Ponysona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

by Tythen


You in Wonderland: Chapter 1 (part 1)

The SOES emerged into a twisted and maze filled with black and red colours as well as the numerous amount of roses.

"Woah..." Was all that Soarin could say,

"This place..." Rarity tried to describe

"Please be careful!" A voice in their minds spoke, it was Fluttershy opening up a persona communication line "I can really sense shadows in there."

"So this is the world of a filly's book eh? Sounds like the perfect time to gallop into something." Applejack chuckled. "Let's set forth!"

"Wait." Big Mac spoke "why don't the veterans go first? We're just scouting the place, not fully exploring it."

"You may have a point... Very well, the rest of you meet us outside." Rarity commanded

"Oh okay then, leave me out on the fun huh?" Rainbow grumbled

"I'm not a filly anymore. Please let me come!" Scootaloo pleaded

"That's an order!" Rarity commanded to which the other members fell silent and started to leave

"Be careful!" BonBon replied as she closed the door behind them.

"Now... Shall we?" Rarity gestured and the 4 approached a door that has the design of 2 sets of piano keys touching each other.

"Let's see..." Soarin wondered and touched the door. The piano keys immediately slid in the opposite direction to allow an open passage for the ponies to enter.

"That reminds me..." Big Mac piped up as the doors closed behind them, "have this" and tossed 5 bottles of tonic to the pegasus.

"What are they?" Rarity asked

"some medicine, Princess Luna hoofed these to us saying 'don't hesitate to use them if any of thou becomes injured."

"Really?" Rarity replied "that's very nice of them. Then again, she is a princess of Equestria." She then turned to Soarin "be sure to use these without any hesitation" and Soarin nodded. Suddenly, Rarity turned around, her rapier out of her sheath.

"What's wrong Rarity?" Applejack asked

"I heard a sound. Sounds like some... dripping noise..." Rarity answered

"whatever that dripping noise is, it's getting louder." Soarin perceived

"meaning, the source of that dripping is getting closer." Rarity finished. Soarin in response, pulled out his short sword, ready to face the sneaking mist of shadows just around the corner...


Both forces managed to face each other without any chance of making an ambush. Three white black striped blobs were levitating in the air, open mouths and long dark tongues. The party also managed to glimpse at their backs, each having a mask behind them. That can only mean one thing...

"Huh... They were shadows after all." Big Mac sighed.

"remember what I told you Soarin" Rarity reminded

"most shadows have a weak point, if you strike their weakness, it not only does great damage to them, but can also minimise our damage on our side." Soarin sighed,

"it seems you still know the basics." Rarity smiled "but we still don't know their weakness." And stared at the growling blobs, roaring at the group of ponies, and dropping what seems to be highly acidic saliva.

"So what?" Applejack grinned "Ah'm itching for some action. We'll keep hitting any shadows with all sorts of attacks and we'll eventually find their weakness. Ah'm still giving it mah all though!" And prepared her hoofs for battle.

"Sigh..." Big Mac sighed and pulled out his large hammer "Bring it on..."

"I've got all of you in check!" Fluttershy announced to the ponies "three unidentified shadows, though it's three of the same enemy. I'll be observing and recording each shadow's stats!"

"Right... Let's charge." Soarin remarked and as the fastest moving unit in this battle, he furiously flew forward and slashed one of the shadows with one clean cut. The shadow (known as a Lying Hablerie) recoiled from the pain with a short scream, but shook it off.

"Guess that's not it's weakness." Soarin shrugged

"Ah've been waiting for this!" Applejack yelled with glee and charged to the second Hablerie. However, the third Hablerie in the back decided to charge something in his mouth and let loose an icy attack.

"What the!? No!" Applejack cried as the ice attack caught her off guard, and slipped and fell with the shear cold coursing through her body, unable to get back up for the time being.

"Dagnabit!" Applejack cursed as she lays stunned "Ice, mah only weakness! Applebloom would never let this go if she saw me sprawlin here!"

"Then again" Big Mac sighed "we too have weaknesses" as the Hablerie that was attacked by Soarin turned it's tongue on Applejack, using it to slap the earth pony, causing her to scream from the pain of the slap and the acid that comes with it. As Big Mac turned to his front, the 3rd Hablerie was right on his sights and it lashed out with his tongue, hitting the stallion in his face.

"Oof!" Big Mac grunted as he quickly shook the acid off. "Now you'll pay!" And retaliated with his hammer. Unlike Soarin's sword attack, the Hablerie seemed to scream even louder than before.

"Did the shadow just take a different reaction?" Rarity asked

"Yes!" Fluttershy replied "it turns out these shadows are weak to bash attacks!"

"Right then..." Rarity puffed "what about stab attacks?" And lunged her raper on the 3rd Hablerie. The response from the Shadow however, was similar to Soarin's.

