//------------------------------// // You In Wonderland: Chapter 2 (part 2) // Story: Ponysona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth // by Tythen //------------------------------// "It's the card soldier FOE!" Fluttershy alerted "you need to run now!" "Run? At a time like this?" Applejack arched an eyebrow "ah don't think so. Ah'm a stand and fight!" "Hmph... This time, I'm sticking with you." Big Mac replied, brandishing his hammer. "Rah!" Applejack yelled, kicking the FOE in the face. The FOE stepped flinched a little but soon got back to his stance and countered with a mighty swing. "Argh!" Applejack cried as she went sliding across the ground, breathing for a few seconds before she stopped completely. "Crap! Applejack!" Big Mac gasped. "That was some swing!" Rainbow stated "You will pay for that!" BonBon growled "Ukobach!" She yelled as she changed her evoker tab to the "sub" mode and fired at her head. A small green pony demon appeared holding a small ladle filled with fiery coals. A blast of fire emerged from Ukobach's ladle and stuck the card soldier. The FOE screeched from the pain but still continued standing strong against the group. "Can't this guy go down!?" Rainbow yelled after a few attempts of taking down the card soldier, such Penthesilea's Bufu, Hermes' Fusion Blast, Nemesis' Zio and a Teardrop from Castor, the FOE card soldier was still up and energetic. With a hasty counterattack, the FOE Mowed down the entire front row, knocking them out stone cold. "Oh no! Rarity! Rainbow! Everypony!" BonBon gasped in horror. "Emergency revival is mandatory." Sweetie informed "Leave it to me!" Scootaloo replied, ready to cast Recarm. However the FOE raised his scepter to the air and let out a binding cry so loud it paralyzed everypony still standing. "Gah...! I can't... Move!" BonBon struggled "We... Need... To... Get out of here!" Scootaloo cringed, feeling the numbness of her legs. The SOES were in dire straits, Big Mac, Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity and Winona were struck dead by the FOE with Soarin barely surviving the previous attack. Even though he was left standing, the Binding cry had numbed the muscles of anypony that was still remaining, while the FOE edged closer and closer. "Such power... F-Fluttershy..." Soarin gasped, blood coming out his head. "Hang on everypony! I'll get you out of here!" Fluttershy replied "Koropokkur!"A small little blue pony appeared and perched on Fluttershy's head. This blue pony had a white tail, mane and beard, a purple headband with a green zig-zag pattern, and appears to be holding a leaf stalk with the leaf on top of his head. "Quick! Use Sutakora Foot and rescue everypony!" Fluttershy commanded. Koropokkur pulled out his fishing rod and casted the line. With some magical explanation that only a Persona would know, the line traveled into the labyrinth and wrapped around the entire SOES, creating the spectral image of a shoe. Before the Card soldier brought down his scepter, the SOES were whisked away by the fishing rod and the shoe, carrying them to the stairs. "Are-Are you ok?" Fluttershy called "Y-Yeah..." BonBon replied "our paralysis is burning away." Fluttershy sighed with relief "That was such a close one..." Fluttershy gasped, tears coming out from her eyes. "You saved us all. Thank you." Soarin thanked "now we need to get back and heal up everypony. Otherwise, we're good as dead if that thing's going to chase us again." The FOE wondered what happened with the intruders of his territory but disregarded it as he put away his scepter and continued walking around his territory. Hiding in the shadows, two ponies took a peak at the departing FOE. "Well?" Applebloom whispered "is the coast clear?" "The FOE has continued on it's natural path." The Doctor informed "but it won't be long before it comes back." "Holy Celestia!" Spike cried, staring at the pool of blood on the ground "what happened?" "It seems like the FOE had an intense battle here." The Doctor replied "But, it's impossible for shadows to bleed!" Twilight explained "Because it's not the blood of a shadow." Flash replied as he edged forward to the pool of blood and examined it. "It's pony blood, and it's very fresh." "Fresh blood?" Lyra repeated "then that means..." "Yes." Flash nodded "somepony has been fighting the FOE, and paid the price." "Hurk..." Applebloom held back her stomach and tried not to vomit. "Don't worry Applebloom." Octavia comforted "this isn't the worst thing that we've seen." "But it brings a new mystery here." Flash reported "we're not alone. Somepony else is here in this labyrinth and in this Equestria." "I remember Princess Celestia saying that there was 'another' with the power of the 'wild card' in this existing world." "So are you saying that--" Vinyl gasped through the comms "that the other ponies here are also persona users?" "I may have seen them before..." The Doctor spoke up "and I did talk with them, but I can't remember their faces or names." "If they are unknown or not, we need to seek their location. If they are in the same situation as us, we may need their assistance." Flash explained. "Hey everypony! Look!" Applebloom spotted, past the FOE, the RID saw a purple glowing bunny, scratching itself and sniffing the air. "Aww... It's so cute!" Octavia smiled "Acutally..." Lyra stared "it kinda is... Can we keep it?" "I don't see why a bunny that suspicious is worth our attention." Flash reasoned "Uhh..." The Doctor cringed, so did Derpy. "Doc? Are you all right?" Pinkie asked "This rabbit..." The Doctor replied "I remember it..." "Wait... You what?" Twilight gasped "I feel like I've seen this Rabbit before in my memories... But I can't figure it out yet." "Then what about we catch it?" Pinkie advised "if we bring it to you, perhaps we can jog your memories?" "Perhaps." The Doctor replied. "Come here little one!" Applebloom cooed, the rabbit looked back at the little filly and looked elsewhere, not caring for the pony's attention. "Can you please come here?" Applebloom continued, trotting forward. The bunny continued sniffing the air in front of him, ignoring the cries of Applebloom. "At least let me touch you!" Applebloom asked, reaching out to touch his fur. Without looking back, the rabbit hopped out of Applebloom's range and continued looking around like nothing's happened. "That's a sharp dodge." Octavia watched. "Please?" Applebloom tried one more time, but the rabbit hopped out of her reach once again. "That's some feisty