//------------------------------// // Chapter 23: Cracked Shield // Story: Persona: Innocent Wish // by Trismegistus //------------------------------// “Arrraaattaaaa, wake up,” Arata was slowly pulled to consciousness by a faint voice. As he became more and more awake he could feel himself being shaken. “Waaakeeee up maaan, we neeed to go to the lake noooow.”  Camphor’s whisper was growing louder. Arata’s eyes rapidly blinked open as he rolled out of bed. “Why didn’t my radio wake me up?” he whispered frantically getting his equipment on. “Theee batteerrryy is probably dead; we can deal with that laaateeeer. Are you ready?” Camphor asked, heading toward the door. “Yeah, let’s hurry.” Arata pulled on his bag and the pair quietly exited the house. Once they were far enough out of the town they broke into a full gallop towards the lake. … Arata and Camphor got to the lake just after Blaze, Vox, and Compass Rose. Rose was visibly nervous and Vox was doing her best to calm her down. “You two good to go?” Blaze asked dropping his pack and securing his machete. Arata and Camphor firmly nodded and Arata led the charge into the lake. Arata, Blaze, and Vox were all able to land on their hooves. Camphor couldn’t quite get the landing right and Compass Rose gently floated down. In front of them was a large iron door which had already been opened. There were no decorations on the door, only a series of rivets that lead to a large handle. With a nod from Blaze, Arata ran through the door and the rest of the group quickly followed. … The group was standing on a stone bridge surrounded a familiar castle. “The Canterlot Castle?” Blaze said a bit confused. “Yeah, I remember this place from the day Nightmare Moon returned.” Compass Rose gasped, “Arata! This is the platform that we landed on.” “I think you’re right,” Arata nodded, “Vox can you tell if anypony is nearby?” He quickly learned that would not be necessary, as Ivory shield swept down from above them. To every pony’s surprise she wasn’t wearing her armor. “Good, you must be my reinforcements.” She began. “Follow me, there isn’t much time and the Princess is in danger.” “Ivory,” Vox interrupted, “What’s going on? Are you alright?” “Never address an officer by their first name, recruit.” Ivory Shield flashed Vox a menacing glare, “Now all of you follow me.” She started to fly towards the castle leaving the group behind. “I don’t think she recognized us,” Vox stated. “Then we’d better hurry,” Blaze added, “There is no telling what kind of danger she’s in.” The group quickly followed Ivory Shield to the entrance to the throne room. Without turning to see if the group was with her, she kicked open the door and was greeted by a deafening screech. She darted in and the team quickly followed. Arata was disgusted with what he saw inside, bodies of guard ponies littered the room, and drops of blood were visible on almost every surface. Lying in the center was Shining Armor, his body broken and his armor shattered. But these sights only distracted Arata for a moment. Another shriek pulled his attention to the hulking armored shadow that was currently locked in combat with Princess Celestia herself. Flashes of magic shot out from her horn striking the shadow several times. The shadow itself stood on two legs, and had a head resembling that of a dragon or crocodile.  In one arm it held a large spiked club, and the other a shield. Its head, arms, and torso were all protected by plates of forged iron, which seemed to completely shield it from Celestia’s attacks. Without any signal it leapt forward at Celestia, just as Ivory Shield threw herself at it. The shadow bashed Celestia with its shield knocking her to the ground, the quickly raised the club and with a nauseating crunch, brought it down on her. The world seemed to flash by everypony. The last thing each one saw was Ivory Shield collapsing to the ground, as she failed in her duty. … Blaze and Vox woke up, not quite realizing they had passed out, in one of the castle suites. The room they were in was poorly maintained. Most of the pictures had fallen from the walls and most of the furniture was stained and dusty. “Blaze,” Vox cracked her eyes. Although she wasn’t in any pain it she felt stiff and groggy. “When did we pass out?” Blaze pulled himself up slowly, “I don’t know, everything happened pretty fast once we entered the throne room.” There was a knock on the door, and quietly a bulky armored unicorn entered the room. “Taxiarhos, I’m sorry to interrupt you when you are with you consort, but the Strategos requests your presence in the war room immediately.” Blaze and Vox glanced at each other, unsure of who was the ‘taxiarhos’, and who was the consort, They both got out of the bed and Vox found a set of armored plates sitting on the floor by her hooves. “I shall take my leave while you ready yourself,” he bowed and left the room. “I don’t like this,” Vox began, with her horn lighting up. “I think all of these ponies are shadows.  