"Nope, it looks like stab attacks just has a normal effect." Fluttershy analysed

"Oop! There ya go." Soarin picked up Applejack.

"Many thanks leader." Applejack tilted her stetson. "So, these shadows are weak to bash attacks eh?" She cracked her front hooves "ah'll pay you back 10 times more than what you dealt to me!"

"Big Mac?" Fluttershy spoke "you look pumped up!"

"Really?" Big Mac replied "I do feel a burst of energy coursing through my body. Must have been attacking his weakness."

"Right. This state of mind is known as a 'boosted state'." Fluttershy explained "there are 2 advantages when in a boosted state: You get to move first, and any skills your persona will use are completely free."

"Meaning?"

"It won't consume your health or energy."

"Ah see. Then watch me move!" Big Mac stated and charged with another hammer strike on the third Hablerie. This time, the shadow seemed to crumble into dust and melt into sludge.

"Yes! We've defeated one enemy!" Fluttershy cheered "now there are two left!" As Soarin made another cut on the first one, the remaining 2 Hableries decided to strike their tongues at the party. Specifically, Soarin and Rarity.

"Eww!!! Eww!!! Eww!!!" Rarity screamed as she tried to shake off the acid saliva "you just burnt part of my fur out!!! How dare you!!! Hope you've got a death wish, for I shall execute you!!!" Rarity screamed

"Take this!" Applejack bellowed as she bucked the first Hablerie sending it suspended in the air. This gave Rarity a chance thrust the Rapier through it's body, reducing it into dust and sludge.

"And that's that." Rarity grinned

"One more enemy..." Big Mac noted, gazing at the last Hablerie.

"Hey Soarin? Ah think now's the time to use it!" Applejack encouraged

"Show them the significance of SOES and our mission." Rarity cheered

"With pleasure." Soarin smiled and from his bags, pulled out a silver gun, the initials 'SOES' was made present on one side of the gun barrel. Soarin raised the gun to its head and pushed firmly on his temple. "Persona..." Soarin grimly whispered and pulled the trigger.

Instead of a gunshot, the shattering of glass was heard and blue spectral fragments flew out of Soarin's head. A blue fog of energy appeared below and viciously surrounded and bursted skywards around him. Behind him, a large silhouette of a pony started to form. As the fog died down, the large levitating pony was given his appearance. A dark green colour with a white bushy mane and tail and sporting a red scarf on its neck. Excepting his head, the pony's body was entirely mechanical and has a voice processing device located on his stomach. Apart from having glowing red eyes that are iris-less and pupil-less. The large Earth pony was carrying a large silver lyre on his back. This is Soarin's persona, the 'Master of Strings'.

"Orpheus!" Soarin greeted "it's good to see you again!" The mechanical pony nodded in response, "I'll leave the rest to you then" Soarin remarked, pointing at the shadow. In a response, Orpheus started play a small tune on his lyre. Then with one quick strum, a ball of fire shot from the voice processor where it lightly exploded on the Hablerie, which is enough to reduce it to dust and sludge.

"No more enemies. Well done leader!" Fluttershy praised

"Thanks for the help Orpheus." Soarin thanked. Orpheus nodded and dematerialised.

"It looks like there's some stuff those shadows left behind!" Applejack spotted and started picking them up.

"Don't! It may be dangerous!" Rarity warned

"... I don't see any problem with them." Big Mac replied and helped along.

"Seriously? What good can these things do?" Rarity sighed.


After going through a few doors. Fluttershy had something to say before they were about to enter another.

"I've scanned the Labyrinth." Fluttershy informed "there's a long way to go from here."

"Huh... Is that it? Might as well head back." Big Mac sighed

"Ah'm with you." Applejack agreed "we need to regain our strength and keep it high for more to come... Ugh..." She winced from her previous wounds.

"Here have this..." Soarin tossed a medicine to Applejack, to which she applied on the wounds.

"I feel like we should just continue..." Rarity was about to protest. "No, you're right. Let's head back for now." As they started the march back however, they started to hear more inhuman sounds.

"Oh that's not good." Big Mac gulped. Three shadows appeared before them again. Two Lying Hableries, but one new enemy. A pile of sludge on the floor wearing a mask and having dangerous claws as hands.

"A new enemy!" Applejack spotted "bring it on!"

"I guess I'll need your help again." Soarin sighed and reached for his evoker.

"Just a moment!" Rarity stopped "let us do the same. We can't let you have all the fun!" And she pulled out another evoker, as well as did Applejack and Big Mac. They each put their own evoker to their head, yelled the magic word and pulled the trigger, materialising three different personas.

Applejack's was a pale-yellow maned, blue pony with checkered blue-white body armor, while his hind legs and one of his front legs were red in colour, the remaining front leg was replaced with a large stake. Big Mac's was a a similar looking to Applejack's, but it was black in colour and all his legs were blue (no stake replacement). Not only that, the persona has a rod impaled on his body and appears to be riding a stick horse that was black as death. Finally, Rarity's persona was a cobalt mare with a deep blue mane and tail. The mare donned a queen's crown and a full mask of iron, covering most of her mane. As her weapons, she wields a Rapier like Rarity on her left hoof, and a dagger on the right.

