//------------------------------// // You in Wonderland: Chapter 3 (part 1) // Story: Ponysona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth // by Tythen //------------------------------// Sukuna-Hikona's dream Sukuna-Hikona was flying through the vast sky, with Kintoki-Douji following behind her, riding his Tomohawk missile. As they started to descend towards the clouds, a persona rammed through a cloud to reveal a large town while he continued on flying around making cool air tricks and techniques. Sukuna-Hikona landed on the ground and looked around the beautiful town inhabited by many personas. Something caught the persona's eye as she saw five of her most valued companions that were waiting for her. They were made up of an excited Jiraiya, a stylish looking Penthesilea, a shy Lucia, a happy looking Polydeuces who seems to be wearing tipping a stetson and a of course, making the flying entry, Hermes. Before the five were out to meet their companion, Hermes was flying around leaving a trail of fire looking for big adventures. Jiraiya was using his wind powers to fill a balloon with so much air that it burst though for him, it was tons of fun. Penthesilea was busy admiring herself and her weapons in the mirrors of her house to represent her beautiful heart. Polydeuces was busily harvesting apples by punching apple trees till the apples drop, showing the power of his strength and faith. Lucia shared an entire apple out of kindness to a small snow fairy with a cheerful toothed smile, who gobbled it down almost instantly. Back to the present time, Sukuna-Hikona landed in the middle of the five personas to make it all complete, while many other personas joined the six for a large group photo. When the photo was taken, Kintoki-Douji taped the picture on his missile and threw the missile towards a large velvet castle. As the missile flew through the window, it landed in front of Izanagi, Orpheus, three unicorns, two female and one male, and a large black alicorn with white hair and tail as well as a long snout. The black alicorn looked at the picture with a wide toothed grin as he saw the picture of Sukuna-Hikona and the many other personas that she calls 'very best friends'. "WAKE UP!" Twilight yelled, shocking the dwarf deity to her senses. Looking down, she saw a disgruntled and disappointed Twilight looking up at her, while the others were busy looking around the new labyrinth of the third floor. What they managed to gather is that this place is much more darker in mood than the other 2 floors. Although, it involves paintbrushes, rose bushes and hedges, the red paint was smeared in a way that it looked like blood. "Honestly Sukuna-Hikona, what would happen if the shadows attack?" Twilight replied, to which Sukuna bowed unhappily. "Just don't do it whenever I summon you." "This part of the labyrinth looks really depressing..." Applebloom noted "it looks like blood was used to paint the roses red." "Hurk... I'm feeling sick..." Spike grumbled, trying to properly digest the food he ate instead of throwing it out. "This place is starting to get freaky..." Octavia winced "let's just finish this before things get bad..." "Just not to add to the stress..." Vinyl added "but there are tons of new shadows and a new FOE, and the shortcuts that we've seen seem... Different." "Like what?" Pinkie asked "For starters, the new shadows seem to come in the form of a balance scale, and another type of those long-tongued shadows." "Oh Celestia..." Lyra sighed "I hate getting licked by those things..." "That makes two of us." Flash replied "but we still have to keep on going." "By the way, Princess Celestia told me of some 'good news' that happened back at the Velvet Room. You may want to come around next time you return." Vinyl added "Sure thing." Pinkie replied. "A small question for enlightenment, if Lady Rarity were to be fighting the Hableries in this type of place." Flash asked "do you think she will lose it?" "That's it!" Rarity shrieked as she quickly dried herself from the new Hablerie's tongue acid. Instead of the normal black and white striped sphere, the Hablerie was instead half red and blue. Purple zig-zag patterns were shown on the blue side and the Hablerie's lips were yellow instead of red. "Be careful!" Fluttershy warned "it looks like this Hablerie is far more powerful than the one we saw in the first floor! It looks rather agitated instead of timid this time." "Just tell me it's weakness and I'll drop the icky shadow!" Rarity replied "Okay then..." Fluttershy responded "without recklessly throwing everything, maybe due to it's red colour, I don't think it's weak to fire... But I'm not sure about the rest." "Then here's hoping I strike the weak point first!" BonBon volunteered "let's go, Io!" and with a sharp glow from the chained unicorn's green eyes, a column of wind trapped the coloured Hablerie in place, the sharp gusts of wind cutting through it's body. As the wind subsided, the Hablerie fell on the floor, writhing in pain. "Direct hit!" BonBon exclaimed "I've found it's weak point!" "Yes." Fluttershy replied over the comms, "it is indeed weak to wind." "Then let me finish it off. Sandman!" Applejack replied and fired her evoker. A small red tailess and maneless earth pony stood in front of the stunned Hablerie, having pointy ears and a large Silver moon for a head which had yellow eyes, a smirk and a large bag of sand on it's back. Swinging the sand bag with his mouth, Sandman was able to finish off what's left of the Agitating Hablerie into black dust and ashes. "Right, now I've managed to fully analyse and record every monster that we've seen." Fluttershy replied "turns out that Agitating Hablerie is resistant to