadows tried to sneak up on her, but Xanthias lifted his free hand, surrounding it with glowing talismans and causing it to explode. The ponies still didn't notice.
"Applejack's memories have probably been removed, just like Fluttershy's," Rarity said. "As of yet, all we are doing is keeping prospective victims from dying. We need to find some way to catch them in the act."
Xanthias suddenly flew across the elevator as a Shadow knocked it aside. Spike waved his arms frantically until he regained his balance. The ponies STILL didn't notice.
"All we know for sure is that the perpetrator is a unicorn. He probably also has a way to enter this world without the book in the old castle, but that's not a certainty."
Another Shadow flew towards Xanthias, but he hit it with a blast of pale purple light. He flogged yet another Shadow as it approached.
"Maybe we should talk to the detectives again?" Fluttershy asked. "They've probably eliminated everypony with an alibi. A narrowed-down list would be very helpful to us."
Spike clutched his head in panic as three Shadows attacked Xanthias at once. He hit the opposite wall, and the Shadows continued to advance.
"Good idea, Flutters," Rainbow said. "And then we'll keep an eye on 'em!"
Xanthias whacked one of the Shadows in the gut and another on the back, defeating them both. The final Shadow's eyes flashed, and Xanthias flew out of the way just as the space where he had been burst into flames.
"I'm wondering, though...maybe they just engineered a perfect alibi," Twilight pointed out. "It wouldn't be too hard, considering they can alter memories."
Xanthias threw his bag into the air, and it crushed the last Shadow...and made a loud thumping sound. The ponies turned to Spike and Xanthias as the latter picked up his bag again.
"Jeez, Spike," Rainbow said. "I know elevators are boring, but you shouldn't be fooling around at a time like this."
Spike's eye twitched as he opened his mouth to retort. He was so enraged, however, that no words came to him.
The elevator suddenly stopped. Applejack's voice began to speak again, and despite there being no intercom in sight, she sounded as if she were speaking through one. "We're sorry fer the delay, y'all, but some debris is blockin' up the elevator shaft! Just hold yer horses fer a hot minute, and it'll be cleared away lickety-split!"
Just as the voice faded, a huge, hand-shaped Shadow grabbed onto the elevator platform. The ponies summoned their Personas as it pulled itself up.
"Called it," Rainbow said smugly.
"Oh, hush," Rarity snapped.
The Shadow acted quickly, snapping its fingers and trapping Peregrine in a block of ice. Naravirala went to thaw Rainbow out while the others attacked--Merlin with a fireball, Jack of Clubs with his rapier, and Xanthias with his bag. All three attacks hit, but the fireball didn't seem to do much.
"Oh, it resists magic," Twilight said nervously. "That's...not good."
With her magic near-useless, Merlin instead lowered the Shadow's defenses. Peregrine and Rainbow were thawed out at about the same time.
"For the love of Celestia!" Rainbow yelled. "Can I come here ONE TIME without being frozen?!"
Peregrine charged up to the Shadow, meeting Jack of Clubs and Xanthias. They all whaled on it for a few seconds, but the Shadow reared back and smacked them all away. Naravirala healed the three injured ponies at the same time as Merlin surrounded Twilight with blue electricity.
"This already grows wearisome," Rarity said. "Let us end this quickly!"
Jack of Clubs flew up to the Shadow's mask and slammed the pommel of his rapier into it. It fell over, the sudden blow to its head too much for it. Twilight saw her chance, and Merlin raised his arms. A gigantic column of lightning hit the Shadow directly, causing it to explode into red mist.
"Huh...that was easy," Spike said, crossing his arms.
"Well, there are a lot more of us than there were the first time," Rainbow pointed out. "We're getting better. The Shadow's aren't!"
The elevator started moving again, but the time it took to get to the roof now was much shorter. Instead of stopping on the top floor, however, it stopped on the actual roof of the building. Just as Fluttershy had guessed, both Applejacks were there. The sound of the elevator caught the real Applejack's attention, and she turned to see the ponies.
"Oh, good! Yer here!" Applejack smiled as she walked over to the group. "Ah'm just plumb confounded right now."
"Hey, where d'ya think yer goin'?" Shadow Applejack asked with a frown. "Y'all can't leave yet!"
Applejack turned towards her Shadow. "Ah got a lotta farm work to do. Can't be hangin' around somepony like you who wears ma face."
"Well...yeah, ya do have a lotta work. Why do ya suppose that is?"
"...Cuz runnin' a farm ain't easy?"