"Well well well..." Soarin watched "if it isn't Polydeuces, Castor and Penthesilea."

"Let's strike em down!" Applejack commanded and Polydeuces raised his arm stake into the air, a brilliant bolt of electricity struck one of the Hableries, stunning and bringing it to the floor. As electricity was another weak point that shadow, it puts Applejack in a boosted state. Castor uses his horse stick to repeatedly bash the other Hablerie until it was gone. As the first Hablerie attempted to recover, Polyduces picked it up by stabbing the blob and with a mighty toss, flung it in the direction of Castor who crushed the flying Hablerie with one mighty swing.

"Nice combo Big Mac!" Applejack complimented

"Not over though." Big Mac warned. Sure enough, the sludge shadow leapt towards Polyduces for a wide scratch, damaging body armor and even what it's protecting.

"Argh!!!" Applejack reeled from the strike, as a pony and his/her persona are the same, if either gets punched in the face, the other will experience the same amount of pain.

"Enough!" Rarity yelled, and prepared for battle "Penthesilea! Let's execute them!" At a response, Penthesilea delivered multiple stabs against the sludge shadow (Cowardly Maya), leaving it stunned and ready for an all out attack.

"And now to finish it off, Bufu!" Rarity yelled as she pointed her rapier at the Maya, Penthesilea did the same and with a blue gleam of light reflecting the blade, Icy air flew from underneath the Maya, which turned into solid ice in order to trap and freeze the Maya. A simple sheath of Rarity's rapier cause the ice to break, destroying the Maya within. "Execution is complete." She bowed, receiving mock claps by the other three ponies.

"Let's get out of here before more show up." Big Mac noted and they galloped towards the exit.

"Not leaving this behind though!" Applejack replied as she picked up a shadow piece.


"Welcome back!" Fluttershy greeted with the SOES as the 4 members returned. Winona came to lick Soarin's face.

"Well? How is it?" BonBon asked

"There's a big maze down there. We're going to need to stock up on supplies for a lengthy journey." Rarity explained

"Not only that, we're going to need a bunch of better weapons." Applejack added "if only we had Old Man Horace and his endless pile of junk, weapons and expendables."

"I remember Derpy telling me that there was this workshop that can sell weapons. Why don't we check it out?" Rainbow suggested

"A great idea Rainbow!" Big Mac exclaimed, and the SOES set off to the workshop.


Just as they left however, the 8 ponies of the RID returned back to the entrance of the labyrinth.

"That was some fabulous grub there!" Spike sighed with relief as he rubs his stomach.

"Now that I've eaten, I'm all fired up!" Lyra grinned

"This place greatly piques my interest though..." Twilight mumbled

"what did you say?" Pinkie asked

"I feel like this place needs some investigation. Let's try and go in." Twilight encouraged


As the RID stepped into the labyrinth, the first thing they felt was a mysterious atmosphere that seems to interfere with their bodies.

"Something doesn't feel right..." Twilight stated

"what do you mean?" Vinyl asked

"I only hope that it doesn't turn out for the worse... Summon your persona Vinyl." Twilight asked

"R-Really? Okay then." Vinyl acknowledged and took a deep breath "Persona!" She yelled and a blue fog behind her materialized a silhouette of a large unicorn and started to have appearances. The unicorn was black in colour, wearing a long white dress with a white tail. However, this unicorn had a long thin yellow horn sticking out of her head instead of a normal unicorn's horn. In fact, the unicorn was maneless as her entire head is in the form of a large satellite. The large unicorn also appears to be levitating a head device, which she held to the eyes of Vinyl while pointing her head towards the door in front of them.

"N-No way..." Vinyl analysed, horror sweeping her face. "I'm sensing shadows up ahead. 20... 30... 50... There are a countless number of them in there!"

"Really?" Spike sniggered "tell me a better one! If there are shadows, then I can catch them with my nose... Let see..." And he sniffed the air. "See, I told you there are TONS OF THEM!?!?" Spike jumped in horror "you're right! There are shadows all over the place!"

"It's not just that too." Vinyl continued scouting "There's a long way ahead, but it's easy going!"

"Really?" Flash replied and looked at Vinyl's persona. In a response, the persona abruptly bonked Vinyl on the head due to not telling the truth. Unfazed, Vinyl corrected herself.

"It's more than just a long way ahead, it's a labyrinth."

"In that case. Shall we poke our noses in there? Since we can't leave them be." Applebloom suggested "it's good exploration too."