fire, ice AND electricity." "Tough bugger eh?" Big Mac replied "Wind and Light are it's weaknesses though." Fluttershy replied "but we mustn't dawdle now. We need to continue going." "Are you tired?" The Doctor asked a panting Derpy "I'm A-Ok!" Derpy happily replied, before walking unstably and hitting the wall. "I'm not so sure about that..." Scootaloo watched "you look a little tired..." "I guess..." Derpy sighed, looking around nervously "Are you feeling scared Derpy?" Scootloo asked "I-I'm not scared!" Derpy replied, fear present in her tone. "But your legs are shaking and I can sense fear in you tone." Scootaloo protested "It's filled with excitement!" Derpy replied "it's so my body temperature can rise in order to help my digestion improve. That way, I can eat even more!" "Derpy, I don't think 'shaking with excitement' works like that..." Scootaloo replied "but it's okay to be scared. The pony I love always told me that in order to face your fear, you must experience that fear first, then get over it." "Why thank you!" Rainbow bowed "you flatter me." "Don't worry. I'll try my best!" Derpy replied "It's because I want to go back with all of you, so let's continue on working together Scootaloo!" And she started chomping away on another muffin. The doctor grunted uncomfortably. "Looks like somepony's jelly!" Rainbow teased "Huh?" Derpy gasped "are you made of jelly Doctor?" "What do you mean by 'jelly'?" The Doctor replied with confusion "So you're not all jelly?" Derpy concluded with a disappointed look. "As I said, what do you mean? Does it look like I am made of this so-called 'jelly' you speak of?" The Doctor asked again "No..." Derpy sighed "... Is the Doc really that dense?" BonBon asked with worry, "What do you mean 'dense'?" The Doctor continued asking, further more confused. "We're just milling on Derpy's adorability!" Rainbow chuckled "Uh..." Derpy blushed with embarrassment "th-thank you very much!" "Hrr..." The Doctor glared at Rainbow "See? I told you he's jelly! Just look at that glare!" Rainbow laughed "though, I wasn't kidding on how Derpy's adorable, she looks really innocent in this situation! Certain mares unlike cool ones such as I, should be like that!" "... Are you looking at me?" BonBon asked "and why?" "You know what I mean from that day..." Rainbow reminded "can you help me out Soarin?" "Pardon?" Soarin asked "when I was helping Lyra's errands with BonBon, were walking down Ponyville, I heard somepony talk about BonBon having a 'nice body' and all, do you know what she acted like?" "Uhh... Am I really supposed to answer that?" "All she said was 'oy!!!' instead of a message of thanks!" Rainbow explained "That's because all I hear were ponies talking about me behind my back!" BonBon protested, "that doesn't sound very cute of you." Rainbow continued teasing "especially the times when you got mad at the apple stall that it took so many free apples to cheer you up. As well as being cranky about that cider contest back then too." "whatever, it's not like I want to be called cute anyway, especially from you." BonBon replied disappointingly "I see... Then WHO do you actually want to hear it from?" Rainbow chuckled "Can you shut it?" An irritated BonBon snapped, "say something leader!" "Rainbow, you're being annoying." Soarin expressionlessly sighed "Aw come on leader!" Rainbow replied "He's right. You are always at your usual annoying self." BonBon agreed "But you're actually cute BonBon" Soarin redundantly added "H-Hey!" BonBon blushed "what was that all about?" "What the...!?" Rainbow gasped "that's not the same reaction I got from you at all! What was that for!?" "Isn't it obvious!?" BonBon replied with frustration, "but to tell you the truth, I don't really give... At all." Soarin concluded "What? Are you not saying I'm cute?" BonBon replied "Ouch!" Rainbow winced, "the same goes for you" Soarin turned to Rainbow. "What!?" Rainbow replied, her heart shattered in to pieces "w-well fine! I'm not cute anyway! I'm cool!" "Can the three of you give it a rest!?" Rarity interrupted, annoyance and anger filled her tone. "Stop playing around this instant, do you want to be left behind!?" "Yeah BonBon!" Rainbow Dash sneered "stop wasting time!" "Really? I wonder WHOSE fault was it for slowing us down?" BonBon retorted "That's enough you two." Soarin broke, anger rising in his monotonic voice. "Less social, more exploration and battle if necessary." "Ah. Welcome again to the Velvet Room." Celestia greeted. Apart from her and Vinyl, another unfamiliar face has appeared in the Velvet Room, it wasn't a pony but instead, a griffon, wearing an blue officer's cap with a golden V button and carries a large blue satchel with adorned with golden designs. "Oh great," The griffon replied with disgust at the approaching party "you idiots and dweebs FINALLY visited!" "Oh hey! Gilda!!!" Pinkie greeted "how unexpected and surprising to see you here! Nice outfit you've got on too!" "Oh be quiet you!" Gilda blushed "seriously, when I woke up, I found myself in this mysterious floating platform with Celestia telling me this is the Velvet Room. I can't even find the long snout alicorn, then all of you so-called 'RID' show up. What is going on here? And seriously, why did you not tell me about this cultural festival thing earlier?" "It seems most of you already know Gilda." Celestia introduced "currently, she is working part-time as another patron of the Velvet Room." "No I'm not." Gilda protested "I just happen to be here. Why am I here anyway?" "I tell you again, I have no idea. But like the rest of us, you may have been called here. Since you are here, I know how to put you into good use." "Oh great... More work" Gilda sighed "Anyway, I have managed to secure a small communication back to the Equestria we know." Celestia explained "Gilda will search and collect any messages of the ponyfolk back home that concerns any of us. In the meantime Gilda." She turned to the Griffin's attention "when you're not busy, why don't you work on your... Poems that you enjoy so much?" "They're not poems!" Gilda protested "they're just memos and reminders that I jot down about the messages given from Equestria... And why do you know about them!?" "Really? Looks like you are a hard worker after all. In that case, I shall ask you to continue doing them as well." Celestia smiled "Rrrgh... Stupid..." Gilda blushed with embarrassment and defeat. "Blushing with defeat?" Pinkie wondered "I wonder if that's possible..." "Poems?" Lyra asked "They're not poems dork, they're the screams of my pathos." Gilda rudely explained "Oh okay... Pathos huh..." Lyra wondered "Anyway" Celestia continued "you may be collecting multiple personas, but some can not be collected from shadows. That's what fusion is all about." "Fusion?" Twilight replied "so that's how these new personas come around during those times Flash..." Twilight remembered "As you know, it is about fusing two personas and their powers to form and fashion a new one." Celestia explained "as patrons of the Velvet Room, we assist our guests with the knowledge of the art of fusion. One can say it's the true function of the Velvet Room. That's the second thing I called you all here for. Fusion preparations are now complete, feel free to use this power anytime." Celestia then turned and sternly looked towards Flash, "your strange fate that you trailed has caused you to wander into this 'haven in the rift', one that I too has followed, not just as a princess of Equestria but as a resident of the Velvet Room. This means that I am fated to lend you my assistance once again. I may not be like him, but I will still do preform fusions henceforth. In this case, do you have a suggestion?" "Yes." Flash nodded and placed the cards of Pixie and Empusa onto the table. "Hey! That was my persona! Where did you get that?" Applebloom protested "I got Empusa from a rather jealous persona. As for Pixie, Izanagi handed her over to me as revenge for drawing on him." "Tomoe..." Applebloom growled "Regardless, we can still get both back, and Tomoe will have more company, whether she likes it or not." "She'd better cope." Applebloom giggled as the two ponies watched Celestia magically sends the two cards, which glow yellow, flying while leaving behind a trail of seals and into her book. After a spin, she thrust open her book to reveal one gleaming card with a different persona. "I am Angel..." A pegasus greeted. The persona pony has angelic wings, a peach colour and blonde mane and tail, but for some reason, parts of her body were tightly bounded with black silk, including a blindfold with a outlined picture of a white eye and silken neck collar with a long chain hanging off it. "It my sworn duty to protect you..." "From here, Angel will be joining the ranks of Princess Twilight." Flash informed. "Hey Princess." Gilda asked as the RID left the room "am I still allowed to go out?" "You may." Celestia nodded "the Ponyville cultural festival is on right now, feel free to order some food and come back here." "Sure thing." Gilda smirked "I guess I can 'enjoy' things after all..." "Actually, how's 'she'?" Celestia changed the subject "Do you really have to bring up that!?" Gilda replied "I told you, I don't care about her anymore!" "You know that's not true." Celestia replied unfazed "Umm..." Vinyl butted in "is this all about Rainbow Dash?" "Entering the next room." Sweetie reported as the piano key door opens to reveal yet another large room. What they find was a very large empty room where there was a door at the back end. "Just an empty big room?" Big Mac replied "Something doesn't seem right here..." Rarity warned. Sure enough, a large torrent of liquid splashed down on the SOES, drenching everypony. "Woah!" Fluttershy jumped "that was rather unexpected..." "Seriously? I just took a bath!" Rarity grumbled "Wait..." Applejack paused "this doesn't feel like water..." "You're right..." Scootaloo nodded who proceeded to smell the liquid soaked into their fur "it smells like... Tears!" "Scootaloo's guess is correct." Sweetie Belle added "The components of this liquid contains water, mucin, lipids, lysozyme, lactoferrin, lipocalin, lacritin, immunoglobulins, glucose, urea, sodium, and potassium, the components of tear fluid." "What is the point of these tears anyway?" BonBon replied, "Let's just get out of this room." Rainbow grumbled "I can't believe I have to get wet." But as she flew to the door, she realised that it didn't seem to budge open at all. "What the...?" Rainbow gasped as she tried checking the door once more, and again, It did not move an inch. "We're trapped in here!" Big Mac gasped as he tried opening the door they entered. "What has caused this prevention of entering rooms?" Big Mac asked "Hmm..." Rarity wondered to herself "why tears?" "Maybe we have to dry ourselves before we can continue?" Scootaloo suggested "Arf!!!" Winona barked in response and started shaking the tears out of her fur... But it didn't work." "You can't get them off you!?" Soarin gasped with horror "these aren't ordinary tears." "Maybe there must be some way to get rid of them. Perhaps it's another clue in the children's book?" Rarity asked "Let me think..." Fluttershy replied "I remember that there was a part in the book that allowed everypony to dry themselves from the tears of Alice... I think it was called..." "The... Caucus race?" Scootaloo finished, also remembering