The Moon Lv.1
This is not good. Not good at all. You got too careless and didn't even expected an ambush from other shadows while you were busy fighting a different pack of shadows. Being out of commission for too long may have made you a bit rusty, and due to a moment's error and miscalculation caused the ragtag group to disperse. Normally, this would be the best choice of action but as things stand, only you can defeat the shadows, the other ones in the group being live target to the shadows.
Gritting your teeth in frustration, you venture towards the closest one you see. You get to your destination, thanking the gods that your search wasn't fruitless as you see Rainbow Dash and Applejack trying to fend off the would be attackers away from Rarity and Fluttershy, the shadows were backing away but they were obviously doing little to no damage at all. If it were possible at all to split up with Orpheus, you would send him out to search for the others but, the longest distance you could be away from your persona was ten to twenty meters before you start having a minor headache.
"Agi!" you yelled out as you garnered the attention to you as both you and Orpheus shot out flames towards the group of enemies. They were caught off guard as two out of the five were hit, unluckily, it wasn't strong enough to kill them off as they were now circling you as target. You call out towards the others to find those who were missing as you dodge attack after attack while countering back with a kick. Five versus one is not a good odd but the safety and well-being of the group takes place first and foremost.
"Ya can't do this on yer own!"
You continue evading and counter-attacking while you gave out orders to the group. Even though hesitant This would be a lot easier if you had a weapon of some sort but you'll have to do with brute force and maneuverability. Of course, even you have your limits as you keep getting him from time to time, you hurry to end this fight before it wears you out.
Level Up!
Strength - 3 > 6
Magic - 2 > 4
Endurance - 3 > 4
Agility - 2 > 4
Luck - 2 > 3
Persona: Orpheus
Additional Stats: Luck +4
Finally getting the hang of fighting again and getting more experience in this new body, you finally dwindle their numbers into nothing but at a cost. You notice yourself out of breath. Probably shouldn't have fired off so many Agi spells. Things would be different if you had a viable weapon, well, no use thinking about the past. You still have to find the others, hopefully, they found each other.
You continue to search left and right, finally finding them in a clearing in the forest, you see a river of blood, made by the adverse effects of the dark hour. Near the river was something you thought you'd never see anymore.
"Tartarus..." You stare at the hulking tower in disbelief for a few seconds before gritting your teeth in anger, you ran as fast as you could towards the group. If things are going as you think... things may get a bit dangerous very soon.
"What do we do now?! Those monsters may very well be closing in on us and we're sitting ducks out here!" a hysteric purple pony cried out to the others.
"My student, please relax. Panicking will do nothing but hurt you and the others around you, so relax."
"The princess is right Twilight. If we follow what Mister Minato has said then all these is about to end soon."
"R-Right. The dark hour is just as he said. If we follow what he told us, then all this will only last for an hour. Right. Relax Twilight, you've been through tougher times than this. Relax." trying to reassure herself was the only thing they could do when someone or somepony suddenly came into their midst
"Sister! We are glad you and the others are safe but, thy troubles seem to only be getting bigger." the pony that just arrived was a purple pony with purple wavy hair.
"Luna!/Princess Luna!" the others called her out
"Hello little ponies. Whilst we would love to chat, 'tis hardly the time nor place. We feel danger approaching." she then looked towards your position apparently noticing you running towards this group. "And we are ready to fight back." the others seem to notice what she meant but before they were able to stop her in time, she has already gone off towards you.
You seem to notice another ['pony'] as they call themselves coming towards the group, you thought it was another shadow going after the group but, they were soon conversing with it so you decided that the pony was not a threat. Perhaps you decided that too soon?
She suddenly trotted towards you and then teleported to your side. Not expecting a fierce attack from the new pony, you were a little too slow to dodge as she got a good kick straight to your torso.
"Oof!" this pony was stronger than she looks! That kick probably cracked a rib or two. Well, so much for 'First Impressions'. You spat out blood that collected from your mouth due to the kick as you stand up towards assailant, expecting another attack, you braced yourself for impact as you stood up on your back legs or hooves and crossed your front hooves together to form a block but nothing came.
You looked up and notice the attacker was gone until...
"Agh!" You felt a good hit from your back. You got sent forward a meter or two before you flipped back to face the attacker, it was a she, but that doesn't change the fact that she was completely hostile towards you, while she was completely friendly to the group. You decide not to hurt her and play defensively until someone here could explain what was going on.
You see a bright flash of light as she was soon gone in front of you. Using your honed senses, you notice she was now above you as you quickly jumped away from the attack, resulting the ground were you were before to crack and get destroyed. Defensively might be hard after all... Telerportation, cheats...
The two of you spent a good two to three minutes wasting time playing cat and mouse, and with every time you were caught off guard meant a good punch,kick and beating to come, before the others got to your positions and able to stop the rampage that was being given to you.
"Forgive us. It was our grave mistake, that all this was due to your existence and will. We cannot atone for what we've done but we pray for your forgiveness!" you were told that she was the younger sister of Celestia and apparently, she was more brash in her actions. You assure her it's fine as you lay down and rest.