"I'll stay behind and support you guys." Vinyl replied

"Then I'll stay behind too." Lyra volunteered

"Oh, that's sweet of you Lyra." Vinyl giggled

"I don't want you complaining if you get attacked by them, so don't push it." Lyra retorted

"It's a joke. Don't have to take it so seriously. What about you guys?"

"There's still some things that need investigating in Equestria." Twilight explained "so I'll be out for now."

"Then I'll stay with Twily!" Pinkie jumped "with Flash around, I'm sure you'll get through no sweat!"

"Well then." Octavia turned to Flash "guess we're depending on you!"

"That's right sir!" Spike saluted "I am yours to command!"

"Very well then, move out!" Flash commanded, and the RID went into their positions. As the 3 ponies and baby dragon traversed through the labyrinth, they made sure that they were aware to any sudden sounds and sights, in case they get ambushed by shadows, if present.

"Have you still got the medicine with you?" Octavia asked

"Affirmative." Flash nodded

"How nice of Princess Celestia to give you that." Spike noted "I wonder why Celestia has taken on this Persona business."

"I assume that it is for the safety of Equestria." Flash replied. As the team continued on traversing, Flash sensed an unfamiliar sound, he held a signal for the team to halt and stay quiet.

"Wh-What is it?" Applebloom whispered.

"I fear that we may have company..." Flash warned. Sure enough, three masked sludges appeared from the ground and started to change their form into blobs.

"Contact!" Flash yelled and drew his long sword... Or was it?


"So the shadows are here after all!" Applebloom exclaimed as three Lying Hableries licked their lips before the party.

"Eww!!! I don't wanna get licked by them!" Octavia cringed

"No choice, we've got to face them head on!" Flash reminded

"Hey! I remember how to defeat these things!" Spike exclaimed "all you have to do is to attack the shadows weakness. That way, it can minimise damage dealt to us!"

"It seems somepony was paying attention to one of my periods of instruction." Flash grinned,

"but we don't know their weaknesses." Octavia countered "do you have any idea Vinyl?"

"Not at all." Vinyl replied through persona communication. "I'm missing data on these enemies, but if you try something, it will work!"

"That's right!" Applebloom encouraged "we'll be fine against them. All we just have to do is to hit these shadows with any kind of attack. We'll be bound to find a type of attack that's weak to a shadow!"

"Let's begin fighting!" Spike growled as he brandished his claw weapon. Despite the RIT team getting ready, the Hableries were still faster than the group, and began the initiative. One casted Bufu on Applebloom, while the other two had their time tasting Flash and Spike.

"Eww!!!" Spike moaned from the painful saliva.

"You have to bear it!" Flash replied as he gritted his teeth against the pain.

"Phew!" Applebloom sighed as she shook away the freezing pain "good thing ah'm resistant to the cold. Something mah sister would never recover from."

"Now it's our turn! Return Fire!" Flash replied and sliced one of the hableries.

"Let me follow that up!" Applebloom noted as she jumped for a killer kick, bringing the hablerie to the ground.

"New information!" Vinyl informed "these enemies are normal against cut attacks but weak to bash!"

"Then it's time to strike!" Octavia stated, pulling out a special weapon. Octavia had once went on tours around the world, even past Equestria. From one of the countries she traveled to, brought back a special item known as a hoof fan. It was commonly used to induce an airflow in order to cool or refresh someone. Now, Octavia remembers the skill to turn such an item into a dangerous weapon. Throwing it like a boomerang, the fan cut through the hablerie and before returning to Octavia's hoof.

"Finishing strike!" Spike yelled and cut the hablerie with his claw weapon. As the hablerie had took three previous blows from the team, it could not withstand the attack of spike and broke into dust and slime.

"Applebloom! You're in a boosted state! Do you know what that means?" Vinyl informed

"Nope!" Applejack shook her head "but maybe that's what you call this feeling that ah have right now! Cause ah feel like ah'm on fire!"

"Good. That feeling lets you go first during the combat phase, as well as expending nothing when using your persona's skills!"

"In that case, permission to pull them out?" Octavia asked

"Permission granted. Now engage!" Flash yelled

"Burning up!" Applebloom gritted as she concentrated as a blue source of light appeared in front of her as the form of a card, and underneath her.

"Persona!" She yelled and delivered a kick to shatter the card. Immense amounts of energy and fog roared around her as it started to materialise an Earth pony. As the fog resided, the Persona appeared in the form of a green coloured pony with a black mane and tail. This mare wore a white helmet with a peculiar design of looking like a shark's fin and wielded a dual naginata at her side, only her yellow eyes were visible in the helmet.

"Do our worst Tomoe!" Applebloom commanded and Tomoe shot out at the Hablerie and gave a solid hind kick, which then followed up with a slice of her naginata, cutting the shadow in two. One hablerie was left, taking the opportunity to attack the young filly's persona.

"Argh..." Applebloom reeled from the burning pain.

"Worry not Applebloom." Spike comforted, "leave the rest to us!"