rabbit!" Pinkie laughed "let me try!" And Pinkie immediately sprang for the bunny like a wolf. However, the bunny immediately jumped out of Pinkie's way and watched the pink pony slide across the ground until it screeched into the halt. The bunny jumped on Pinkie's head and continued hopping away from the group. "That rabbit's got some nerve." Lyra growled and used her magic to try and grab the rabbit. "Huh?" "Lyra, what's wrong?" Twilight asked "My levitation magic! It's not working on the rabbit!" Lyra gasped "Yes..." Vinyl replied "this rabbit is giving off some aura that nullifies all magic directly applied to it." "Then we'll have to settle things the old fashioned way" Flash replied and flew as high as he could in the labyrinth. With a deep breath, Flash dive bombed for the kill, like a hawk hunting his prey. But in the split second of making contact, the rabbit jumped over the swooping body of Flash and continued hopping away from them. "Damn!" Flash gasped in shock "it's that evasive!?" "There's got to be some way to round it up!" Applebloom replied "I know the oldest hunting trick in the book!" Twilight assured with a smile "you should know it too Flash, since you are a Royal Guard and all." "What? Do you mean surround the tango within all boundaries? Send it to a corner?" Flash asked then got the idea "I shall leave the orders to you Princess." "Everypony spread out and surround the rabbit!" Twilight commanded "make sure it runs into a dead end!" The RID sprung into action as they tried to corner the rabbit, keeping him away from any wide open space and into the narrow hallways of the room. "Hey!" Spike jumped out of hiding in front of the rabbit. The Rabbit jumped and ran towards the left. "Where do ya think yer goin?" Applebloom taunted, blocking the path of the rabbit. The rabbit immediately turned right and hopped even faster. "Good! The plan's working!" Twilight followed "now we can control the rabbit's path!" "I've spotted a dead end!" Vinyl analysed "It's an area where there's a portrait picture of a bright landscape hanging on the wall. Lure the rabbit there." "Understood." Flash nodded "our target is now to trap the rabbit in the dead end at the west side of the room. Do you understand?" "Yes sir!" Came the response. "Wait! I thought I was in charge!" Twilight gasped "Yes Your Highness!" The response came again. "Whatever." Twilight sighed "let's just catch the rabbit already." "Uh-Uh-Uh!" Octavia tutted as she chased the rabbit on the right, diverting it's course towards the dead end. "Keep on running little one!" Pinkie giggled as she chased the rabbit on the left. "You don't wanna know what we'll do if we catch you!" With both ponies on either side, the rabbit had no choice but to focus going straight towards the dead end. "Here I go." The Doctor grunted as he charged straight behind the rabbit, causing it to go faster. "Dang it! why can't I run as fast as you girls and guys!? I'm really getting tired here." Lyra growled as she panted and gasped for any amount of air as she started lagging behind the group due to being the slowest in the RID. "Here, let me give you a hand." Vinyl replied "Himiko, Spotlight!" With a pose and a direct command from Vinyl, Himiko emitted a spotlight off her face, resting the light on the running Lyra. "Now that feels better!" Lyra grinned as the Spotlight was fully absorbed into her body, that this energy drove her into a mad dash, galloping straight past the Doctor and Derpy, pinning for the rabbit until it made an erupt brake in front of the picture. "Got you!" Spike growled in victory as the RID, no matter how tired and they are, managed to surround the rabbit. "You're not going anywhere..." Lyra droned, tired from all the running and Spotlight boost, Twilight looked at the mint unicorn in fear of a memory before focusing back to the matter at hand. The rabbit looked left and right, frantically looking for an escape route. "Surrender. You've nowhere to escape." Flash commanded, at that response, the rabbit madly jumped into the picture frame, leaving behind a rabbit-shaped hole in the portrait picture. "WHAT!?!?!?" Spike roared with anger, "It can jump through!?" "It seems to me that we have underestimated this rabbit." Flash sighed with disappointment, without any showing of emotion. "How can you stay so calm, collected and expressionless at times like these?" Pinkie asked "we used the majority of our leg energy just to trap the rabbit, and it got away from us!" "Perhaps, but we haven't lost the rabbit yet." Octavia calmed "it appears we can pass through the broken picture as a shortcut by itself." "I can still feel it's presence." Vinyl analysed, "it's still somewhere on this floor." "I'll be giving the sword to you once again Flash." Twilight noted "any ideas?" "We follow this shortcut forward." Flash instructed "but I fear we may need some more supplies and healing." "Oh woe is us!" Luna gasped and cringed as she revived and healed the wounds of the SOES who are currently in the Nurse's office. "Some gruesome fight thou must have experienced!" "Tell me about it." Soarin groaned, wincing as the bandages were wrapped around his left wing. "This wasn't... Easy as... Ah expected..." Applejack muttered between deep breaths. "Next time." Rarity replied underneath her bandaged mask "we are to be extra careful of our surroundings." "Or just avoid the FOE's all together." Scootaloo suggested "Something tells me that this isn't the last time we're going to be fighting them." Rainbow gulped "Don't say things like that!" BonBon growled, pointing a bandaged leg. "It doesn't matter what has happened or not." Luna broke "thy need to focus and be prepared for any foul enemies of any difficulty!" "Yes your Highness." Fluttershy bowed, while Winona barked in response. "Since you sold those items you've found before coming here." Luna suggested "Joe would be finished on working what he was able to create. Perhaps you should pay him another visit?" "Will do." Soarin nodded as he removed his bandages, revealing very clean feathers. "These quick-heal bandages are something!" Scootaloo complimented as she took hers off. "Please come again." Luna bowed as the fully healed SOES made their exit. "Ah welcome." Joe greeted as the SOES entered the room. "It seems that the materials from the Justice Swords you've defeated proved to be quite well durable materials. Making fine weapons out of them, I have created the Kishido Blade for Rainbow and the Six-Shot for Sweetie. As for the