Sunset Shimmer woke up, her eyes slowly going back into focus as she could see she was in some sort of limo that was velvet inside. On closer inspection, she could also see that she was human once again. “Ah… It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny... “ The voice chuckled. Sunset Shimmer to see a man and a woman sitting next to eachother. The Woman with the blue clothes and yellow eyes, while the man had an unusually large nose. “My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It is a room that only those who are bound by a ‘contract’ may enter… It appears that you are bound by such a contract. Now then… why don’t you introduce yourself?”
Sunset Shimmer just stared at the man not really knowing what to think of the situation. “Um… I’m Sunset Shimmer.”
“Hm… I see.” Igor responded. “Now, let’s take a look into your future, shall we?” he said as some cards appeared on the table in front of him. “Do you believe in fortune telling?”
“Not really…” Sunset responded quietly.
Igor chuckled at the response. “Well… each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different… Life itself follows the same principles, doesn’t it?” Sunset Shimmer just sat down and listened as Igor flipped over one of the cards. “Hm… The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent. The card indicating the future beyond that is…” he pauses flipping the card. “The moon, in the upright position. This card represents ‘hesitation’ and ‘mystery’... very interesting indeed. It seems as though your destiny has been intertwined with another guest of the velvet room. You know him as Narukami I take it? He will be an important part of your journey, and he will help you control your power. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… if the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost.” Sunset Shimmer’s eyes widened at that remark. “But do not be alarmed… My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen.” he said as the cads vanished before him. “Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you.” he turned to the girl to his side. “This is Margaret. she is a resident of this place, like myself.”
“My name is Margaret.” She repeated. “I am here to accompany you through your journey.”
Igor then turned back to me. “We shall attend to the details another time. For now, please, take this with you.” Sunset Shimmer was given the Velvet Key from Margaret. “From this night forth, you are our guest in this Velvet room. Until we meet again… farewell.” There was a bright light before everything faded.
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As Sunset Shimmer’s eyes went back into focus, she could see that she was back in Twilight’s castle as her former pony self. “The Velvet room… Igor… wait a sec, his voice actually sounded familiar…” she then recalled the words she heard before.
“The Persona ability is the power to control one’s own heart… And the heart is strengthened through bonds. As you form bonds by becoming involved with others, your own Social Links will gradually develop. The power of these Social Links is what will determine your Persona’s abilities.”
“That was Igor… wasn’t it…?” she started walking. “And Narukami is going to be a big part…?” she continued talking to herself as she walked. She stopped and thought for a minute. “He said something about Social Links and Bonds… maybe it’s time I started getting to know ponies better here in Ponyville.” She headed for the door and went outside. She sighed as she looked around. “This is so weird… but if it’s for the sake of this mystery, I have to.” She stopped and saw Rarity headed toward her house with a younger filly walking next to her. “Oh, Rarity!” Sunset ran up to the white unicorn. “It’s good to see you this morning.”
Rarity turned to see Sunset Shimmer with a kind of look of confusion. “Oh, uh… it’s good to see you too?”
Sunset’s smile started to change into a nervous and awkward one. “Oh! uh… so what do you have planned today?” She asked smiling sheepishly.
“Well… Today I was planning on going to the spa with Sweetie Belle… my sister.”
“I thought she looked familiar…” Sunset said referring to the Sweetie Belle in Canterlot high.
“I beg your pardon?”
“N-nothing! It’s nothing…” She said trying to regain her composure. “You think maybe I could join you?”
Rarity smiled in surprise. “I don’t see why not. As a matter of fact, why don’t we invite those other girls?”
“You mean… Chie, Yukiko, and Rise?”
“Isn’t Naoto a girl too?”
“Huh? Oh, r-right…” Sunset cleared her throat. “What about the guys?”
“I don’t really know… from what Chie told me, the boys can be pretty perverted. Especially Teddie…”
“I guess they can go a different day then… I’ll go let them know. You and Sweetie Belle go on ahead, we’ll meet you there.”
“Very well darling…” Rarity answered with a bit of confusion as Sunset Shimmer ran back inside.
Sunset Shimmer walked inside to see everyone just lying around doing nothing. “I wonder where Narukami went… it’s not like him to just leave like that.” Naoto said finally.
“Oh, uh, him and Twilight went somewhere.” Sunset answered.
“Oh, you saw him?” Yosuke asked.
“Yeah, Twilight said she needed to get something from my school, and Narukami decided to go wit her.” She smiled with a squee.
“Uh… alright.” Kanji replied. “Senpai’s always helping the chicks isn’t he.”
“Yeah I’ve noticed… dude’s chick magnet.” Yosuke says with a hint of jealousy.
“Uh… anyways.” Sunset Shimmer interrupted. “Rarity and I were wondering if the girls would like to go to the spa with us?”
“You have a spa??” Chie exclaimed.
“That sounds lovely.” Yukiko nodded.
“I wouldn’t mind a little relaxation.” Rise smiled.
“I suppose it could do us some good.” Naoto smiled as well. “Walking around in a pony body… I’m still getting used to it.”
“I’m all for it!” Teddie exclaimed. “This bear could use some relaxation with his favorite teddy bears!” he says about to hug Sunset.