"Now!" Flash signaled and shattered his tarot card, "Izanagi!" He yelled. From the blue fog emerged a large earth pony wearing soldier's clothes that covered his entire body and tail, however, his hooves can be seen in the form of sharp blades. The pony also had a mechanical head showing his yellow eyes. On his head was a white headband which connects to 2 white leather tails blowing in the wind, as a replacement for his covered mane. On his side, Izanagi wielded a large Naginata with a blade even bigger than Tomoe's.

"Konohana Sakuya!" Octavia yelled, shattering her card. A blossom pegasus emerged from the blue fog, her beautiful white tail swished from side to side. Her mane and eyes were covered with a half helmet that has two blossoms on opposite sides. Her wings resembled the petals of the famous cherry blossom flower, and at a certain height was able to magically combine the ends of her wings together to form a special glider not only to maintain her ease of maneuver in the air, but to also absorb and charge up the element of fire.

"Kintoki-Douji!" Spike yelled as he shattered his card. A large ball-like creature jumped out of the blue fog. This persona was not pony, but a bulbous red boiler with very stubby limbs. Aside from wearing a blue cape, the persona also carries a large tomahawk missile.

"Let's finish this!" Flash commanded and Izanagi grabbed the shadow and threw it sky high.

"The shadow is wide open! Attack!" Vinyl instructed and Konohana used her wings to charge up fire and release a small fireball with one mighty flap. At the same time, Kintoki-Douji threw his missile at the shadow. As they both collided together, it had created a fusion of fire and ice, snuffing the last Hablerie out of existence.

"It's over." Flash sighed, breathing with relief.


As the 4 continued on, Vinyl noticed something strange.

"Hey guys, I'm picking up on some interesting readings in the labyrinth." Vinyl informed "it sounds like somepony is in there!" At a response, the RID heard the sounds of... Crying.

"I can perceive the sound." Flash reported closing his eyes to focus "it's this way." And led the team to another door. As they opened the door, the group saw two ponies standing there, one was crying while the other was trying to comfort her. Flash opened to see the chestnut pony turn around and aim a bowgun at their direction, while the other one stopped crying for a while to look at the 3 unrecognizable ponies and dragon before them.

"I think they're the ones that a picked up earlier!" Vinyl analysed

"Who are you?" The chestnut pony asked

"Woah!" Applebloom in fear "don't point that at other ponies! It's very dangerous!"

"Let me ask again. Who are you? I'm asking who you are." The pony repeated

"O-Oh me?" Applebloom replied flustered "Ah'm... Mah name's Applebloom." Applebloom took one more careful look and remembered the pony's face. "Don't you remember me? The filly that's been hogging you to buy apples? And you too! Aren't you guys humble residents of Ponyville?"

"Residents of Ponyville..." The grey pegasus repeated "... Yes."

"But..." The bowgun-wielding pony tried to remember "I don't recall seeing you before."

"Really?"

"Never mind about that Applebloom." Octavia changed "are you all right? Were you attacked by these shadows? By the way, shadows are..."

"...The monsters in here?" The Doctor finished "they did attack, but I managed to drive them away."

"No way!!!" Applebloom jumped with amazement

"But, why were you crying back then?" Asked Spike

"I was scared..." The gray pegasus spoke "I was scared, but Doctor kept on saying that we need to go in."

"I understand." Octavia comforted "it must have been very scary being in a place like this. Are both of you trying to go further?"

"We planned to, but..." The Doctor explained,

"There's a veeery long road up ahead you know." Spike replied "I can smell it from here you know."

"Guess it's goin' to take some time." Applebloom sighed "why don't we return for now? Ah wanna know what's up with Pinkie and the others."

"... Go back?" The pegasus repeated, then looked up determined "I want to go too... I want to go back!" Then she turned towards the Doctor "please Doctor? Can we go back?" The Doctor thought about it for a moment then nodded.

"Very well then." The Doctor then turned to the RID "we will come with you, unless you have any objections."

"Ah don't see why not." Applebloom shook her head. "You're more than welcome to join us!"

"I believe we need to make some introductions." Flash stepped up "my name is Flash Sentry, 2IC of the Canterlot Royal guard and leader of the Royal Investigation Division. These are my allies and friends, Applebloom, Octavia Melody and Spike."

"Nice to meet you. I am known as the Doctor, and she is Derpy. That's what we call each other." The Doctor introduced,

"Hmm... Doctor and Derpy right?" Octavia repeated "don't worry, we won't leave you behind."

"Oh! Thank you!" Derpy cried with relief,

"so, shall we make the trip back?" Spike asked and the group nodded. Just as they were about to make their way back out, pools of black sludge started forming in front of them, which morphed into the shape of familiar enemies.

"Shadows..." Octavia sighed.