It’s like the lake is getting stronger everytime we go in. First the shadows were trees, and now they’re full on ponies.” “I don’t like it either. I have a feeling watching Celestia get killed was just the start of Ivory Shields fears.” Blaze said trying not to picture what they had witnessed earlier. “Yeah, I know it was all fake, but I can’t get that image out of my head,” Vox sighed. “But we have more important things to worry about. Do you think I should go to the meeting?” Blaze stopped to consider the possibilities for a moment. “I think you should. Hopefully we’ll learn something about what’s going on.” “And what if I get attacked?” Vox questioned. “I think you and Morgana are more than a match for a bunch of shadows. But if you’re worried I can use some of the magic you taught me to monitor your thoughts while you’re in the meeting. Then if anything goes wrong, I can come running.” “Alright,” Vox fastened the armor, and examined the crest on the breastplate. It was unfamiliar to her, two horns crossed over what appeared to be the same crest Ivory Shield had shown them in Cidergrove. “Well, here goes nothing.”  Vox walked over to the door stopping when Blaze called out to her, “You know, this room isn’t half bad. The two of us should take a trip to Canterlot sometime.” “You always pick the strangest times to ask me on dates,” Vox said slipping out of the door. Once outside she found the pony who had previously spoken to them waiting at attention. “Shall we proceed to the war room?” Vox prepared her most authoritative voice, “Yes, lead the way.” The Canterlot palace was in miserable shape, several of the high towers had collapsed crushing some of the smaller rooms of the castle. Other sections had holes punched in the walls and roofs alike. As they continued the walk, Vox noted the large amount of ponies walking about in armor; all of which were unicorns. The pony led Vox to the courtyard outside of the throne room. Gigantic boulders littered the space, most of which were deeply buried in the soil. Although it was faint Vox could feel Blaze’s presence in her mind. He wasn’t skilled enough in telepathy to speak to her from this distance, but just having him there was soothing. She climbed the steps to the throne room door, the guards briefly saluted and then opened it to let her in. In the center of the room was a rectangular wooden table with maps stretched across it. “Lady Vox,” A female unicorn greeted her, “I hope you enjoyed your rest. I was hesitant to disturb you, but I am afraid I need your assistance.” Judging from the way everypony was acting Vox assumed this to be the commander, although she wished she remembered the word the other pony had used for her. “Not a problem my lady, how may I help?” Vox responded. “I’ll skip to the heart of the matter,” She pointed to a spot on the map in front of her. “Do you know what this is?” Vox immediately recognized the area as the Everfree Forest, although she couldn’t quite place the name of the town. “That’s the edge of the Everfree Forrest.” Vox answered. “That’s partially correct, what I have more interest in is the town specifically. It goes by the name of Ponyville. Until very recently it has remained neutral in this civil war. I have a few spies stationed there who have reported that the earth pony faction is trying to make a move for it. Ponyville’s neutrality has helped us to this point. It’s a fairly important location tactically and we haven’t had to worry about it, but that’s could all change soon. We will be seizing the town before the earth ponies have a chance. I want you to lead one of the battalions.” Vox quickly put the situation together in her head. It seemed that Ivory Shield’s fear was civil war in Equestria. Given the circumstances there didn’t seem to be any other option than to accept the offer of command. “Of course, is there anything else you would have me do?” She asked feeling as if this was all part of some elaborate game. “That is all for now, you may take leave once more,” The unicorn returned to her maps and Vox went to rejoin Blaze. … “That is your mission. Do you understand?” A bearded earthpony asked Arata and Camphor. They had both woken up in a pile of hey, and were quickly rounded up by a pony who claimed to be “military police.” They were led to a farm house which had been turned into a makeshift command room. They were greeted by a commander who informed them that they were two of the best spies in the Caballus Rouge, and were to be sent on a deep cover mission to Ponyville. “I think so,” Arata mumbled. He had a strong feeling the pony he was talking to was in fact a shadow, a point he wasn’t very happy about. “We’ll head out as soon as possible.” Camphor and Arata both half-heartedly saluted and exited the room. “Soooo whyyy are weee playing along with the shadowwwss?” Camphor asked. “I don’t want to upset this many of them without the rest of the team,” Arata explained, “the rest of the team doesn’t have any healing magic, and there’s no way of knowing what