that part of the book. "Yes." Fluttershy nodded, "it seems the labyrinth is forcing us to take part in this race..." "But how does the Caucus race go?" Applejack asked, "This is the strange thing..." Fluttershy nervously spoke "in a Caucus race... There is no race path at all. All you have to do is choose where you want to start..." "And?" Soarin asked "Gallop in any sort of direction possible, until you become dry." Fluttershy finished "Wait." Rarity paused "does this mean we can gallop; in any haphazard direction?" "No boundaries, no tracks, no rules... All you just do is gallop around!" Fluttershy concluded "and at the end, everypony receives a prize!" "That sounds really dumb..." Big Mac replied. "Hah!" Applejack taunted "yer just sayin that because yer too lazy!" "Scuse me!?" Big Mac flared up "fine! Last one to dry up's a rotten apple!" And immediately started sprinting around, "no fair! You ain't gettin a headstart!" Applejack replied and ran in the opposite direction, "Come on Rainbow Dash! Let's gallop!" Scootaloo encouraged "Okay okay!" Rainbow chuckled "coming BonBon?" "Are you seriously going to do this?" BonBon replied "if it gets us out of here, yes" Rainbow retorted and started flying around in breakneck speeds. Sharply turning upon any approaching wall as if she was a pony pinball. "Fluttershy, do we really have to do this?" Rarity winced "Afraid so." Soarin replied "so let's just make the most of it." And he too, started galloping and flying around "Doctor!" Derpy cheered "let's fly already!" "Alright, alright..." The Doctor sighed then remembered "but I am an Earth pony..." "Sheesh!" Derpy huffed "you know that's not what I meant!" "Initiating race mode." Sweetie chanted "top speed capacity increased to 825 Horsepower. Ready for 'Caucus Race'." And with that, Sweetie zipped back and forth in the large room, becoming such a blur that nopony could see her. "You've got to be kidding." BonBon was the only one staying put, damp and disinterested, as she watched the SOES galloping around the large room. Winona was tugging at her leg as if she wanted to race with BonBon. "Seriously!? Okay okay I get it!" BonBon receded as she started trotting around in a lively pace with Winona. "Heh heh!" Fluttershy giggled as she watched the SOES running out and about and hummed a song that she heard from an 'Alice in Wonderland' musical. "Dear Fluttershy." Luna overheard "is that the "Caucus Race" song thou are singing from the Alice in Wonderland musical?" "Yes it is!!!" Fluttershy laughed "How odd..." Luna noted "because thy compendium of personas is reacting abnormally..." "Yawn..." Applebloom yawned as the RID continued trotting along the endless red and black hallways of the labyrinth. "How long is this labyrinth going to take?" "As long as you keep complaining." Spike retorted "though... I am feeling a bit tired myself." "This labyrinth just keeps going and going and going and--" Twilight droned on and on until Flash suddenly covered her mouth with his hoof. "Be careful... I've spotted an FOE." Flash warned and the group looked straight ahead of them to see yet another large card soldier doing something else instead of walking around. This soldier was instead painting a flower display of roses from white to red. "It seems that it's occupied with painting those roses!" Vinyl analysed "and it looks nearly done!" Sure enough, as the FOE completed it's finishing touches, it starts patrolling on it's respective path. "Hmm..." Twilight looked "these types of soldiers seem to hold a bucket of red paint and a paintbrush. Maybe this type of soldier's job is not only to walk around and patrol the area, but also to paint any set of roses red. How quaint." "Then if the paint is washed off, wouldn't the card soldiers come to these sets of roses and paint it up once again?" Applebloom suggested "Are you trying to imply something?" Octavia asked "Possibly..." Applebloom replied "look at the number of them roses. Ah bet it takes some time to colour em up, if we are to bypass these tricky type of FOE's, then we oughta hose down that paint so them card soldiers can get busy paintin'." "Hmm... That's quite a good idea!" Twilight agreed "maybe you are smarter than your sister sometimes!" "But..." Lyra objected "we don't have anything to clean up these roses!" "Ah... That's a good point..." Applebloom sighed with defeat "However" Lyra continued "I found just the thing!" And pulled out a watering can from the ground next to a small pond "this little fella can bring the paint out of this in no time!" "Very cunning Miss Lyra." Flash applauded "care to do the honors now?" "You bet!" Lyra nodded and watered the roses to wash away the red paint. "Look at the card soldier again!" Twilight pointed, as if it has a alarm trigger, the painting soldier immediately broke from his path of patrol and was hopping towards the flower stand of white roses. "Quickly get past the FOE!" Flash commanded and the team quickly scuttled past the flower stand before the FOE blocked it's position and applied large amounts of red paint on the roses. "Right, so now we are able to bypass this type of FOE. Is there anything else that is a challenge?" Twilight asked, just as everyone heard a loud roar. "Possibly..." Flash answered "remember, we shouldn't underestimate the shadows. They are a very formidable enemy with endless numbers and forms." "But at the same time, also holds endless possibilities of weakness right?" Pinkie replied "In a way Lady Pinkie, in a way." Flash repeated "if we do face it though, we'd better hit their weakness harder and faster before it hits us." "You know what I think I could use?" Spike piped up "a cold bath." "Are you sure you can't keep up?" Lyra