animal pages, I've made a few weapons, a Vigor Fob, and a durable dot patterned dog-suit for you Winona. Care you try?" "Arf Arf!" Winona barked with interest, eager to wear the suit. "We'll leave you to the shopping." Applejack replied "ah'm a get somethin' to eat." "Ah'm hungry too. Catch you later!" Big Mac replied. "Open sesame!!!" Pinkie replied as the RID opened another room. After a few quick looks around, they found no rabbit but instead, a large table with a fully prepared tea set. "Ooh! A tea party!" Octavia gasped as they strolled around the tea table, looking at the numerous tea pots, cakes, sandwiches and all the appealing treats that make up High Tea. "I'm quite tempted myself..." Lyra replied "Don't" Flash warned "it may be a trap." "Please sir! Can we rest sir?" Applebloom pleaded "We are all tired from fighting shadows and chasing around that rabbit!" Spike reasoned. "But Princess..." Flash protested "No buts! We are having tea right now!" Twilight interrupted. Flash sighed with sadness and disappointment "In that case, in order to prevent any risks from befalling all of you... Allow me." Flash bowed and with his amazing dexterity skills thanks to Royal Guard training, he was able to pour himself a cup of St James English Breakfast, add two teaspoons of white sugar and milk, stir the tea and ingested it in one gulp. "Well?" Pinkie asked "are you feeling any side effects yet?" Flash froze, still holding his tea cup. "Sir? Can you hear me?" Lyra asked, waving her hands in front of the motionless frozen pegasus. "Don't tell me that tea killed off his soul." Spike replied "Maybe he just wants to drink the tea first! To start the tea party!" Derpy suggested. This time, Flash responded by glaring menacingly at the RID, his eyes fixed onto every single pony and dragon. As he gently put down the tea cup and approached the group very slowly, it could only mean one thing. "Uh... Are you all right Flash? Maybe we shouldn't have pressured you into tasting the food first." Twilight nervously chuckled. "Well, now that we know the food is evil, I think we should probably get going. Right Flash?" As an answer, Flash brutally drew his sword and pointed it at the Princess, frightening everypony in the room. "None of you are leaving here..." Flash growled in a demonic manner. "Holy Scat!" Pinkie screamed "Flash's soul is completely devoured and his body is possessed by an unknown demon!" "Everypony retreat!" The Doctor commanded, pulling out one of his bowguns "leave Derpy and the others alone." The Doctor threatened "Mere arrows cannot harm me..." Flash growled and continued trotting forward slowly. The Doctor had no choice but to pull the trigger and release an arrow straight towards Flash Sentry. "No!!!" Twilight screamed as the arrow struck into Flash's neck. Flash stopped and stared at the group with a deathly glare while staggering on his footing. "I'm sorry." The Doctor sighed "but I know that you are just a demon that has devoured the soul of Flash and taken control of his body. You are not Flash we know anymore." Flash continued on trying to maintain balance until he froze once again and toppled onto the floor. "Sir!" Lyra screamed at the dead soldier. "I'm so sorry Flash!" Twilight cried "I should never have pressured you into having the tea. That way, you wouldn't have tasted it first that you fell into it's irreversible effects. Please forgive me..." As one of Twilight's tears fell on to the floor, Flash stood up once again with a loud roar, freaking everypony out once again and running straight towards the door as Flash continued trotting slowly towards them, even with an arrow in his neck. "Okay, that is totally not the Sir we know!" Applebloom cowered in fear. The Doctor immediately fired four more arrows into his neck. These arrows did stop him in his tracks once again, but he did not stagger and fall. This time, he slowly placed his hoof on the five arrows, and abruptly pulled them all out, causing the five holes to gush out thick clear volumes of blood, creating five separate trails of blood as he continued walking towards the group. "This isn't Flash Sentry at all!" Spike screamed "this is some evil demon!" Flash then extended his wings and with one mighty gust of wind, disarmed the doctor and scattered everypony to the floor. "Oh Celestia! Our hopes of escaping this place really are over!" Octavia gulped "don't worry Flash, we'll be joining you soon, and you can yell and scold us for all eternity for losing our lives to that blasted food and drink!" "You are invited to this tea party..." Flash growled as he used his sword to suppress the blood stains as he takes out a medicine from his bag to apply on his neck wounds. After bandaging up the wounds, his sword was now stained and dirtied with his own blood as he stopped above Twilight and raised his sword. "The tea party of your life!!!" He roared before driving down the sword. "Aah!" Fluttershy woke out of fear. As the sweat beads ran down her face, she realised that she was sleeping on one of the tables in the food area section of the Cultural Festival, that it was all a dream. "Fluttershy!" Applejack exclaimed "are you all right sugarcube?" ""I-I don't know." Fluttershy gasped, still shook up. "I just had this terrible dream... Of some fleshless pony in black robes running its sword through Twilight!" "Wow!" Big Mac choked "that's some scary dream! Death claiming the life of the Princess of Friendship?" "Yeah..." Fluttershy nodded, rapidly breathing. "I feel really worried for her now. Could she have been killed while we were stuck here?" "It's okay dearie." Applejack comforted "Ah'm pretty sure that Twilight could easily take down any assassin with her own two hooves!" "We're back everypony!" BonBon announced "now prep up, we've bought new weapons and armors for everypony to try out. Except you Fluttershy." "O-Okay..." Fluttershy nodded "You look pale." Rainbow asked "Just a bad dream of witnessing death claiming Twilight's life." Applejack explained. "Ouch! That's rather frightening to experience." Rarity replied. "Don't worry Fluttershy!" Scootaloo comforted "the Princess will be alright. Especially when the toughest, fiercest and deadliest pony I know and love, is with her!" "Um... I'm right here?" Rainbow gestured. "Anyway" Soarin informed "we've got a few new weapons and armors for you. Try them on and practice with them." "Woowee!" Applejack grinned as she examined her new Bladefist, a former famous sword turned into a Knuckle