"Wrong answer!" Shadow Applejack started walking forward menacingly. "The farm is just like this buildin'! Both're on the verge o' collapsin' if even the slightest thing goes wrong!"
"That's why Ah need to get back and work on it s'more!"
"Hah!" Shadow Applejack's frown turned into a contentious sneer. "All th' hard work in Equestria ain't gonna bring the farm to where ya want it to be! Y'all know that as well as Ah do!"
"I don't like where this is going," Rainbow said. "Should we..."
Twilight shook her head. "Our Shadows are only trying to get us to face ourselves. If we put a stop to this, Applejack's secrets will just keep tearing her apart."
Applejack either ignored the others, or she simply hadn't heard them. "What makes ya say that?"
"'Cuz there's somethin' that ya keep havin' to pour bits into! Or...should I say 'somepony?'"
"Ah don't know what yer talkin' about!" Applejack's confusion was replaced with anger.
"Then what're ya mad for all of a sudden?" The Shadow smirked. "Just admit it--y'all know who Ah'm talkin' about...Apple Bloom!"
"Apple Bloom, a burden? Yer officially off yer rocker."
"She's a huge money sink!"
"She's ma SISTER!"
"She's constantly gettin' ya to buy her all sorts of crazy stuff! Helmets, safety goggles, flippers, oven mitts, weldin' masks, wrenches, gunpowder...what kinda filly her age needs alla this?!"
"It's fer findin' her talent! Ah can't blame her fer wantin' to find that!"
"Hmph! Yer an awful stubborn one, ain'tcha?" The Shadow frowned again. "Ah'll say it flat out...whether she's tryin' to or not, Apple Bloom is forcin' ya to live in borderline poverty! It's all her fault!"
Applejack recoiled in surprise, then glared harshly at her Shadow. "Don't you DARE talk about ma sister that way!"
The Shadow's eyes lit up, and it smiled. "Why not? She's ma sister, too."
"Well then, ya must be ma long-lost twin...cuz ya sure as Tartarus ain't me!"
Shadow Applejack suddenly started laughing as red mist gathered around her. She took a few steps back. "Yer s'posed to be the Element of Honesty, y'know!"
The others prepared themselves as the red mist burst outward. Under it was a gargantuan tortoise. Instead of a shell, however, its back was covered by a run-down castle. The structure was made up of three main towers, one of which had already fallen off. Half of the thicker center tower was gone as well, leaving the right tower the only one intact. Moss, vines, and cracks covered the castle walls.
"Ah am a Shadow!" Shadow Applejack exclaimed. "The TRUE self!"
Applejack walked backwards a bit in terror until Twilight used her magic to put her out of harm's way. She sat down where she was, completely awestruck.
"Don't worry, AJ!" Spike exclaimed. "We're here to help!"
"Ah hafta make this place shine...Ah hafta bring it to glory!" Shadow Applejack lifted one of her front legs and stomped on the roof of the skyscraper, shaking the entire building. "And fer that, Ah need to get rid of y'all!"
The ponies wasted no time. Peregrine flapped her wings, sending a ball of compressed wind at the Shadow. It hit its mark, but she was barely fazed at all. A cannon suddenly appeared at the top of the intact tower and fired at Peregrine. The cannonball hit her directly, and Rainbow fell onto her stomach as she slammed into the roof.
"Rainbow, are you all right?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh, just fine! Why wouldn't I be fine after BEING HIT WITH A CANNONBALL?!" Rainbow replied.
"Yeah, she'll live," Spike said. "Focus on the Shadow!"
After another second, Peregrine recovered. She, Jack of Clubs, and Xanthias flew towards the Shadow.
"Y'all sure are foolhardy!" Shadow Applejack yelled mockingly. She fired her cannon at Xanthias, but he held his bag open in its path, catching the cannonball harmlessly. Just as the Personas got to melee range, Merlin crippled the Shadow's defenses. Jack of Clubs and Peregrine slashed into the Shadow as Xanthias blasted it at point-blank range with pale purple energy blasts. In spite of it all, however, the Shadow just laughed--even with the defense drop, the attacks barely seemed to do anything. The Shadow suddenly reared up on its hind legs, lifting her front legs high into the air.
"Get out of the way!" Twilight yelled. "It'll crush you!"
The three Personas retreated only a second before Shadow Applejack came crashing down. The force of her collision with the roof made the ponies feel as if they were at the focal point of an earthquake.
"This place is gonna fall apart if she keeps that up!" Rainbow yelled. "What do we do?"
"Stay away from her! If we're not in range, she won't try that again!" Spike replied.