replied "Lyra!" Spike impatiently retorted "I'm tired, I'm sweating and I'm sick of traversing all these labyrinths! I'd jump into a bath of tears if I had to!" "I don't think that sounds very comfortable..." Octavia gasped "That was the most uncomfortable experience ever!" BonBon moaned as she as collapsed to the ground after running for an hour or so. Rarity took huge amounts of deep breaths in order to regain her normal oxygen intake while at the same time, clutching her body in pain "I can't take this anymore..." She gasped "Now that's what ah'm talkin' about!" Applejack stood proud "warm and dry!" "Now you're talking!" Rainbow Dash chuckled "That was a very tough gallop!" Scootaloo sighed "but I feel more stronger after that!" Winona barked in agreement, "Yay Doctor!" Derpy cheered "we did it!" "Indeed." The Doctor nodded "Now that it's over, I'm feeling very hungry!" "Hmph. You're the same as always Derpy." The Doctor sighed, "Well done everypony!" Fluttershy congratulated "you've run for a long time, and all of you are now dry!" "Indeed." Sweetie nodded "I can no longer detect tear fluid on any of our bodies." "So, does that mean we can get out of here?" Big Mac asked "I'm sure of it!" Fluttershy nodded "I believe that should be everypony's prize." "Wait... Prize?" Soarin asked "At the end of the Caucus race," Fluttershy noted "everypony wins a prize!" "Okay then! Let's get out of here before more of those tears pour down on us again." Rarity remarked "HOLD ON!" Fluttershy shouted, scaring the SOES and stopping them dead in their tracks. "That was completely unexpected Flutters!" Rainbow replied "Sorry..." Fluttershy apologised "it's just that Luna ordered me to get your attention immediately." "What does she want?" Soarin asked "Hrm... Ah... I see..." Fluttershy milled with Luna before concentrating back in the comms. "It seems that a new arcana has just appeared in the compendium! I'm starting to think THAT was everypony's prize of the Caucus Race." "You mean the prize is a prize that we share?" Applejack gasped with shocked face, "no way!" Rainbow bawled "I wanted a prize all to myself!" "Well" Fluttershy chuckled in embarrassment "everypony gets gets to share a physical persona of the Chariot arcana. His name is Nata Taishi. I'm sure he'll be very useful! Why don't you have him Big Macintosh? I'll send him over to your evoker!" "Thanks" Big Mac chuckled "Ah guess ah'm the lucky one ere!" "Well you'd better let it show." Fluttershy warned "I'm picking up signals of a extremely large and strong shadow, and it's not even an FOE!" "This sounds really bad... We need to high tail it out of here. Fast!" Soarin warned and the room cleared out immediately. A large black circle formed on the floor of the large room and from it rose a large behemoth of a shadow. Looking around but realising that his victims have escaped, it let out a bloodcurdling roar. "Eeee!!!" Applebloom screamed "I can hear it! It's getting closer!!! Run to the shortcut!" "Wait!" Vinyl warned as the RID galloped straight towards the hanging pocket watch. "That shortcut's--" but before she could finish, the RID were teleported to the other side of the wall, meeting face to face with 3 scary looking masks. Immediately, the group turned to go back to the other side only to find out that there was no large pocket watch hanging on this side. "--One way!" Vinyl finished "No no no!" Applebloom cried as she banged the wall, hoping that the watch could come back. "I don't wanna fight!" "Show some restraint Miss Applebloom!" Flash scolded and the small filly turned around and stood up strong with her right hoof in salute, without any more blabbering and crying. "Do not worry, I doubt these are the shadows that made the loud roar." "He's right." Vinyl comforted over the communication line "but these shadows are pretty new too." The RID watched as the shadows' masks shrink in size and the black sludge all around it formed what looked like a cross with a round circle at the intersection and a sharp pointy base. At first, the RID thought it would be a cross, but changed their minds as the crosses stood up and balanced on their sharp base and started forming balances on both sides of the cross as well as colouring one side red and the other side blue. "A bunch of scales." Lyra concluded "that's what they are." "They seem to radiate a lot of heat. Reminds me of that enemy from before..." Vinyl stated "I remember too." Flash noted "Heat Balance, that's what they were called." "I can't remember their weakness though, sorry." "No matter, we'll strike them down with a variety of attacks, right Applebloom?" "Uh... Yeah?" "Remember, you said that we should hit them with all we have until we find a weakness. Well I think you should start the honors." "O-Okay then." "You don't sound confident like you were at the start of the labyrinth. This is the third floor, we shouldn't give up now." Flash cheered "I'm pretty sure your sister would say the same thing right?" "Yeah..." Applebloom smiled "yeah, I guess yer right." "Then you know what to do." Flash nodded and Applebloom charged forward and kicked with all her might, knocking one of the Heat Balances onto the floor. "Direct hit!" Flash analysed but looked at the remaining 2 Balances with great concern, as purple energy were coursing around and through their bodies intensely. "Be careful!" Vinyl warned "they are charging up their mind, the next magical attack they cast will deal thrice the damage!" "Then we'll need to stop them now!" Applebloom replied as a persona card materialised in the air. However, the arcana on the card wasn't the Chariot, which was Applebloom's arcana, but the arcana of Fortune. "Empusa!" Applebloom yelled