weapon. "What about this?" BonBon asked, handing her a Steel Panier armor. "I've heard that the durability of this armor is able to keep it in a brand-new condition!" "It looks amazing!" Applejack nodded "fits well, very comfy!" "Well then." Soarin gestured "shall we get going?" "Hey!" A familiar voice called "It's you guys again!" The group turned around to see the grey pony and the chestnut pony one more time. "Huh? It's you guys again!" BonBon exclaimed "How are you?" Derpy greeted "are you here to get some Mochi and Hayburgers? We're having lunch right now!" The Doctor nodded in response "Oh no actually, we're just taking a short break with buying equipment and refreshing ourselves." Rarity explained "but we were about to go now." "Okay then, see you guys around later!" Derpy waved goodbye. "Wait." Soarin stopped "you guys went in there, did you? How did you get out?" "Well..." Derpy wondered All the girls (Spike included) screamed as Flash brought down his blade on Twilight Sparkle. However, the screams continued to last for a second until they wondered... Why aren't they feeling any pain? "Huh?" Twilight stopped screaming to see the bloodied sword of Flash driven right into... The ground. Confused, she and the girls turned back to the face of Flash, who mysteriously returned to his normal soldier look instead of the bloodied death glare. "Seriously." Flash normally spoke with a smile "the St James English Breakfast Tea was brewed perfectly. I don't know if it will be the last time I've experienced this sort of tea before." "Wait... WHAT!?" Twilight gasped in horror "Also--" Flash took a bite of a sandwich "--the food is also nourishing and very tasty here. The food and tea on this table are genuine and safe, feel free to dig in." "Dammit Flash!" Twilight bellowed angrily as she got up. "Don't scare us like that! We actually thought you were dead! That was the most meanest prank you pulled on us. Ever!" And slapped Flash in the face. "I'm pretty sure that you girls would be better off without me." Flash chuckled "Are you kidding!?" a mane-deflated Pinkie yelled, slapping Flash in the face "you're the backbone of this team! You're our leader!" "Well, you girls did say I was boring as a soldier." Flash explained "so I thought I'd make a little humor there." "Wrong humor!" Applebloom growled as she jumped and slapped Flash in the face. "We all thought you were demonically possessed!" "That joke was not funny!" Octavia scolded, followed by a slap "that is serious and dangerous to our sanity!" "Do I really sound that convincing?" Flash asked "Of course you do!" Lyra roared, also slapping Flash in the face "don't you ever do that again!" "Remind me to slap you when you come back Flash." Vinyl grumbled over the comms. "How...?" The Doctor stated "How what?" Flash replied "How did you survive that?" The Doctor asked "five arrows to the neck?" "Like I actually said, arrows can't stop me from living!" Flash laughed "but if the wounds are left open for a time, then It would get serious." "That wasn't very nice!" Derpy pouted as she slapped Flash in the face "this isn't the right time to make pranks like that!" "I guess you're all satisfied now." Flash giggled "shall we begin our tea party?" "Yeah." Spike replied "do you need some help with that face?" "No thanks." Flash bowed, the bruises on his face aching intensely. "It was just simple!" Derpy smiled "the Doctor was with me all the time and he managed to take down all the monsters in our path!" "I see, so you really can fight against these shadows." Soarin sighed "in that case, do you want to come with us now?" "Really? But--" The Doctor defended "It's better that we go in numbers, I think it is best that you come with us so that we have a higher chance of surviving." "O-Okay then." Derpy nodded "I'll do whatever she wants." The Doctor added "as long as it doesn't get her in trouble." "Man! That High Tea was delicious!" Lyra sighed as she explained what happened to Celestia in the Workshop "I have never tasted anything like it!" "I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself." Celestia embarrassingly chuckled "wish I could join..." "There was many different types of tea, sandwiches, deserts, I really like it a lot! Flash is right, that was the tea party of my life and nothing could compare!" "Speaking about Flash, I heard from Vinyl that he played a nasty trick on you girls." "Yeah, but we got over it though." Lyra chuckled, "no harm done. Maybe mentally, but we've all recovered quickly." Coincidentally, Flash entered the workshop with a smile and a severely bruised face. "I have to say, Vinyl packed a very big slap." Flash reported, rubbing his face a little. "So you scared them to death, did you?" Celestia asked "I did indeed." "I see..." Celestia smiled... Before slapping Flash in the face. "And that's a total of eight slaps." Flash counted "I want you to be on your proper behavior as a soldier." Celestia sternly spoke "you protect the ponies, not frighten the living out of them." "Yes, Your Majesty." Flash saluted "Anyway, are you here to look for new weapons and armor?" Celestia changed and held up a hanten with a picture of a lion sewn onto the back "this is a Lion Happi, and it provides suitable defence, perfect for stallions like you." "Hmm..." Flash decided "Hey Applebloom." Octavia asked as she munched on some rice balls "have you seen the Doctor and Derpy around?" "Nope!" Applebloom replied, hoofing down an apple pie. "I haven't seen em around the food court!" "Strange..." Octavia wondered "they would normally be here because of Derpy's food addiction..." "If your looking for Derpy, I last saw the two heading into the labyrinth." Pinkie Pie approached "Wait... WHAT!?" Applebloom gasped "Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" "Um... Yes!? They're going in all alone! We need to find them now!" Octavia blurted "But... I also remember seeing them go in with other ponies..." Pinkie recollected "Other... Ponies?" Applebloom replied confused. "We'll find out later, right now. We need to get in there quick." Octavia replied "Flash, can you go round the others up?" Flash bookmark a page in his book and closed it before popping it into his saddlebags. "Understood Miss Octavia." "Wait..." Pinkie stopped "don't tell me that book was..." "A bad romantic comedy that involves a schoolfilly settling in a new town filled with vampires. The content in here is physically painful to read, but it helps my understanding and diligence." Flash answered "Oh Celestia..." Octavia sighed "just get the others." "Take this" the Doctor stated as he fired an arrow to a severely injured Calm Pesce, ending its life. "Yay Doctor! You did it!" Derpy cheered "Well." Rarity applauded "it seems you have experience with fighting these shadows." "But it is interesting." Applejack "ah don't know how yer able to fight without a persona. If you have one, then you'd be able to beat them down normally." "Like I said, I can't recall why. Sorry I can't be of much help." The Doctor apologised "Don't worry. We'll try and find your memories back." BonBon cheered. "Hey everypony?" Fluttershy spoke "I'm detecting a mysterious presence in the hallway up ahead!" "I wonder..." Rainbow noted as she looked towards the hallway, spying a pink rabbit sniffing the air "It's that rabbit again..." The Doctor winced, holding his head "You've seen it before?" Rarity asked "Yeah. Somehow, I can remember this thing from long ago..." "Then it that case, let's catch it!" Applejack grinned and went for a mad dash towards the fleeing rabbit. "Hey get back here!" Big Mac called to Applejack and the rabbit as they gave chase. Once again, the rabbit stops at a dead end... With a portrait of a landscape. "Got you now!" Applejack growled. "It's not going to work..." The Doctor protested. Sure enough, the rabbit jumped through the landscape once again, leaving behind a rabbit shaped hole in the picture. "It seems you are acquainted with this rabbit before." Rarity replied "I've tried chasing before last time I've been here. I had some help." "Help?" BonBon replied confused "but doesn't everypony here ignore us?" "No." Derpy replied "there a few nice ponies that helped us chase the rabbit for a little while." "Really? Who?" Soarin started, desperate to find out "we need to know where they are. Perhaps they could help us get out of here." "Umm..." Derpy started to think hard "Uhh..." The Doctor also tried to remember. "You can't remember their names?" Scootaloo asked "No..." The Doctor remembered "there was this pegasus who was the leader of that group of ponies." "Now I remember!" Derpy chuckled "he's rather scary and insensitive at times, but very caring! His name is--" But before she could finish, a foul black mist started approaching them. "What the... A shadow attack?" Scootaloo gasped, readying her spear for battle. Instead the shadows continue to chase after the rabbit. "They... Just ignored us!" BonBon gasped "Do you think they're heading for the rabbit?" Rainbow asked. "If they claim that rabbit." Rarity answered "then we may lose the only lead to regaining our companions memories back." "Companions?" The Doctor asked, confused "then we'd better get to it before they do!" Rainbow nodded. "Let's go." Soarin commanded and they hopped through the images in hopes of catching up to the rabbit. Only when did they find out that the rabbit ceased its escape in front of the stairs to the next floor downwards. "So, I guess were going deeper." Big Mac replied "everypony look out!" Fluttershy warned as the mist that was chasing the rabbit was secretly hiding some accessories and emerged to stop the SOES in their tracks. "Here we go..." Soarin growled, drawing his sword as the mist started to take form in new and similar types of shadows... "Another table???" BonBon giggled with confusion. "It's different." Soarin noted "This one is blue, and has different levitating items: A silver plate, wine glass, large sword and a staff." He described "It also looks like it's... Sleeping." As he eyed the drowsy mask. "If it's blue then..." Rainbow wondered loudly for others to hear "then it should be weak to ice right?" "You blasted foal!" Rarity rebuked "if it's blue it's clearly not weak to ice! More likely it would resist!" "Never mind that!" Scootaloo gasped "there's a big lion there! Chained up to a large masked ball!" Sure enough, the description of the shadow were exact, and it seems that this lion seemed to like the ball as it's rubbing it's head onto it. "And here is the same old Maya, Laughing Table and Hablerie." Big Mac noted "shouldn't be a problem." "It's time to flip those tables over!" Applejack yelled and was ready to throw a hoof at it until Rarity grabbed her tail just in time. "Remember? The Laughing Table is weak to wind, and we don't know what the weakness of the Sleeping Table is. I suggest you beat up the Hablerie instead, or use Polydeuces to shock either the Maya or Hablerie." "But--" Applejack protested "No buts!" Rarity interrupted which caused Applejack to recede "Soarin, I will leave the weaknesses of the new enemies to you." Rarity commanded. In response, Soarin pulled out his evoker and summoned Orpheus. With a strum of his harp, Orpheus set the Laughing table aflame, burning it down in one go. "Wow Soarin!" Scootaloo gasped "you've grown that powerful now?" "I guess." Soarin shrugged, power coursing through his veins. "Why don't you try your luck with a Hama against the Hablerie? We still need to get some info." "Right!" Scootaloo nodded, pulling out her evoker and shooting her heart. "Nemesis!" She summoned, and out from the blue fog came a black robotic-like unicorn with yellow bright eyes and a boomerang-faced smile. A large black gear in a vertical position was connected to the black mare. Nemesis' eyes flashed yellow as the 4 yellow cards surrounded the hablerie and vaporized the shadow in a flash. "Information updated!" Fluttershy replied "they are indeed weak to light." "Three enemies left." Fluttershy reported "currently, the table and lion still have unknown weaknesses." "Then we'd better get rid of the Maya before it makes trouble." Rarity commanded "Leave it to me." Sweetie replied and extended one of her hoofs. The bottom part of her hoof opened up to reveal the new Six-Shot magic firearm. "Commencing target extermination." Sweetie noted and opened fire on the Cowardly Maya. After firing six shots, the maya was flat like a pancake, left for dead. As Sweetie aimed for the final blow however, the Enslaved Beast immediately sprung forth to slash twice with it's claws, catching the android off guard. "Aah! Taking damage!" Sweetie yelped "I'll save you!" Rainbow jumped to the rescue. Only for a sword to stop her dead in her tracks. "What the heck?" Rainbow gasped as she dodged the levitating sword, swinging at her head. "It's that sleeping table!" Fluttershy noted as the Sleeping table yawned to show that this was too easy. "Why you little!" Rainbow Dash growled and sped towards the table to