"Three shadows again! 2 of the enemies has been fought before, but there's one new enemy! That pool of sludge wearing a mask!" Vinyl informed

"Allow me." The Doctor volunteered. "Do you know the weaknesses of the monsters?"

"The data I have from the Lying Hableries shows that they are weak to bash attacks, as well as fire and electricity." Vinyl informed "I still don't know what happens to them when hit by the instant-kill elements of light and dark. As for that sludge, I think it's called a Cowardly Maya. I have nothing on that shadow."

"When it comes to harnessing the lethal nature of light and dark. Twilight and her persona would be the mare for the job." Flash replied "for now, let's use the 4 main elements." As the two mares and dragon were occupied with the two hableries, the maya decides to sneak up against the two stallions.

"Crap! Watch out!" Flash warned, and jumped in front of the shadow to defend the duo from getting hurt.

"Flash!" Derpy cried "you're hurt!"

"I-It's ok." Flash comforted as he tried to hold the pain. "I've been through worse scrapes than this."

"Don't you move! I'll fix you up!" Derpy cheered. A small light surrounded Flash and healed up his wounds.

"No way..." Flash gasped as he felt his pain burning away. "You can use healing skills?"

"I normally deal with the offence." The Doctor explained "but whenever I get in trouble, Derpy patches me up. I find her healing skills a necessity when she's with me."

"Octavia's backup as healer. I'll be sure to remember that." Flash replied "now, Izanagi!" Flash yelled and summoned the large pony. "Let's cut through their defenses, Raikouzan!" In response, the blade of Izanagi's naginata started to release sparks, to which Izanagi sliced the Maya with his electrically-charged naginata.

"Yes! That's a weak point!" Vinyl analysed

"Doctor!" Derpy called "Applebloom, Octavia and Spike are having trouble!" As she watched the other three busy dodging the dark tongues of the shadows without any chance to fight back.

"Did that voice say that Fire is their weakness?" The Doctor thought to himself "let's find out." Setting some of his ammunition aflame, he aimed at one Hablerie and fired. As the fiery arrow struck the floating shadow, some of the fire seemed to spread to the other shadow, catching them both off guard. "Now's your chance!" The Doctor yelled,

"right!" Spike nodded and charged at the distracted shadow and started rending it asunder. "Feel my combined powers of a baby dragon and bear costume!"

"Spike..." Octavia sighed "never mind... Are you ready Konohana Sakuya?" With a nod from the blossom-princess, Octavia held her fan like a cello bow and memorized the music a recent piece on which she drew her fan to it's rhythm. In synchronisation, Konohana moved her wings and danced to the music playing in Octavia's mind. As a result, the fire that was released from her wings danced beautifully across the room and surrounded the enemy. Octavia and Konohana bowed to an imaginary audience as the shadow behind them was trapped by their cage of fire, burning to ash.

"A marvelous symphony." Flash applauded in the little amount of time that he could catch a break, "but two enemies are still remaining."

"Applebloom!" Spike yelled "can you give me some help?"

"Oh all right..." Applebloom sighed, and with a furious buck kick from Tomoe, the shadow was sent flying across the room and exploded when it collided with the wall.

"One more left..." The Doctor gestured towards the Maya "leave this to me." The Doctor fired a few arrows at the shadow to get it's attention, causing the Maya to charge forward like a mad bull.

"You can do it Doctor!" Derpy cheered as the Doctor whispered "Bane Slice" which seemed to invoke some force invisible to the naked eye to invoke a purple slicing wave that cut the Maya in two, before it dissolved into sludge and dust.

"It's over..." The Doctor sighed


"Applebloom?" Octavia spotted "don't tell me you're collecting the remains of the shadows again."

"What the problem with that?" Applebloom reasoned "there's some use for it, Spike said so!"

"Applebloom, any remnants of shadows can be very dangerous." Flash warned "what if they were to regenerate and strike?"

"It's actually not dangerous Flash." Spike informed "here, touch this and tell me if it's not lethal." And tossed a shadow piece to Flash. The piece landed harmlessly onto Flash's hooves without doing any damage.

"I still don't see a reason on why that's necessary to collect them..." Flash reasoned

"Don't give me that doubt." Applebloom tested "you clearly well know that your soldier smithy friend uses these materials for our weapons!"

"You catch on very quick Applebloom." Flash grinned "I guess you are very observant after all. But there is still one reason why I wouldn't hesitate not to pick these remains up."

"Really?" Spike asked "they become weapons, why wouldn't we pick them up?"

"And who turns these remains into weapons?" Flash retorted "without Silver Hammer, they are left as inconvenient weight."

"Oh, I didn't think that through..." Applebloom lowered her head in shame along with Spike.

"However..." Flash pocketed the shadow piece with a smile on his face, "leaving the remains of shadows alone has a higher chance of regenerating. We'll take them for now."

"Just don't take long." Octavia sighed "I bet Pinkie and the rest are waiting for us."