Shadow Applejack laughed. "Thanks fer lettin' me in on that!" she yelled. She lowered her body a bit, then launched herself into the air. She withdrew her legs into her castle shell and positioned herself so that she would fall directly onto the ponies.
"Ah, horse apples," Rainbow said.
"This is gonna be close!" Twilight yelled. "RUN!"
Everyone scrambled to get out from under the Shadow's...well, shadow. Just as everyone was almost safe, Fluttershy tripped over a piece of rubble just on the edge. She had no time to get up again before Shadow Applejack landed on her back leg. She let out a scream the likes of which no one in the group had ever heard before--one not of fear, but of torturous, spirit-breaking agony. The group's hearts collectively shattered just as Fluttershy's bones did.
"FLUTTERSHY!" Applejack screamed. She ran into action as tears started to stream down her face.
"Applejack, no!" Spike yelled. "We can heal her!"
Applejack didn't listen. The Shadow turned to her as she approached, and lifted her body to face her. Fluttershy frantically crawled out from under her. Applejack looked directly into her Shadow's eyes. "STOP THIS!" she screamed. "Just...leave 'em alone! Kill me instead!"
Shadow Applejack's eye twitched. "Even when it comes to this, yer still bossin' me around?!"
"Ah'm BEGGIN' ya!" Applejack's voice was even more shaken than the skyscraper. "They're ma best friends! Ah can't go on without 'em!"
The Shadow hesitated for a moment. Her glare sharpened, and she aimed her cannon at her host. "It's too late fer beggin'," she said in a terribly calm voice. She fired her cannon directly at Applejack. The farm pony braced herself, but Xanthias threw another energy blast, knocking the cannonball away from her. He flew up and grabbed Applejack, then dodged another cannonball.
"How's Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.
Rarity shook her head. "The damage is grievous. We may need more than just healing magic to restore her to health...but if we do nothing, she will not last long."
Fluttershy was silent, but her breathing came only in short bursts. Her eyes were closed tightly, and she suffered wracking shudders.
"I dunno how long I can keep this up!" Spike yelled as Xanthias dodged a cannonball. "What do we do?"
"I suppose I could try to heal her," Rarity replied. "Twilight, what do you think?"
Twilight shook her head. "If you heal her like this, her bones will stay the way they are. You'll heal them into their current state--pounded into dust. We need to put them back together first."
"How do we do THAT?!" Rainbow asked.
Twilight sighed deeply. She directed Merlin over to her and tore off a piece of his robe, then handed it to Fluttershy. "Bite down on this."
Despite Fluttershy's current state, she was coherent enough to comply. Rainbow turned to Twilight. "Wait...are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
"If you're thinking I'm thinking of cutting her leg open, then yes."
Rarity looked like she had seen a ghost. "Y-you aren't serious, are you?!"
"I should be able to put her bones back together with my magic. Depending on how badly they're damaged, it might even be easy. Once I'm done with that, you can heal her up again."
"But...why do we need to cut her leg open?"
"Because if I can't see what I'm doing, I'll just make it worse. It's a very delicate process, and if I don't do it, she might not make it out of here."
"Then do it!" Rainbow yelled. "Spike, I'm on my way! It's up to us to finish her off now!"
Spike nodded. Xanthias managed to put Applejack down near the others, and he flew towards the Shadow with Peregrine.
Shadow Applejack laughed. "Y'all just don't know when to quit! Ah gotta admit, Ah kinda respect that. But Ah'm gonna kill y'all just the same!"
"Shut up!" Rainbow shot back as Peregrine flew over to the Shadow's face. "This one's for Fluttershy!"
Peregrine jammed her claws into the Shadow's eye. She recoiled immediately, taking several steps back. Her screams of pain managed to somehow cover Fluttershy's as Rarity and Twilight worked on her leg. The Shadow glared at Rainbow with enough intensity to send a dragon crying home to its mother, but Rainbow was unfazed. "Yer gonna pay fer that!"
"YOU'RE the one who made this personal!" Rainbow snapped. "Now shut up and let me finish you!"
"Rainbow, stay calm!" Spike said. "The skyscraper is in bad shape, and if it falls, we're done for!"
Peregrine started slashing relentlessly into the Shadow--almost with as much reckless abandon as when she had been enraged in the stadium. Though the attacks rarely hit flesh, the sheer brutality of the assault caused Shadow Applejack to back up. Xanthias joined in with energy blasts after a few seconds, speeding up the process. Eventually, she was standing with her back to the edge of the rooftop.