as she swiped her hoof to shatter the card. The Olympian vampire stood before the shadows, hissing and roaring with threat. "Let's show em what yer made of Empusa, Bufu!" Under Applebloom's command, Empusa released a stream of freezing water that forms a small crystal to freeze half of the shadow's body that snaps and shatters. Although the balance wasn't defeated completely, it too was left lying on the floor. "Alright!" Applebloom cheered "I think it's the least of our worries..." Octavia gestured to Applebloom towards the third remaining Balance, the dishes on the balance started to generate fire which starts to blaze intensely. "Aw man..." Applebloom winced at her mistake as the balance released it's fire in a small wave that affected everypony in battle. Although the RID managed to survive the dreadful Maragi, the ponies and dragon still took serious damage and are barely at their vitals, with their own persona cards becoming near static images. Octavia took the least damage of all the ponies as she was resistant to Fire but the Balance's mind charge was enough to leave her in a damaged condition. Applebloom however, was weak to Fire and with Tomoe collapsing and shattering, it was clear to see that she suffered a dreadful fate. "Applebloom!?" Flash coughed as he continuously compressed the chest of the soot-coloured, motionless filly. He then proceeded to check her pulse and raised his hoof to her nostrils. As the result sends terror coursing through his veins, he refuses to give in as he continues to compress her chest faster and harder "dammit Applebloom!" "Her... Her body temperature..." Vinyl shivered "I can't sense it anymore..." "Buck!" Flash cursed in frustration in failing to revive Applebloom. "Spike!" He called "any Revival Beads?" "No..." Spike replied, painfully picking himself from the ground "But I have this, Kintoki-Douji!" And Spike's big round boiler rumbled and whirled while letting out steam. After a few seconds, Spike turned the valve to open the round door on Kintoki-Douji's hollow body and pulled out a bowl of soup. "One serving of Recarm coming up!" Spike called and quickly poured it into the mouth of Applebloom. "Now continue the CPR procedure!" Spike instructed and Flash continued to compress her chest without a word. As Flash and Spike were busy saving Applebloom, Twilight, Lyra, Pinkie and Octavia were busy dealing with the enemy. The two balances managed to recover and stand back up, glaring at the four injured ponies. "This isn't good..." Twilight panicked "if any of those three spam a mind charge and another magic attack, we'll all go down! "I'm sure they're not weak to just ice..." Pinkie hoped "I'm sure there's another weakness!" "The nerve of those balances..." Lyra growled "they've made me mad now!" "Ah!" Octavia gasped with an idea, "seems you got an idea." Twilight noticed "care to share?" "I realised that the scales are half red and blue, and the Heat Balance is weak to ice. Now if ice is blue and fire is red..." "Are you suggesting that this shadow is also weak to fire?" Pinkie asked "Indeed" Octavia nodded "Konohana is a fire caster and she also knows Maragi." "It's worth a shot." Twilight nodded, "Hit them hard!" Lyra encouraged. "Here goes. Persona!" Octavia chanted and summoned the Blossom Princess. With a dance of her wings, Konohana Sakuya sends three fireballs directly at the three scales, knocking them around wildly. Although they did not get stunned, two were desperately trying to maintain balance. "They're very low in health!" Vinyl replied "finish them off!" "Time for some action!!!" Lyra roared and smashed her folding chair onto one weak Heat Balance into black splinters and sawdust, which soon dissolved. "Goodbye!" Twilight growled and with a true aim, shattered the other weak Heat Balance. Although two of the Heat Balances were out of the way, the Balance had enough time to charge its mind once more and generated cold freezing mist on its scales this time. "This isn't good." Twilight watched in horror "I have a feeling that this is a Mabufu attack. With that Mind Charge, it's gonna wipe us all out!" "I'll make sure it doesn't do that!" Octavia growled "I shall never forgive you for harming Applebloom!" Floating above her fan was another persona card. Shattering it summoned Azumi once again. "I'll make sure you'll never cast other magic attack, Makajam!" Octavia chanted and with a roar from the half fish and half pony, purple chains lunged at the balance and ensnared it's body. As the tightly bound chains glow purple, the freezing mist in both scales started to grow less in power until it was completely gone. "You!" Pinkie gasped "you've binded it's magic!" "Indeed." Octavia nodded "now it's time to finish this!" Once more, Azumi released yet another icy cold bufu attack to freeze the third scale in place... Open for an all-out attack. "You know what this calls for." Octavia gestured "taste our power!" At the same time when the four ponies charged in with their weapons, Flash and Spike managed to bring Applebloom back into consciousness. "Ack..." Applebloom weakly coughed "get... offa me... Mr Sentry..." And tried to push his legs away. With a sigh of relief, Flash stopped compressing her chest and nodded at Spike. "That was a close call!" Spike exclaimed "how are you holding up?" "Ah'm okay..." Applebloom "that fire move though... If Big Sis and Big Bro were here, ah bet both would be extremely worried so much that they'd mentally break down into a frenzy, and I dread to wonder what they would do to you Mr Sentry!" "Then I assume it is best for both of us that your prediction is very unlikely to occur." Flash smiled "besides, whenever I'm placed in a dangerous situation