produce a slash attack. The table recoiled from the attack, but stood back up. It's levitating staff starts to wave in the air and unleash a gust of wind, throwing away the brave pegasus like a leaf in the wind and slamming her into a wall. "Aahh!!!" Rainbow yelled in pain, "why does wind have to be my weakness!?" She wailed. "That's rather ironic." BonBon chuckled as she summoned Io to heal the wounds of Rainbow Dash "don't push yourself though. The Lion and Table are still a big pain. "Let's throw everything we have at them then!" Scootaloo encouraged and summoned the personification of herself mixed with the Divine Goddess of Retribution once again. As Nemesis' gear begins to rotate and accelerate one more time, it generated electricity that instantly struck the Sleeping Table. Once again, the table normally reacted to pain, giving the knowledge that Electricity is taken normally. "Oh dear... Guess that didn't work out." Scootaloo sighed as she grew exhausted of summoning her persona while dealing all that damage. "You're still too young to handle a persona like that." Rarity advised "maybe you need to take a breather." "I'm not a little filly anymore!" Scootaloo protested "I'll make sure that I keep on fighting!" And decided to stab the table with her spear, toppling it over. "That was a critical!" Big Mac noted "lucky." "Now's our chance to see what will stick!" Soarin replied "Agi!" And a burst of fire exploded on the table... Doing regular damage. "Then it's my turn!" Rarity replied, swapping her evoker into the 'Sub' tab, she yelled "Persona!" And when the gun fired, a blue pony spirit with a darker blue mane and tail appeared. She has rings on her front and back legs, a collar and dress belt with patterns of water drops, a tiara-like accessory on her head with a water drop bead hanging down. She also dons a white silk shirt made for dancing and comes with a dancer's scarf with the same colour as her fur. "Hey..." Scootaloo noticed "isn't that the water spirit from Hind-du mythology?" "Yes" Rarity nodded as well as the persona "this is Apsaras, dancers for the Hind-du Princes, Princesses and even Gods and Goddesses of myth. Now if you may dearie." Rarity gestured to the Sleeping table. Apsaras twirled and moved in a dance which whipped her dancer's sash to and fro, charging up some green energy. At the finishing movement, the water spirit whipped her sash in the direction of the Sleeping Table, unleashing Garu to blow down the table. Like the previous moves, it stood back up again. "Impossible! Not even wind?" Rarity gasped. In that instant, the Sleeping Table thrust it's sword straight into the body of Scootaloo. "Ack!" Scootaloo chocked, leaving her and Nemesis wide open. This time, the Enslaved Beast swung it's iron ball and damaged the body of Nemesis, sending her flying. "Ahhh!!!" Scootaloo screamed through both physical and mental pain until fell to the ground in a heap, while the body and image of Nemesis is going static, blurry and haywire due to the amount of damage it has taken from the Enslaved Beast. "Scootaloo!" The fully healed Rainbow cried as she rushed to the filly's side. "No!" She cried at the small pegasus and her Persona's body still going haywire. "Not... Over... Yet..." Scootaloo whimpered as large blobs of scattered slime materialised around her body. "Eww! What the!?" Rainbow gasped as she tried to wipe off the slime from Scootaloo's body. However, the slime stayed put and it started to glow. "Not..." Scootaloo winced as the slime glowed, "done yet..." and the slime continued on glowing. Though Rainbow Dash thought the glowing goo was keeping her down, it was getting her to stand up instead. Scootaloo managed to reach for her spear and used it to push her up right." "I'm not done yet!" Scootaloo roared with anger as the slime covering her fell out of her body and accumulated at a point to form a large slime blob that had red eyes and a mouth. "Oh!" Rainbow gasped with realisation "It's Slime!" Slime looked at Rainbow with a disgusted and frustrated look. "Heh heh, sorry for not knowing that you were helping her stand upright." Rainbow apologised "I won't go down the first time! Not when I have Slime with me!" Scootaloo cheered. "Thanks for helping me Slime, your endure saved my life." With a smiling face, Scootaloo's sub persona dematerialised into blue dust and sparks which fly back into Scootaloo. "I'll heal you!" BonBon assured and as Io casted a green alluring and soothing wave of energy onto Nemesis, the static and blurriness starts to fade and restore the body of Nemesis once again. "Thanks BonBon, and you too Io." Scootaloo nodded "now time for your eternal sleep!" She taunted and with Nemesis, casted Hama at the Sleeping Table. This time, the table was vaporised in an instant when the light went out. "So the Sleeping Table is weak to light." Fluttershy sighed with relief. "I'm too tired now." Scootaloo sighed as she plopped on the floor exhausted while Nemesis dematerialised. "Leave the beast and maya to us." Rarity comforted "Any ideas?" Rainbow asked. "I'll try this with my new move I thought up." Soarin assured "wait... What?" Rainbow asked "Instead of the usual Agi, Orpheus and I managed to find a way to use the harp for slashing!" "No way!" "And I'll take the beast down. Orpheus, Gokuentou!" Soarin commanded, Orpheus grabbed hold of his harp and swung it at the Lion. As it gained enough speed, the bottom edge of the harp caught on fire and instead of a blunt edge, the fire turned it into a sharp flaming blade. With one neat slash against the Beast's face, the shadow toppled over and started flailing about. "So it's weak to fire." Soarin nodded "care to do the honours?" "Me?" Rainbow asked "Isn't Hermes a persona of fire?" "Oh! Right." Rainbow chuckled and placed her evoker to her head. "Hermes!" She yelled and pressed the trigger to release the fog. When the fog subsided, an earth pony stallion with a golden tail was standing in it's place. Despite being an earth pony, Hermes seemed to have large golden mechanical wings tied to his front legs instead of his body. He also wore a full black and golden helmet with a sharp front visor. Hermes also wore an orange collar scarf where the two ends were connected with a golden H, representing the ego of Rainbow Dash: The messenger of the Gods. "All right Hermes." Rainbow encouraged "It's time to take that beast head on! Fusion Blast!" With a mighty flap of his wings, Hermes did a shuttle loop and flew straight towards the