The 5 ponies and dragon stepped out of the labyrinth to meet the rest of the RID.

"Welcome back!" Vinyl greeted

"took you long enough." Twilight replied, "now let's share information with each other."

"Twily went with me to clarify my previous findings that we can't get out." Pinkie explained "sure enough, we can't. We are officially-ticially trapped!"

"Octavia's secret passage that leads to her house in Canterlot does not exist anymore." Twilight explained "all the ponies do seem to acting very strange whenever we ask them anything but Ponyville and the cultural festival, they don't even seem to know about the labyrinths. It's highly likely that Canterlot does not seem to exist in this world."

"Perhaps there's some meaning behind it?" Flash asked

"I don't know..." Twilight shrugged "next thing on the agenda, I need you all to come to the clock tower. Replacing it with my castle requires some information."


The clock tower that replaced Twilight's castle loomed over the RID, Doctor and Derpy as they approached closer and closer.

"So this is the thing that replaced Twilight's castle eh?" Lyra asked

"I've remembered the history of Ponyville." Twilight gathered "long ago, there was indeed a clock tower located in Ponyville. But it was a very small clock monument. For unknown reasons, it was demolished and replaced with the Golden Oak Library."

"Which was recently destroyed by Tirek" Flash continued "and from the keys of the mystery box created Twilight's castle."

"But for some reason, this clock tower is back. And bigger than ever." Twilight mused "have we traveled back in time?"

"It looks like you can fit a lot of ponies in it." Pinkie theorized "but there's not a single entrance!"

"Is the clock tower broken?" Octavia asked, as the clock seemed to freeze at 11 o' clock.

"I don't think so." Spike noted "it's moving very slowly..."

"Uh..." Derpy and the Doctor looked very uncomfortable as they lay their eyes on the clock tower.

"Ey! Are you guys okay?" Applebloom asked

"N-Nothing... It's fine." Derpy sighed

"Well then, why don't we visit the Velvet Room?" Octavia suggested "maybe Celestia knows what's going on!"


"My oh my..." Celestia sighed as the RID and the other two ponies arrived "what mess have you little whelps got me into?"

"Oh come on! What did we do wrong?" Lyra asked

"The only thing I can do is receive messages from our own Equestria... I can't seem to contact Luna either..." Celestia pouted "I want cake!"

"I don't really see why you need to fret Princess." Twilight explained "no one's going to recognize you in this cultural festival. You can buy as much cake as you want!"

"Hmm... I guess that will do." Celestia smiled a little. "Now, may I know your new friends here?"

"This is the Doctor, and this is Derpy." Applebloom introduced,

"Nice to meet you!" Derpy greeted "want a muffin?"

"Hmm..." Celestia stared at the two.

"Is there something wrong princess?" Octavia asked,

"I have known these ponies before, and yet... They look different to what I was expecting..."

"Are you saying that there is anything suspicious about them?" Flash asked

"Tell me." Celestia started "do you know anything about Ponyville here?"

"Well..." Derpy tried to remember when the Doctor interrupted

"When we woke up, we found ourselves here. We can't remember anything before that..."

"Our memories were taken from us..." Derpy replied.

"What! Taken?" Octavia gasped "how can that be possible?"

"So you can't remember anything except the fact that you know your memories were taken from you?"

"Yes." Derpy nodded "even though our memories were taken from us."

"There's only one lead that we can follow in this investigation." Flash concluded "and that's to explore the labyrinth."

"Flash?" Celestia asked

"This Ponyville looks like the real deal, but I refuse to believe it for a second." Flash glared

"But... We're going to need some supplies if we want to venture on..." Octavia replied

"And much better quality weapons!" Applebloom added

"Weapons?" Derpy asked "I know a great place! Follow me!"

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked

"It's better than nothing!" Pinkie winked and with Derpy in the lead, they set off for the handcrafted workshop.

"Interesting..." Celestia wondered "I feel like that this place is an unstable haven in the rift between dreams and reality. Much deeper than The Velvet Room..." Suddenly, Celestia broke out of her trance and realised "maybe I should follow the RID."


Meanwhile, inside 'You in Wonderland', the entire SOES regrouped at the first room of the labyrinth.

"Guess the handcrafted workshop was full of toy weapons after all. But at least we learnt that Joe is a weapon-smith too!" Rainbow decided

"He turned that Shadow Piece into a neat weapon!" Applejack noted, nodding towards Soarin's new Short Blade.

"It does look sharper than a golf club." Rarity smiled,

"Why would you mention a golf club Rarity?" BonBon asked,

"it's something Pinkie would say." Rarity giggled

"Leader." Sweetie started "we will all venture together with you, should you need to change party members, Palladion and my weaponry will assist you in any necessary protection or extermination."