"Enough of this!" Shadow Applejack yelled. "It's time fer me to crush y'all!"
Shadow Applejack reared up on her hind legs, preparing to slam them down onto Peregrine. However, while she was standing up like this, Peregrine flapped her wings, causing a huge gust of wind. Shadow Applejack realized her folly too late. She tried to regain her balance, but failed and fell off of the skyscraper. Spike and Rainbow looked over the edge to see her land on her back. The instant she touched the ground, her castle-shell exploded into hundreds of pieces, each of which began to turn into red mist. Spike and Rainbow Dash ran towards Fluttershy and the others.
"How is she?" Spike asked as calmly as he could manage.
"We're just about done," Twilight replied. Jack of Clubs floated over to Fluttershy as Twilight carefully unfolded the skin on her leg, covering up her insides. He put his hand on her leg, and with a bright light, the incision closed, presumably fixing Fluttershy's leg along with it.
"I think you're gonna have to stay off of that for a while until you get your strength back," Rainbow said. "You're lucky--as a Pegasus, it shouldn't be too hard for you."
"Fluttershy...Ah'm so sorry," Applejack said through her tears. "Ah shoulda just accepted it right away...none o' this woulda happened!"
Fluttershy spat out the piece of Merlin's robe and looked up at Applejack. "Don't be...so hard on yourself," she replied. Her voice was hoarse and groggy, and her eyes were barely open. "We all know...that we run the risk of death...every time we come here."
"You need to save your strength," Rarity said sternly. She turned to Applejack. "If it troubles you so much that you did not accept your Shadow straight away...then perhaps it would be best if you accepted it now."
Applejack hesitated as she looked at Fluttershy again. "B-but...the damage is done..."
"If you don't accept it now, it'll attack us again," Twilight said gently.
"It's all right, Applejack," Fluttershy added. "I'll...survive."
"I'll stay with her," Spike said. "You guys help Applejack. She needs you more than we do."
Twilight looked concerned at the prospect of leaving Spike alone, but Rainbow nodded. "We'll catch up as soon as we're done. Don't die in the minute, minute and a half that we're gone, got it?"
Spike gave Rainbow a thumbs-up. The four ponies walked over to the edge that the Shadow had fallen from, and after Twilight grabbed Rarity and Rainbow grabbed Applejack, they all flew down to her, leaving Spike and Fluttershy alone.
"That was...one of the bravest...things I've ever seen," Fluttershy said, smiling softly. "You...were amazing out there."
Spike chuckled a bit. "Yeah...I guess it was kinda brave, huh?...With both you and Applejack in danger, I guess I sorta just...forgot what I was afraid of."
Fluttershy put her hoof around Spike as her eyelids began to lower even more. "Thank you...for what you did. And...tell the others...I said thanks, too. I'll...always remember this."
"Hey, no problem. That's what friends are for, right?"
With that, Fluttershy's eyes finally closed in her fatigue.
The four ponies had landed to find Shadow Applejack in her original shape again, lying on her back. She opened her eyes upon hearing their footfalls and looked her host directly in the eye.
"Ah'm...so sorry," Applejack said. "Ah knew ya were always there...but Ah love ma sister, y'know? Ah couldn't stand to think like you, and Ah always shut ya out. But...Ah knew y'all were right from th' very beginnin'...Ah just couldn't admit it."
Shadow Applejack's eyes softened a bit, and she smiled hopefully. She waited for Applejack to continue.
"In the end, it comes down to one simple fact." Applejack walked over to her Shadow and sat down beside her. "Yer me. Ah just wish I coulda opened up to that in the first place."
Shadow Applejack nodded. There was a flash of white light, yielding a nine-foot-tall behemoth. It was vaguely human-shaped, with a torso that looked like a thick T made of stone bricks. It had thin arms and legs, the former of which were attached to its shoulders. Only a few inches of the limbs could be seen, however--the majority of each was covered with a wrist or ankle band in the shape of a castle tower, made of the same bricks as the torso. Its shoulders also sported castle battlements.
"That guy is a GIANT!" Rainbow exclaimed, awestruck.
"He does look very powerful," Rarity added.
Applejack's Persona turned into an Arcana card that showed a thin woman befriending a lion, which floated down to Applejack and disappeared. Applejack stood up again as she was bathed in its glow. "Stonewall, huh...? Ah like it. Simple, but strong--just my style."
Twilight smiled brightly. "All right...I think we're done with this place. Let's get Fluttershy and Spike, and then we'll leave."
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, Ah agree...Ah think Ah need to have a long talk with Apple Bloom about what happened here."