"No! It is not 'fine'! We will atone for our sins. Maybe not now, but we will somehow do it! So please do not say something like this is 'fine', our honor is on the line." you assure her that it was an honest mistake but, if she wanted to pay you back sometime then you're fine with it.
"That wasn't the best of first impressions but, this should do." you see Celestia chuckling as she said this, much to her sister's ire and dismay as Luna blushed in embarrassment causing you to laugh as well
"Tis not a laughing matter! Cease at once!" even her attempt to stop the laughter was funny and not working as she said this line with the blush still on her face.
Thou art I... And I art thou...
Thou have established a new bond...
The moon has shone it's light to thine path...
Thou have been blessed to find the Moon Persona.
The Moon Lv.1
But the triviality of the moment was soon destroyed by booming howls from two different beings coming from the tower.
"Everypony, to arms! The beasts cometh." they got ready for whatever was coming but from the looks of it even Luna wouldn't be able to hurt the shadows. You get ready as you hope the shadows are low on numbers. Contrary to what you were hoping, the shadows were plenty in numbers. Ranging from around five to ten, not counting the two larger beings that bore strange marks on their masks in their respective collar. Marks that were strangely resembling the sun and moon arcana... Could the minor shadows have their own arcana?
The pack of wolf shadows were slowly going towards the group as you stood in front of the group with both the princesses doing what you plan to do. Protect the others. With a large howl from the two larger beings, the other smaller ones taking it as a command went and ran straight towards your group. As you and the princesses get ready to receive and counter the shadows back, they did something unexpected, they circled around you and went after Twilight and the others! You gave chase as you told the two to be careful.
"Here they come everypony. Let's all give it our best shot!" Applejack yelled out as she kicked away the shadow, of course not doing any damage but worked in driving it away.
"These stupid dogs are tough, I'll give them that. Hah!" Rainbow Dash ducked as she landed to the ground barely dodging the pouncing wolves. They were slowly being cornered but, the shadows were too focused on the group as they failed to notice you were coming near.
Thankfully, this was a forest and the place was abundant with sticks, though brittle as weapons, they still count. With stick in mouth, you jumped and delivered a well aimed stab to one of them causing it to evaporate as it died leaving you and the group with only nine more wolves to take care of.
"Mighty nice of ya ta drop by partner!" you gave her a smirk as you nodded to the group. Killing one of the wolves seemed to have garnered the attention of the other ones and in your current condition? You need to finish this fight quickly but, spells would be impossible right now as you feel yourself drained, maybe using dia on yourself was a bad idea?
"Kuh!" you ducked down and then jumped back as two suddenly lunged at you, they were weak but they had the advantage in numbers, you notice one of them getting ready to lunge at you so you ready yourself to evade and counter, as soon as it lunged, you waited for it to be closer as you dodged to your left and spun to get a powerful momentum for an even powerful kick towards it's side.
Two down... Eight to go, this may not be so bad after all...
"I hate this feeling..." Twilight and the others looked at the one who said that, noticing it was Pinkie but, something was off about her, her hair wasn't it's usual gravity-defying puffy hair instead it was replaced by a straight, slightly discolored.
"Pinkie..." they all looked at her sadly and it seemed she notice the looks she was receiving as she suddenly smiled and her hair and color going back to normal.
"I'm fine girls! It's just... I feel so useless right now... I can do lots of things but... I can't do anything right now to help everypony..." they all shared the same thought as they looked towards you in your struggle, by the time they were talking with another it seemed you were able to defeat a large number of the enemies side.
Good. Playing defensively worked quite well in THIS battle, receiving only a few scrapes here and there, now leaving it a two versus one, not being able to use Orpheus was bad enough, you had no weapon except for the brittle branches you were picking up from a tree whenever you get near one.
The shadows decided they would go with an all or nothing attack as they both lunged directly towards you. You took a step back, expecting this very thing to happen.
"Agi!" you summoned Orhpeus to attack the shadows that were currently tangled with one another, you and Orpheus sent out a ball of flame each and roasted the remaining two.
Level Up!
Strength - 6 > 7
Magic - 4 > 5
Endurance - 4 > 5
Agility - 4 > 5
Luck - 3
Persona: Orpheus
Additional Stats: Luck +6
Spiritual power seem to slowly recharge in this world. Just charging for an agi spell took too long. You decide to put this thought on hold as you looked towards the princesses, they were both on par with the shadows but, since the shadows were receiving little to no damage, the princesses held the disadvantages as they were slowly but surely being backed away.
You begin to run to their aid but...
"Aaaaargh!!" you weren't expecting another shadow to come out and attack as you were blindsided and got slashed as you flew back towards Twilight and the others, thankfully it wasn't too deep, as you lay to the ground
"Minato are you okay?!" the group concernedly asked but instead of answering them, you look at the direction of the additional enemy and noticed that this was larger than the two that the princesses were fighting, this one was more feral and bloodthirsty. You decide to connect the dots together...
Wolves, sun and moon arcana, large wolves hunting down the gods that govern the sun and the moon... you open your eyes in distress... you told Twilight to get the others and the princesses away from this place as possible!