"With my broadsword and Hermes on my side, we'll burn and bash anything!" Rainbow jumped

"And I'll blow away any extra mess and unnecessary wounds Rainbow creates with my trusty bow and Io!" BonBon replied,

"That's rude!!!" Rainbow blurted

"Lucia and I will always support you from afar!" Fluttershy cheered

"I may be small." Scootaloo spoke up "but I can sure as well support you with my spear and Nemesis, any enemy that gets in your way will be either defeated by the wrath of the skies or in a flash of light!"

"Arf! Arf!" Winona barked with encouragement

"She says that with her dual knives and Cerberus, she will assist you in the firefight or in the shadows of darkness." Sweetie translated

"Thanks everypony." Soarin nodded "let's do this!" And the SOES marched forward.


An hour later, the entire RID stopped at the first room.

"It's going to be a tough battle from here on out." Flash addressed "but we're all in this together. We work towards marching forward and healing each other. We will make it to the end. We leave no pony behind." And pulled out his newly built long sword "Izanagi and I will make sure that happens."

"Oh Flash." Pinkie laughed "you're so overprotective! I wonder what you will say if you picked up a toy katana from the workshop? Thank Celestia that she had the knowledge to turn that Shadow Piece into a proper long sword. Who knew that the first time you entered, you were actually carrying a golf club instead of a sword?"

"I guess I didn't check my weapon properly." Flash sighed in embarrassment, receiving giggles from the others.

"Anyway, don't leave us in the dust." Pinkie continued "you protected us for so long, it's our turn to protect you too. We're partners after all right? I'm sure my dual knives and Jiraiya will send them flying before you even know it!"

"Count me in." Lyra cheered "if there's a wall of shadows in the way, I'll break them down with a chair or shield along with Take-Mikazuchi! We'll bring the thunder AND lightning!"

"Flash" Vinyl mock saluted "Himiko and I will always keep a close eye on your surroundings! And will play our role of support too!"

"Flash." Twilight approached "as the Princess of Magic and Friendship, I would never be more honoured to assist you in combat. With my skills in using my magic altering and enhancing gun as well as mastering the powers of Light and Darkness with Sukuna-Hikona, I'll study our enemies before sending them to the endless sky or the bottomless abyss. Who knows? Maybe I'll learn something Almighty."

"We'll fight too." The Doctor replied "I'll shoot them till they stop moving."

"And I'll support you in anyway possible!" Derpy smiled

"Thank you for all your care and support." Flash nodded "it does my heart good to see that we all fight together. Everypony, move out!" He commanded and the RID with the 2 amnesiac ponies marched towards the unknown.


Meanwhile, a spider was crawling in the darkness, until it stopped on someone's hoof.

"Finally..." A low dark voice echoed, holding the spider, "finally, it will begin..."

" 'Time' Resumes..."


Character Database: Soarin

Race: Pegasus

Character Role: P3 Hero/Makoto Yuki/Minato Arisato

Main Persona: Orpheus (Fool)

Soarin is one of the members of the Wonderbolts, who seems to like eating pie quite a lot. As Spitfire, the leader of the Wonderbolts, was busy with the academy, Soarin occasionally visited Ponyville as a part-time coach in a wide variety of sport as well as to help any pegasi who are unable to use their wings (like Scootaloo). He stumbled into the world of Persona's and Shadows was when he decided to rest at the Ponyville inn for one night. Suddenly, he woke up into an unfamiliar atmosphere. Everything was very similar to him, but was fully covered in night-vision green. The moon was green, the sky was green, almost everything in his view was portraying a colour that symbolizes the darkness. As he wandered around Ponyville at that time, he saw an earth pony raising an evoker to her head, facing a giant-like monster. As the monster attacked the mare, the evoker slid out of her grasp and straight to Soarin's. In order to try and save the mare's life, Soarin tried to copy the mare's actions, by putting the evoker to his head and firing, even though knowing that this was an action of sacrificing one's self to protect another, this is how his persona Orpheus was born. However, Orpheus changed into a fearsome persona with the face of death, which fully ripped apart the large monster. Once the bloody carnage was settled, the fearsome persona transformed back into Orpheus. As small animate pieces of the large shadow remain, Soarin had no problem taking them out with Orpheus and rescuing the mare. A few days later, he was approached by a small team that explained all about the identity of the monsters that night as well as the identity of the mysterious being that popped out of Soarin. Given a personal evoker for himself as well as joining the team. Soarin became a member, and eventually, the field leader of the Specialized Operational Eradication Society, determined to eradicate all the shadows.

Special Tips: Soarin is a good all-round fighter that learns fire skills, along with his special status skill Dekaja, which nullifies any stat buffs on the enemies. His most defining stat is his magic attack, followed by his luck. Although his strength and agility are balanced together as third place, his endurance seems to be the lowest of his stats. He is good at almost everything and is suited best in the front row due to his short sword (melee cut). A big drawback combat is that he has no elemental resistance and has weaknesses to Electricity and Darkness.