like you, It's positive that worry will strike and fill the minds of my younger siblings." "Ya mean First Base and yer younger sister?" "Yes." Flash nodded "that's why I'd be very cautious against any type of shadow, and I'm not afraid to flee or escape when necessary." "Choosing Family over Glory. That's very sweet of you." Octavia replied, overhearing the conversation. "But either as a Royal Guard for Equestria, oldest sibling for my family or the leader of the RID, my duty remains unwavered." Flash added "That sounds like our leader!" Lyra replied "Princess, can you help with healing Applebloom?" Flash asked "I sure can!" Twilight nodded. Summoning Angel, she casted Dia in the form of a green mist made of sparkles and wind which generated from her angelic wings. Resting on Applebloom's burn marks and cleaning them up. "Any better?" Spike asked "Ah feel much better!" Applebloom replied energetically as she stood up straight. "I just realised something..." Vinyl announced "do you know when the Heat Balance we just fought?" "Yes?" "It turns out those things were actually resistant to Fire and Ice!" "WHAT!?" "It's weak to the other elements. Lightning, Wind, Light and Dark!" "Oh..." Lyra replied with disappointment "looks like we've wasted our time..." "Do not fear." Flash encouraged "if we are able to defeat shadows with spells that are resistant to them, that shows that we are growing much stronger without having to worry about the weakness and resistances of enemies." "You know. I think Flash is right here." Octavia replied "thanks for your consideration. You really treat your friends and allies like your family!" "Heh... I guess you are right about that after all." Lyra answered back with a small smile. "Your compliments and impressions about me are noted and taken seriously." Flash bowed, "you still need to keep the formalities?" Lyra sighed "a simple thank you is good enough." "In that case, thank you Miss Heartstrings and Miss Melody." Flash corrected "I think we should keep on moving." Twilight noted "as much as this scene is touching, I don't think we have a lot of time..." "Understood. Let's go." Flash instructed. Once again, the RID continued traversing the labyrinth with high morale. "Seriously? Another dead end?" Lyra grumbled in despair. "Not quite so, there'a book down there..." Twilight pointed out. Flash picked it up to inspect it "A pop-up book, with a picture of some hideous beast with an iron ball." Flash concluded, "A pop-up book?" Applebloom replied in interest, "Aren't they books that unfolds pictures when you turn a page?" "That's right" Twilight nodded "though, it interests me on what comes out of this book..." "Hey..." Pinkie nudged "do you think, just due to this power of the labyrinth, if we open that book, that monster on the cover spring out of the book and attack us? Just like how a pop-up book springs out pictures." "Don't be silly." Lyra laughed "it's just a normal pop-up picture book with a scary monster on it, do you think it can do any harm?" "Well..." Vinyl piped up "it looks like this monster is familiar to one of the shadow forms... I think you should leave it alone..." "Hey look!" Rainbow Dash spotted "A pop-up book!" "Wow!" Scootaloo exclaimed, picking up the book "it has a cover of a 4-leaf clover!" "It's somepony's lucky day today then!" Applejack chuckled "wanna open it?" "Beware, It could be a trap." Rarity warned "How many times does everypony say that?" Big Mac replied bewildered "it's just a pop-up book, so let's just open it or something!" But without further ado, Soarin opened the book and it revealed a 4-leaf clover. "Huh... So it's just a picture book after all..." Soarin disappointingly replied. "Hold on a second... Look!" BonBon gasped, what was supposed to be the pop-up picture of a 4-leaf clover turned out to be a realistic one. "Woah" Soarin replied in bored amazement as he picked up the realistic 4-leaf clover. "Lucky indeed." "So this pop-up book can have this magic power that can make whatever's inside it's covers into actual life!" Fluttershy explained "I dread to think if there was some horrible monster inside that pop-up book instead of a clover..." At that moment, multiple screams pierced the ears of the SOES. From what they could see, a blur of colours were being chased by a blur of black, dark silhouettes. "What the!? That voice!" The Doctor gasped "It's!... It's!" Derpy tried to speak "It's somepony in trouble!" Rainbow Dash finished, "BonBon! Rainbow! Winona! Doctor and Derpy! Follow me!" Soarin commanded and the 6 ponies galloped straight towards the current chase. "The blur of colours is too fast for me to analyse them..." Fluttershy reported "but we all know that they're being pursued by a group of shadows!" "Do you know what they are?" "Two Enslaved Beasts, enemies we've seen before." Fluttershy replied "Well looks like I've got the right ponies for the job..." Soarin chuckled "What did you say leader?" BonBon overheard "We need to intercept the shadows!" Soarin replied "You're getting very close to the shadow force right now. They're fully focused on chasing the unknown group. If you time it right, you can get the jump on it!" "Understood." Soarin nodded and signaled his team to get ready and strike. "The shadow force will be passing in 3...2...1..." "Now!" Soarin responded and with a ferocious charge, knocked the two enslaved beasts off balance. "So these shadows are weak to fire right?" Soarin asked as the two shadows were caught off-guard. "Yes indeed." Fluttershy replied "You know what to do everyone, let's do this!" Soarin commanded "Persona!" Rainbow cried. Hermes set himself ablaze and charged against one of the beasts, with the flaming impact