"Wh-Why?!" you explain your deduction based on your earth mythological know-how, If this big wolf in front is stronger than the other two that the princesses were fighting then it would automatically be the leader, a wolf with two other wolves are a dime a dozen in the case of mythologies but two wolves with markings of the sun and moon arcana was a gigantic hint.
You told them the one with the moon was named ['Hati'] and the one with the sun was named ['Skoll'].
"What is their connection towards this big one and why do you want me to get the princesses away from those two?" strangely enough the big wolf in front of you was not moving from it's spot but that only further solidified your reasoning. The big one is called ['Fenrir'] the parent of ['Hati'] the moon devourer and ['Skoll'] the sun killer... they gasped and looked at the two frightening wolves that were circling their princesses.
You continue to tell them that these are not the real mythologies but if the shadows were trying to copy them then the princess were in grave danger. You tell Twilight to go get the princesses while you guard the others. She argued but you told her now is not a time of argument but of actions.
You both ran towards Fenrir as you dodge swipe after swipe that was aimed to break your bones and cut you in half, losing too much blood from your wound has suddenly caused you to sway a little in a weakened state, you gather your bearings seeing Twilight was now being targeted by Fenrir. You ran as fast as you could, ignoring your own body's pain as you pushed her away from the pouncing she was about to receive, causing you to be the one who was pounced or would be as you quickly dodged back.
"Oof... Hey!" you gave her an apology as you dodge but once again getting dizzy as you tumbled forward.
Fenrir saw this as a sign of weakness and lunged, mouth open, fangs and all... This is it huh... One persona against an army of shadows was impossible after all... you start to lose consciousness when you suddenly heard a scream
"Noooooo!!!" Twilight screamed out as a bright flash of light came out from her horn... a dazzling light almost as bright as the sun causing to three wolves to hiss in pain... wait. Pain? Could it be?! You open your eyes to look at Twilight and you see...
Twilight looking up from above her, was a woman, garbed with white and purple cloths, around her were two floating vials with a blue and green liquid on them and on her hand was a wand, in her hair was a sun shaped clip...
"Cir...ce..." Twilight muttered out, a little bit out of it as she stared at the woman, her own goddess, her own Persona. ['Circe'] the daughter of Helios, greek god of the sun. Circe, the greek goddess of magic. She couldn't have any better persona than the goddess of magic herself.
Not letting anything get in their way, Fenrir called out to the other two wolves as they went straight to the still out of it Twilight. You called out to her to look out but she paid the wolves no heed as she continued to look at Circe. She muttered a word softly and barely audible.
"Maragidyne" you fail to hear her but you know for certain that she used a very high level spell as flames suddenly erupted from the ground and burnt the wolf trio causing them to reel back in pain. Stunning them in the progress.
Twilight having seemed to have snapped out of it, noticed Circe waving goodbye at her as she vanished. You cast a dia spell on yourself, once again depleting your SP reserves but healing your wounds a little in the process as you go near Twilight.
"What... What just happened?" you told her of what happened, what she did and everything in between. You congratulate her on unlocking her persona, she took notice of the faces the others were making, mixed with surprise were those of hope and amazement. You ask her if she wanted to help you wrap this up.
"How?" you looked at her with half lidded eyes as you told her to use her magic.
"But magic doesn't work!" you remind her that she has already awakened her persona and if theory was correct, then damaging the shadows were now possible for her and she said "Oh... right." she blushed embarrassingly and chuckled, you asked her if she's really smart the way she was air-headed like this.
"Sorry." she smiled, blush still on her face, apparently she admits being an airhead from time to time. You sigh and asked her once more. She nods. It's time.
You both ran towards the two as Twilight was positioned at your back running right behind you, you jumped up and delivered a swift kick towards Fenrir's Jaw and as you land, jumped straight towards Hati with your hooves in front of you, putting your power into the bullet dive, pushing it backwards in pain and quickly jumping up delivering an axe kick to Skoll's back, pushing all three together as you gave Twilight the signal.
Taking your signal she unleashed a powerful fire magic and burned the shadows down.
Level Up!
Strength - 7 > 8
Magic - 5
Endurance - 5 > 6
Agility - 5 > 6
Luck - 3 > 5
Persona: Orpheus
Additional Stats: Luck +8
As soon as the three wolves vanished you let go of the tension you feel, you plop down to the ground, heaving heavy breaths... the others soon went towards the both of you and congratulated and thanked both of you for your deeds.
You were too tired to listen to anything else as you kept heaving, all the tension vanishing caused your body to realize how tired it is and using this as a chance to finally get some rest, you decide to close your eyes... but before you close them you notice a blue butterfly... You guess that you'll be having another guest in your dreams once more as you finally closed your eyes...
Somewhere far away from the area, blood red eyes were staring towards the scene.
"So, those weird goo thingies can be killed after all! Finally, a way to be safe..." the eyes held hope "I'm tired of being on the run from those things' endless hunts... If there's a way... I need to know how." the area suddenly shimmer as the dark hour vanished and the surroundings returned to normal. The Blood red eyes turning into purple.
"I just want my peace." the pony sighed...