kind of situation they’re in.” “Gooot it. I should have given out the vials I packed before we walked through the door, but I got caught up in all of the excitement,” Camphor apologized. “Don’t worry about it,” Arata firmly assured him. They watched as a patrol of ponies walked by wearing olive drab shirts and matching hats. “We should head out; we need to find the others as quickly as possible.” They set out on the hike to Ponyville, passing through the group’s camp. The rows of tents that lined the area were reminiscent of those that the E.W.E.F. employed. The fighting force didn’t seem to be well equipped especially if they were planning to fight against unicorns and pegasai. Although it was hard to deny what they lacked in gear they made up for in sheer numbers. There were hundreds of ponies at this camp alone, and if each one was a shadow the odds weren’t looking good for the team. “Soo thissss is Ivory Shieeelld’sss fear, a civil war in Equestria. Ya knooooow I can’t believe the lake is capable of doing something like this. Every little detail is just sooo elaborraatee.” Camphor said inspecting some of the local plants, “Like these, they’re a plant I studiiieeed, and eveerrryy littlee detail is, like, perfect.”   “When we first came here we were in Nippony, and it was exactly as I remembered it,” Arata added as they continued down the trail toward Ponyville. The hike there took hours, although it was never clear how much time had actually passed while they were in the lake. They followed a road, and short of the “ponies” they had seen earlier there were no signs of shadows. Coming over a shallow hill Arata and Camphor got their first view of Ponyville. “Iiiit looookss exaccctllly like Foalsdale,” Camphor said. Too Arata’s shock he didn’t seem surprised at this. “It looks like the lake can only uuuusssseee things we know, like those plants we saw.” “That makes sense from everything I’ve seen so far,” Arata agreed. “Better get started on our ‘spy mission’.” They headed into town with the hope that they would find their friends soon. … Compass Rose woke up on a cloud bed. Although she was a pegasus  it had been years since she had returned home to Cloudsdale, and while she was with the E.W.E.F. she felt closer to the team sleeping in a tent like everypony else. Shifting her weight uncomfortably she lightly flapped her wings and floated out of bed. She scanned the room trying to figure out just where she was. Familiar pillars greeted her along with a few chests scattered around the room. It felt just like the rooms at flight school. A set of armor was resting at the foot of her bed. She floated over to it and lifted the helmet noticing that the right was etched with some kind of rank insignia and below it, her cutie mark. There was a knock on her door. Unsure of where she was, or what could be at the door she scrambled for her machete, but to her dismay it wasn’t anywhere to be found. Thinking quickly she ran through her memory of summoning a Persona, but with her panicked state she couldn’t remember what exactly she had done to call it the first time. The door opened and Compass Rose prepared for the worst, shifting into an unbalanced fighting stance. “Rose, what’s taking you so long?” Ivory Shields Familiar voice called. “Oh, thank Celestia,” Compass Rose let out a sigh of relief shifting back to a normal position. “Where are the others? We need to get out of here now.” Compass Rose looked at the armor Ivory Shield was wearing. It was different from her usual guard armor. The plume on the helmet was shifted 90 degrees. Additionally it held a similar rank insignia to the one on Rose’s helmet, although it was much more elaborate. It was also inscribed with Ivory Shield’s cutie mark; given her fondness for wearing her armor, it was a rare sight. The shield was flat on top and came to a sharp point at the base. It was a shimmering gray. Resting on top of it were two crossing white tusks. That portion of her armor had been painstakingly painted to match the actual mark, a service that Compass Roses armor had not been given. “You should show more reverence to the former Princess.” Ivory Shield scolded, “The others are in the briefing room waiting for us. Hurry up and put your armor on so we can go meet them,” Ivory Shield gestured to the armor before closing the door. “Wait, Ivory! Come back here,” Compass Rose shouted, but it seemed she was either being ignored, or Ivory Shield had already left. Although she wasn’t sure what was going on, she at least knew where Ivory Shield was. She put on the armor and left the room. Ivory Shield was standing in the hallway a short distance away. “Ivory, we need to talk, what’s going on here. Did the shadows hurt you?” Compass Rose asked. “Sorry, you probably don’t know what any of this is, but I can explain that when we find the others.” “I don’t know what has gotten into you. First, you sleep in through the morning briefing, and now you’re trying to get out of the next one? I expect better out