target. As he was flying, his entire body was lightly set aflame, turning Hermes into a Persona fireball with his pointy helmet visor as the tip. As soon as Hermes made contact with the lion, the current state of the lion allowed Hermes to easily punch a hole through it's body and the iron ball, causing the shadow to lose cohesion and explode into various amounts of dust and sludge. "Glad that that's over." Big Mac sighed as Hermes slowed down and landed next to Rainbow Dash. "That was awesome!" Rainbow complimented and brohoofed Hermes before he dematerialised into atoms and clusters of energy and buried back into Rainbow's mind. "It's still not over." Applejack reminded and pointed towards the Cowardly Maya... Shielding itself from the SOES. "How pitiful." The Doctor sighed "allow me to curb-stomp it." And with a mighty stomp, crushed the Maya into dust. "Now it's over!" Derpy giggled "Woof!" Winona barked as she located a mysterious item on the floor on which she began sniffing. "What did you find?" Rarity asked and Winona picked the item up and placed into Rarity's influence of levitation magic. "No way!" Rarity gasped as she inspected the familiar back design of a half-black and half-white mask. "It's one of those blank cards!" "No it's not." Soarin sighed "flip it around." As Rarity flipped it around, the blank image shined blue and revealed the image of a Persona. An alicorn that carried several yellow hand fans with purple rings. It seems that the peach alicorn with a blank lush mane and tail, tied and held together by purple-yellow hairbands is dressed with these purple-ringed yellow hand fans as well as purple rings on her hind legs. Dressed in white robes and a purple skirt, it was clear that this persona is the Neighponese Goddess of entertainment, Ame-no-Uzume. "Huh." Fluttershy analysed "that's quite a lot of support skills. I guess Koropokkur can finally enter the field of battle! That is, if he wants to..." "In that case." Soarin replied "the little pony persona will be with me. Now let's go down the stairs." "Aw man!" Lyra sighed with relief after her Persona, an extremely large earth pony clad in black metal armour that has decals of the entire skeletal body of a pony (along with bone-coloured hooves), smashed his large thunderbolt-shaped sword on a surviving Hablerie to end its existence. "Thank Celestia the battle is nearly over! Thanks Take-Mikazuchi! You can take five!" "Looks like that Jupiter Eagle is the only shadow left." Vinyl analysed "do you remember Flash's ironic weakness?" "You mean how Flash and Izanagi are weak to wind attacks, despite Flash being a pegasus?" Pinkie giggled, "that's not funny." Flash replied, "I thought we should try the same thing for the Jupiter Eagle. Maybe wind is his weakness?" Vinyl advised "Okay then." Pinkie nodded "leave the wind attacks to me!" And as the blue tarot card appeared way high above her head. A massive jump and a flip allows Pinkie to be within distance of her card, where she shattered it with one bite. "Seriously Pinkie? Seriously?" Twilight sighed as a black earth pony wearing a fully disco-like body suit emerged from the shattered card. The pony wore a long red scarf and camouflage patterned hoof gloves, and the front hooves were equipped with some large yellow 4-sided shuriken launching devices. This pony though, was maneless and his tail was covered by the suit. Instead it appears the earth pony had two faces. One was his normal pony like face with smaller yellow 4-sided shuriken as his eyes with a little grate as it's mouth. The other face contains two frog-like eyes sticking out the top of the Persona's head and it's mouth was below the red scarf and fixed in a boomerang-shape, sharp-toothed grin. This is Pinkie's facade to overcome life's hardships, the shapeshifting ninja (between pony and frog) Jiraiya. "Let's go Jiraiya!" Pinkie cheered "let's show them the power of wind!" Jiraiya responded by putting his front legs together in order to concentrate, focus and gather energy. A flume of wind erupted from underneath the Jupiter Eagle, causing it to lose it's stability in the air and crash it to the ground. "I can follow-up this attack!" Pinkie giggled and jumped to the air. Producing a fan of kunais, she tossed them all straight towards the eagle and the shadow could not last against it's wings, head and mask were pierced by the hail of kunais until its body was completely torn apart into shreds and dust. "Please come again!" Pinkie replied, making a slight advertisement to Sugar Cube Corner, the store she works at. "I doubt any shadows know about Sugar Cube Corner." Spike noted. "Now that the shadows are out of the way once again." Octavia assured "I'm sure we can keep on going on ahead now!" "From the map that Flash drew." Twilight studied. "It seems that we've nearly explored the entire floor! I the last part we've yet to venture is currently where we're going. I could also say that the stairs may be located there." "Hold on." Flash stopped and peered at a familiar card lying on the floor. "Is this..." Flash picked it up "a persona?" Sure enough, the blank side of the card revealed an image of a pony that was a mix up of all sorts like a draconequus. A pale faced pony with a short blond mane and pale coloured tail, a pale body covered with blue fur, the back legs of a horse and the front legs of a feline. The pony's eyes were fully red in colour and what the group could see, sharp fangs in the pony mouth. "A vampire with a mix up of features from different animals..." Twilight tried to memorise "only one such vampire fits such a description. The flesh eating vampire from Olympian myth, Empusa." "I see..." Pinkie Pie nodded "I don't think you really do. Do you?" Applebloom replied "Yeah I don't." Pinkie laughed "all I know is that we get a new persona!" "Oh dear..." Octavia sighed "Anyway." Lyra changed the subject "from what I see from the map, I think the last spot should be right here." Sure enough, as Lyra stepped on the final unexplored spot. A large treasure chest of the map appeared once again. "Well that's new." Flash analysed "do you think we can open it?" Pinkie asked "from what it says on the chest..." Flash analysed the inscription. "It looks like the picture of a maze, if I were to hold the note book on it..." As Flash finished detailing the second floor, he pressed it hard against the maze inscription and light started streaming out of the treasure box. "Oh I get it!" Pinkie gasped "this chest only appears and opens