“Not gonna happen!” She said putting a hoof to his face. “Besides, it’s girls only.”
“What??” Kanji exclaimed. “Oh that’s complete BS!”
“I’m sorry but Rarity and I kind of feel uncomfortable with guys and girls in the same room.”
“Isn’t there some separate rooms or something?” Yosuke asked.
“I don’t know, honestly. I’m still kinda new to Ponyville myself.” Sunset Answered. “Look if there are different rooms, you can come with us next time, ok?”
“This seriously blows…” Yosuke groaned. “What else is there to do!?”
“I don’t know… get to know the other ponies here I guess. We’ll see you later.” She began to walk out with the girls from Inaba.
“Wait, I just remembered!” Chie said as they walked out. “We don’t have any clothes to change into!”
“Uh…” Sunset Shimmer just giggled. “You don’t need them. You’re ponies right now, remember? There’s nothing up here.” she said placing a hoof on her chest.
“Oh right… guess I’m still getting used to this body too.” Chie chuckled.
“Although they are in a different pla--”
“Don’t need to know!” Chie barked.
Everyone just started laughing on their way to the spa.
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At the Spa, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were met with the girls. “Oh thank goodness you all could make it!”
“Wow, this place looks fancy…” Chie said looking around.
“Oh when it comes to this place, Aloe and Lotus do not joke around.” Rarity giggled. “Now then, why we start with the sauna?”
“Rarity…” Sweetie Belle spoke out with a disappointed look on her face.
“Oh dear, that’s right… Sweetie Belle isn’t old enough to go in there.”
Sunset Shimmer looked down at Sweetie Belle who was starting to look more sad. “I can go with her somewhere else here.”
“Oh but I couldn’t possibly let you do that…”
“It’s no trouble really.” Sunset Smiled. “Is she old enough for the mud baths?”
“Actually, she can go there as long as she’s supervised. But do you really want to--”
“I’d love to. It’ll give me a chance to get to know her.”
“Well, I suppose that’s alright…” Rarity sighed.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Chie smiled trying to reassure her.
“Very well…” Rarity turned to Sweetie. “Sweetie Belle, please do your best to be on your best behavior…”
Sweetie Belle smiled slightly and noded. “Don’t worry Rarity. Everything will be just fine.”
“Very well then… everyone else, to the sauna!” Rarity exclaimed as she lead the others to follow her.
Sunset smiled and looked down at Sweetie Belle. “You know where the mud baths are?”
“Mhm!” Sweetie beamed. “Follow me!” she exclaimed running toward the room.
“H-hey! wait up!” Sunset exclaimed running after her. After a bit of running, they managed to find the mud bath room. “Oh man… it looks like there’s only one bath available for use.”
“We can share it.” Sweetie Belle smiled, slowly putting her hooves inside the bath. “Rarity and I usually do that…” she sighed.
“Something the matter?” Sunset asked getting in the bath with her.
“It’s nothing… not important.” she smiled at Sunset with a face obviously showing she’s trying to keep something to herself.
“Are you sure?” Sunset asked catching Sweetie by surprise a bit. “If it’s anything, I’m here to listen to you if you wanna talk about it.”
Sweetie Belle was silent for a second and looked down sighing. “It’s just that whenever I come to Ponyville to visit my sister, it always seems like she’s too busy to do anything with me…”
“But she took you to the spa today, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, but things like that is rare. Besides, she’s still not even with me!” she exclaimed catching Sunset Shimmer by surprise as well. “You saw what she did right?? she just let other ponies get in the way of us hanging out for once… Sometimes I feel like she does this kind of stuff on purpose.”
Sunset looked down and sighed. “I guess that was partially my fault… I shouldn’t have asked to join you two when you already had plans.”
Sweetie Belle smiled at Sunset sweetly. “It’s not your fault… It’s not like you knew about it.”
“Yeah but still…”
“Rarity was wrong…”
“Huh?”
“She said that she had doubts about you. I don’t know what you did before but… I don’t think you’re like what she says. I think you’re really nice.” Hearing this, Sunset couldn’t help but smile as a tear escaped, going down her face. “Are you okay…?”
Sunset wiped the tear away and smiled. “Yeah, I’m okay Sweetie Belle… Say, how about we get together like this more often?”
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle smiled brightly. “I could even show you my friends! Oh! and our club house!”
“Club house?”
“It’s the Cutie Mark Crusaders club house! A group of ponies who work hard to find another pony’s special talent and help them get their cutie marks!” Sweetie Blushed. “Right now it’s only me and my two best friends though… oh! and Appleblooms cousin from Manehatten.” Sweetie Belle stopped for a second. “Do you want to be a crusader too?”
“Huh? But I already have my cutie mark…”
“That’s why I think it would be a great idea! You could give advice to other crusaders and help them also!”
Sunset smiled and nodded. “I’d love to then…”
Sweetie Belle smiled back. She could feel her understanding raise a bit. Sunset could also feel a faint bond forming with Sweetie Belle… Suddenly, she heard those words again. Thou art I… And I am thou… Thou has established a new bond… It brings thee closer to the truth… Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Justice Arcana… Sunset smiled. “Come on, let’s enjoy ourselves here.”
Sweetie Belle Smiled brightly and nodded.