of my Centurion,” Ivory shield didn’t face Compass Rose as she spoke. “Ivory, what are you talking-” Compass Rose was harshly interrupted. “Centurion, you will refer to me as Ma’am or Imperial Legate. Do you understand?” Ivory Shield still faced away from Compass Rose. “Yes… ‘Ma’am’,” Rose echoed. This whole situation seemed off. Everything from where they were to the way Ivory Shield was acting was unnerving. What made the situation all the more stressful was the nagging feeling that everything she saw could be a shadow. She had heard the stories form Arata, Blaze, Vox, and Camphor, all of which indicated that nothing should be trusted when they were in the lake. She tried one more time to summon her Persona. It seemed it would be best to defend herself rather than keep her cover, but it was no use. She couldn’t focus enough to call Lady in Waiting. Compass Rose followed Ivory Shield down the hallway, all the while looking for any hint this wasn’t the real thing. They approached a door with two pegasus guards standing outside. With a crisp salute they greeted Ivory Shield, and opened the door.         They entered the room to find three other pegasai waiting for them. One sat in a cloud throne, he head resting on one hoof. Standing in front of her were two pegasai one blue, the other yellow. Both were wearing full sets of armor. One matched Ivory Shield’s, and the other matched Compass Rose’s.         “Welcome to the meeting Ivory,” The pony directly in front of the throne snidely commented.         Ivory Shield ignored the comment and proceeded to walk up to the throne. Compass Rose followed with some hesitation. “Ivory Shield reporting for duty,” she snapped to attention and flashed a salute to the pony in the throne.         “Imperial Legate, you are to lead your army to Ponyville and secure it for me.” The mare lazily stated. “I have chosen you over Ebony Blade because of your experience. Do not fail me, or I shall have her dispatch you.” The mare next to Ivory Shield smiled thinly, her white teeth showing prominently against her dark grey coat.         “Understood my Emperor,” Ivory Shield bowed and turned to face Compass Rose. “Centurion, make preparations to leave immediately.”         “Um, okay… ma’am,” Compass Rose said half-heartedly saluting. Ivory Shield issued a frown of disapproval before leaving the room.         “Centurion,” Ivory began as they walked down the hallway, “I have an important mission for you. Ponyville has been a target of the empire for some time due to its location. In order to ensure that we capture it, I am sending you in before the rest of the force arrives.”         “What could I possible do there?” Compass Rose asked.         “Ponyville is unique in that earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasai live together. You will have no trouble blending in and securing intelligence. You are to leave immediately,” She concluded.         “Ivory, I don’t like this. We shouldn’t split up. And why are you even working with these ‘ponies’?” Compass Rose tried once more to reason with her.         “Because, it’s the only way for me to get the power I need to save Equestria.” She stated firmly.  “You are to leave immediately.” Ivory Shield spread her wings and flew off before Compass Rose could try to say anything else.         ‘Looks like I’m going to Ponyville,’ Compass Rose thought to herself still trying to figure out exactly where she was and how exactly she would get there. …         “So that’s the plan. Got it, ‘consort’,” Vox teased Blaze as the pair walked from the unicorn camp towards Ponyville.         “Seems pretty simple, try to find the others at each faction’s camp, or wait for them to show up in Ponyville for the ‘battle’,” Blaze summarized.         “Yep, and if what that shadow told me is true, we should have no problems sneaking into Ponyville.” Vox added.         The pair had been walking for almost an hour and they had finally reached the edge of the town.         “And it looks exactly like Foalsdale. I knew it!” Blaze smugly proclaimed.         “Looks like the theory about the lake only using what we know was right on the money.” Vox smiled. “They even used Penzance’s speech from Everfree a few times, ‘It is a most unique town. Earth ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasai all living together.’”         The walked further into town decided to see just how detailed this simulation was. First they stopped by the town library, and despite the lack of anypony present, it seemed to be identical to Foalsdale’s. Next they went to the bakery, this time there were a few ponies standing in line, and one behind the counter. Finally they made a stop at the diner.         They walked in watched to see if any of the shadows started to act up. To their relief they all acted as usual. The diner was surprisingly crowded, and this kept both of them on edge.         “Hey, over there,” Blaze heard through some of the chatter. In an effort to better blend in Blaze had left his machete at the camp. He reached out with his mind and began to communicate with Vox. His telepathic ability was still weak, but noticing what was going on, Vox used a small amount of her magic to help. ‘I head somepony calling out in our direction. Get your pistol ready.’         ‘Right,’ Vox thought back, ‘What about our Personas?’         ‘If this simulation has any rules, which I’m not sure it does, using weapons should be okay in a war situation. Personas would be an instant give away and may cause all of the shadows to attack.’ Blaze concluded.         ‘That sounds too risk-’ Vox  broke the connection.         “Thank Celestia it’s you two,” Arata’s familiar voice announced.         “Arata, Camphor? What are you doing here,” Vox said with a heavy sigh of relief.         “We were sent by the earth ponies to be spies or something,” Arata said.         “How do I know you are actually Arata and Camphor?” Blaze asked without any hint of subtlety. “The lake duplicated everything else pretty well. How do I know you two aren’t part of that?”         “Leave that to me,” Vox’s horn lit up once more. “Camphor is the real deal. Now onto Arata,” She turned to face him horn still alight. “And that is Arata. Shadows thoughts aren’t very complicated; it’s more like raw emotion. These two are actually thinking.”          “Why did you two just walk up to us?” Blaze asked a bit disappointed by his friends’ lack of caution. “What if we were shadows?”         “Well, with Camphor’s healing and all of my Personas we figured we would have been safe even if you were shadows.” Arata smiled reassuringly         “Great kid… Don’t get cocky.” Blaze admonished him slightly; but smiled. Lately Arata had been showing just how much he had changed since he came to Equestria. It gave Blaze a warm feeling of pride.  “Well that’s four of six. We need to figure out how to find the last two.” Blaze concluded.         “Looks like we won’t have to wait long,” Vox gestured to the entrance as he horn lit up once more.         Compass Rose floated into the dinner and scanned the room once. Noticing the rest of her friends she wasted no time flying over to them.           “And that’s the real Compass Rose. Good timing everypony,” Vox relaxed.         “I can’t believe you four are here,” Compass Rose began frantically, “Ivory Shield’s gone crazy. She thinks that she’s the second in command of some kind of army. She sent me here to ‘gather intelligence,’ or something. I haven’t been able to summon my Persona because I’ve been on edge the entire time. Some kind of war is about to break out, did we just see Princess Celestia die? Is this all in the lake? What is going on? This is crazy what am I doing here?!” None of the shadows in the room seemed to notice her outburst. All of them continued to act like ponies would. With a pat on the back from Arata, Compass Rose let out a prolonged breath. “Sorry, this is just a lot to take in.”         “Well I hate to say it, but now what we’re in here the only way out is to get Ivory Shield to beat her shadow.” Arata calmly informed her, knowing that he too had shared similar anxiety with the lake.         “Aaaand to answeeer your questions,” Camphor unexpectedly began, “Weeee saw her die, but that wasn’t really Celestia. Yeaahh we are in the lake. It looks like Ivory Shields fear has something to do with civil war in Equestria. And you’re here to saaaaveee one of your friends, because you’re liikkeee one of five ponies who can.” Camphor smiled faintly at Compass Rose, and the gesture seemed to help her relax.         “Well said Comphor,” Blaze continued, before Compass Rose had a chance to respond. “Rose can you explain exactly what was happening with Ivory? Then we can come up with a plan for snapping her out of it.”         Compass Rose composed herself the best she could and began. “She thinks she is the leader of an all pegasus army, and she’s on her way with the to ‘capture Ponyville.’”         “Just like the orders I was given,” Vox added.         “That’s weird,” Arata said gesturing to Camphor, “We were just supposed to be spies.”         “The big problem I have with this situation is we don’t know what the ‘main shadow’ is.” Blaze went through all of the past situations in the lake. Each time the shadow had presented itself to the group, but now it seemed like there was more to it. The situation had become more of a drama, than any of the previous encounters. “Our first goal should be to get Ivory Shield away from the shadows. That way we can at least keep her safe.”         “She should be here within the next few hours.” Compass Rose said, “But I doubt she’ll just come with us.”         “Well we have Personas,” Arata said jokingly, “I don’t think we need to worry about her putting up a fight.”         “I’m with Arata,” Vox added, “It’s really for her own safety.”           “I think there’s a good chance the shadow will show up once we get to her, if Rose’s experience works toward the pattern,” Blaze said. “So we should make sure we’re ready to take on every shadow here before we start this.”          “My machete was missing when I woke up,” Arata said.         “Mine too,” Added Compass Rose.         “I have mine at our base camp, but that’s the only extra one I know of.” Blaze commented.         “Why not use some of the weapons that your army has?” Compass Rose asked.         “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Arata cautioned her, “If the lake created them. It can just as easily take them away. I don’t think I need my machete; my Persona’s should be able to keep me safe. But I do think we need something for you.” Arata said. It was her first time in the lake and there was no telling what could happen.         “She can have mine,” Blaze added. “Man at Arms is all I need.”         “Riiiiiggghhhtt ooonn,” Camphor said to Blaze, “And I’ll be able to heal everypony.”         “Do you know where the camp will be Rose?” Arata asked. “         “No, but if I think I’m calm enough to summon my Persona now. She should be able to spot it and Ivory Shield.” She answered.         “Right, let’s get started then.” Arata said and received swift nods from each member of the group. …         Lady in Waiting floated above the rest of the group, with Compass Rose safely inside its glass orb. The team waited patiently as she scanned the surrounding area. Almost twenty minutes had passed before she finally landed.         “It’s in this direction,” she pointed of to the west. “There are probably 50 or so shadows with her. They don’t feel very strong though.”         “What do you mean?” Vox asked.         “Well it’s hard to explain, but I could kind of feel their strength. All of them seemed to be really weak, especially compared to what I felt from you guys.” She explained.         “Right, then we shouldn’t waste time,” Blaze said readying the little equipment he had and handing Compass Rose his machete.         “Let’s move out!” Arata shouted.         They arrived at the Pegasai camp as it was being assembled. Ivory Shield was standing in the center barking orders at the ponies that darted about. The team had decided that Blaze and Arata would cause a distraction by attacking the shadows on the edge of camp, while Camphor and Vox grabbed Ivory Shield. All the while Compass Rose would be supporting them with her Persona from above.          The attack began with Compass Rose calling for her Persona and flying high above the camp. Next the two groups move into position. Compass Rose called out to Blaze and Arata and they began their attack.         Arata was the first into the camp calling for Taliesin. The first two ponies were caught off guard and a quick blast of wind reduced them to black puddles. Blaze wasn’t far behind with Man at Arms ploughing through six of the shadows at once.         Seconds after the attack had begun the shadows had already forsaken their disguises. From across the camp Morgana’s ice attacks easily dispatched most of the floating twins in her path.         Compass Rose used her Persona to mark Ivory Shield for the rest of the group. Some of the shadows had started to attack her, she did her best to hold them off with kicks but she was quickly pinned to the ground. Relying on Camphor’s healing, Vox charged into the fray with Morgana, she let of shots into several of the shadows, and when she was close enough, a wave of frost shot out from her Persona destroying the shadows on top of Ivory Shield. Wasting no time, Compass Rose’s Persona swept down and pulled Ivory Shield into its orb.         “I’ve got her,” Compass Rose signaled to the rest of the team.  Compass Rose flew up the clouds and began the process of snapping Ivory Shield out of her delusion.         “What are you doing Centurion?! We were under attack and you would come and take me from a fight?!” Ivory Shield yelled frantically. Although Rose was able to keep her from moving around with some of Lady In Waiting’s spells, getting her to listen to anything she had to say, was a much different story.         “Ivory... you need to listen to me,” Compass Rose began as patiently as she could, “Shadows are about to start attacking us, and you are the only one who’s going to stop them!”         “No, let me go! I need to stop this war!” Ivory Shield shouted kicking and thrashing with increasing ferocity.         “Just look down!” Compass Rose pleaded, “I know you’re not you right now, but do those things look like ponies?”         Ivory Shield stared into the battle unfolding below. Between the four powerful Persona users, these shadows didn’t stand a chance. Blasts of magic accompanied by Blaze’s devastating physical attacks made short work for the remaining shadows. Watching all of the fighting and hearing the primal screams for the shadows reminded Ivory Shield of the moment of her greatest failure, the moment Princess Celestia was killed.         Her eyes widened, and she began to breathe rapidly, “Those…”  the speed of the breathing increased, “those are the things that killed Celestia… Is... is everypony here one of those?”         “Except the five of us form the E.W.E.F.” Compass Rose assured her. “We came here to save you, you fell into the lake we explore and it brought you here. None of it is real. It’s all just your fears.”         Ivory Shield raised her head and scanned the environment as a whole and saw each camp was now a hive of shadows. “I see now. Sorry Rose. I don’t know what came over me.”         Compass Rose let out a relieved sigh, “You’re finally back!”         “I don’t think we have time to celebrate,” Ivory Shield interrupted, “Look down there.” Sure enough a wall of shadows was less than a mile away from the group on the ground and was closing in fast. “Rose, let me go. I think I know what I have to do.”         Compass Rose nodded and without a word and the sphere opened. …         Down below the team was preparing for the torrent of Shadows about to hit them. While Arata had no doubt they would be able to survive the first few waves, if this dragged on, they could very well lose.         “Ivory Shield!” Vox shouted into the air. The team shifted their gaze and saw the pony flying towards the swarm. “What are you doing?!”         With some assistance from Compass Rose Ivory was able to communicate with the rest of the team. “I’m finishing this.”         She paused in the air just in front of the swarm.         “You think you can just break me like that?!” Ivory Shield held out a hoof and glared straight into the mass of shadows. Her eyes flickered with anger, and wings flapped menacingly behind her, lazily holding her in the air.         ‘Thou art I…”  A tarot card silently appeared in front of her outstretched hoof.         ‘And I am thou…’          “I’ll show you the wrath of the Royal Guard!”         The card shattered as she cast her outstretched hoof to the side.         “Come, Dragoon!”         An armored white Pegasus floated behind her. Each plate ended in a decorative flare tipped with an amethyst gem. From the shroud of its helmet all that could be seen were its two blue eyes. Its wings appeared to be part of the Persona’s armor, each feather coming to a razor sharp edge. Two bucklers were attached to its two front hooves, each one bore Ivory Shields cutie mark.         She slowly raised her hoof into the air. With her signal her Persona leapt into the air and flew directly above the mass of shadows. She dropped her hoof, and her Persona fell from the sky slamming into the ground with its shields. The impact let out a blast of almighty force, creating a white ball that seemed to engulf the entire area. As the light cleared, it was replaced with dust and debris, before finally fading once more to reveal the exit back to the real world.         Ivory Shield landed and the rest of the team had quickly caught up with her.         “You five, have a lot to tell me when we get back to camp,” She scolded them momentarily and then paused, “But you did come all this way to save me, so I can’t be too mad about it.”         “We’ll tell you everything,” Arata promised. “To leave, we just go through that door.”         Ivory Shield nodded, and took the step out, followed by the rest of the group. …         Back in Ivory Shields tent, Blaze had begun explaining the events of the past few months to her. The only part of the story that Ivory Shield had any difficulty believing is that Penzance would have lied to her about Autumn Tail.         “I’m going to need to report this to Shining Armor.” She stated with a conviction Blaze hadn’t seen before. “My first report was wrong, and I’m going to make it right… if they even believe me.”          “You should do what you think is right,” Arata agreed. “It’s possible we’re in completely over our heads here.”         “As long as it doesn’t make it back to the ponies in Foalsdale I have no problem with it,” Blaze agreed. “I wouldn’t want a panic in the town.”         “I can arrange for that,” Ivory Shield nodded, “I don’t think you guys did a bad job handling this situation. As much as I hate to say it, if everything you said about how Autumn Tail died is true, it means everyone in town is a lot safer than if we had a bunch of timberwolves on the prowl.”                  “Well, I guess that only leaves one question. Are you going to help us?” Vox asked.         “Of course, did you see how quickly I destroyed those shadows?” Ivory Shield chuckled.         “Wow, you got back to your normal self faster than any of us.” Arata praised her.         “Well it’s no secret that’s my fear, any pony in the guard could have told ya’ that.” She proclaimed. “But I don’t think without you guys to snap me out of that I would have survived. So really, thank you.”         The team was getting bigger, and with each new member Arata could feel their bonds growing in strength. What started out as just Arata and Blaze had now turned into the E.W.E.F exploration team. Arata was proud, although what they did wasn’t always easy, it was rewarding to see every pony together.