whenever we fully explore the entire maze on this floor!" "Sounds about right." Lyra agreed "what's in there sir?" "This." Flash held out a card that has a three small hearts. "Looks like a skill card to me." "A skill card?" Twilight asked "Princess Celestia told me that certain items can allow our main Personas to learn any sort of move. These items are called skill cards. From the looks of this one... It looks like a healing spell that can affect a group of ponies." "Media!" Octavia replied "the healing spell that can slightly heal the health of anypony in the group!" "I see." Flash replied "I think it's time we dwell further in." Vinyl advised "I feel a presence that gets stronger and stronger the more we go deeper in the labyrinth." "All right!" Spike cheered "finally we are getting somewhere." "Ugh!!!" Twilight grumbled. The RID turned to see a disgruntled Twilight staring at Sukuna-Hikona who was currently clutching a large book. "What do you mean that this book is somehow related to your daydreams? This book is just about the history of Equestria, and it no longer contains the elements of harmony. I don't see why it's so important to you." "Is there a problem?" Flash asked "No." Twilight sighed "it's just that she's daydreaming once again, and I can't figure out what she's dreaming about. All she's doing is pointing, holding and looking at that book." "We're ready to go when you are Princess!" Lyra noted "Yeah yeah I'm ready." Twilight replied and was the first to walk down the flight of steps with the rest of the RID following. Flash stayed behind to retrieve the book Twilight forgot to collect, the familiar brown book with the golden cover of a unicorn's head that explains the legends and histories of Equestria's regal princesses. "I wonder why this book is so important to Miss Hikona?" Flash thought to himself as he flipped through the pages of the book. Past the 'Once upon a time', past the resentment of Princess Luna which envelops into the horrific transformation of Nightmare moon, to the usage of the Elements of Harmony to banish the younger sister to the moon and stopped at Princess' Celestia's control of the Sun and Moon. "Is Miss Hikona really that interested in Equestria's history that she starts to daydream?" He started reading through those set of pages one more time until a few words finally stuck to him. "The Elements of Harmony..." Flash repeated until something struck him. "The Elements of Harmony? I'm certain I've heard of them before... But where?" Flash pondered until his brain struck the right chord. This time, he read through those pages one more time, while humming a familiar tune. As he finished reading the last part as well as finishing his singing. He closed the book and popped it in his saddlebags, smiling with satisfaction and understanding. He turned to Sukuna-Hikona, who was also smiling back at him for discovering and knowing what her daydreams were all about. "Your secret shall be safe and secure with me... Princess Hikona." Flash bowed, to which Sukuna-Hikona bowed back before dematerialising. Realising he was the only one left on this floor, Flash hurried downstairs to meet the rest of the group. Character Database: Pinkie Pie Race: Earth Pony Character Role: Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4) Main Persona: Jiraiya (Magician) Pinkie Pie is the most bounciest, happiest but the most unpredictable pony that you would ever meet and is the first pony that Flash not only treated as a superior, but as a friend. She is very friendly with everypony in town especially for somepony that's new by: throwing welcome parties, making sure they are okay everyday, and making them (and everypony) smile. But sometimes, Pinkie may have her issues too which can bring an entire split personality into play, isolating herself from the rest of the world and being hostile to anyone who disrupts her. When Flash Sentry was transferred to Ponyville, she threw him a party, regardless of being his superior alongside Princess Twilight. However, her fate was affected and destined when she first heard of the midnight show with Flash. When trying to discover what was left of her friend's minds and memories of negativity, Pinkie's aghast discovery at her supposed "friend"'s truth caused her suppressed feelings to manifest into her shadow self: A mix of both personalities to create a monstrous attitude of a shadow, who spilt the truth of how Pinkie befriends anypony just so she could escape her fear of being alone as well as to spice up her boring life, reminding Pinkie how her parents treated her. However, Flash managed to calm down Pinkie with the tales of how Twilight, her and the Mane 6 had used their true power of bonds and friendship to rescue Equestria from disaster and destruction. Understanding the severity of trials she had to go through, friends were always there not just to have cheap thrills, but to also care for her when she's down. Accepting the truth of her shadow self, Pinkie received her Persona to overcome life's hardships and also as proof and a memento that she has accepted herself for what she is, fully belonging to herself to become a better pony. Just as she cared for everypony in Ponyville, she wanted to protect anypony who could fall victim to the dreaded Midnight show and it's murderer to which Flash promised not just as a Royal Guard following orders but as a friend. Sometimes dubbing him "Flashy" or even "pal", Pinkie and Flash, under the watch of Celestia, has created and initiated the Royal Investigation Division, in order to investigate the presence of shadows in the theatre as well as to apprehend the mastermind behind the shadows and murders. As time goes on, she seems to develop a small crush on him because of his caring nature. Special Tips: Pinkie, for some reason and yet without a doubt, is the most fastest of all the ponies in battles and encounters. Apart from outrunning her enemies with her agility stat topping her list, her Magic is the second highest of her stats and will dish out Wind skills. Though her strength and endurance stats are acceptable, her biggest weakness of stats is that she is the most unluckiest of all, so expect her to miss attacks, receive dangerous amounts of damage or get knocked down frequently. Resistant against Wind but weak to Electricity, she is best suited for the front lines with her sets of knives (melee cut). Her special status skill is Tentarafoo, a skill that has a medium chance of panicking an individual enemy.