causing a fusion blast. "Ukobach!" BonBon summoned the small green pony demon once more, who pelted a small fireball from his ladle to cause a small explosion on the same beast. "Arooo!!!!" Winona howled as she summoned Cerberus to launch a stream of fire, the same power as Ukobach's. The combination of the three fire attacks was enough for the Enslaved Beast to melt into black ooze. "Persona!" Soarin yelled, firing the evoker to his head. Orpheus sprung and slashed the other Enslaved Beast with his giant harp. "It's all mine!" The Doctor yelled as he fired an ablaze substance from his bowgun. The fiery ammunition hit the Beast full on but was still standing to its limits. "Wow Doctor! Everypony's fired up!" Depry noted "Yes." The Doctor nodded "our morale is quite high." "Should we go for broke?" BonBon asked. With a nod, Soarin and the other 5 charged in with their weapons. As Winona, Soarin and Rainbow Dash continuously slashed the Enslaved Beast, The Doctor and BonBon kept on unloading their ammunition against the gigantic dust cloud. As the dust settled, the Shadow had already crumbled to dust, leaving behind long and small arrows. One of the arrows however 'strayed' on it's path and hit Rainbow. It doesn't take a genius to know who fired that arrow. "BonBon!" Rainbow yelped as she felt the pain "why!?" "Sorry! My bad!" BonBon giggled "Here, let me help." Soarin volunteered as he grasped the arrow stuck on Rainbow, and abruptly pulled it out. "Aahhh!!!!" Rainbow screamed in pain. "It's okay." Soarin comforted as he applied a bandage to the cyan mare. "It shouldn't hurt anymore." "Th-Thank you..." Rainbow replied, blushing while she stood up. "By the way..." Soarin replied "no need to blush." "Leader!" Rarity called as she and the rest of the SOES approached him, the four-leaf clover attached to Applejack's stetson. "Are you all right?" "Yeah we're fine." Soarin replied "we've defeated the shadow force no sweat. However, the shadows had some strange behavior..." "Beg your pardon?" "It seems that the late shadow group were occupied with chasing something..." Fluttershy explained, "could it be the rabbit?" Scootaloo asked, "no..." Fluttershy replied "I can sense it's presence, but it wasn't running frantically at all, it may be something else." "All we saw were a blur and a mix of colours." Rainbow explained "it was being chased by those shadows. If it was a pony, which pony could it be? One that can become a blur of so many colours?" "A description like that..." Big Mac replied "... Fits the description of you." "Hah hah very funny." Rainbow sarcastically laughed "but there were a group of screams. It can't just be one pony." "Can't just be one pony?" Fluttershy gasped from the Velvet Room "hold on a minute!!!" She cut communications then turned her attention to Luna. "Princess, there's something I need to do that requires your help, can you follow me?" "What has piqued your attention dear Fluttershy?" Luna asked "I feel like we're not alone here..." Fluttershy trembled "I haven't told the others this but..." "Yes?" "If you overheard, there was some description of a coloured blur." "We have overheard it." "I also said I couldn't decipher or analyse what it is" "Yes" "Well... I just found out why..." "And?" "Something's interfering with me analyzing that blur." "I beg your pardon?" Celestia repeated "I'm just saying." Vinyl explained "as the RID was running away from the shadows from that pop-up book. The communication line seemed to falter quite a lot." "Perhaps the panic between Flash and you due to those shadows have caused some bad connection?" "Not at all." Vinyl replied "it feels like something was trying to break into my persona communication... But I've fully connected with the group so it could do nothing but weaken my signal." "Hold on." Celestia stopped "did you just say your persona communication was trying to be broken?" "It feels like..." Vinyl replied "it wants... To analyse them..." "But... If you had blocked this analysis..." Celestia realised "then that means..." "I seemed to have analysed something else instead..." Fluttershy finished "or rather, something more terrifying." "What!?" Luna gasped "And the only thing I managed to get..." Fluttershy shivered as she mustered the courage to finish off her sentence. "Was another communication line... From another Persona." "Another Persona that is able to have tactical support abilities..." Celestia wondered to herself. "If so, it seems that there is another third party..." "And if there is currently a communication line with that blur of colours." Luna continued her train of thought. "It definitely means that there is another team similar to Soarin's... If there was a leader in that blur of colours. It could explain everything from what's wrong with my guest and his friend's personas, to the intertwining threads of fate... Impossible." "Two with the power of the wild card." The two princesses said together "Princess?" Vinyl asked in confusion. "Hmm?" Celestia turned "never mind me, I'm going to be doing a little tour around Ponyville. Can you and Gilda watch the Velvet Room for now?" "Oh okay." Vinyl nodded "Get me some apples on the way back." Gilda called as Celestia strode out of the Velvet Room. "Two Wild Cards..." Celestia mumbled to herself "it can only mean one thing..." "Fluttershy?" Applejack called in the comms "you seem awfully silent." "It's nothing." Fluttershy replied "just I had some things to talk with Luna, and all of a sudden, she stormed out in a hurry." "Will she be back in time? I don't recall her mentioning the fusion of personas." Soarin asked, "speaking of personas..." BonBon gestured towards another floating card that rose from the shadow's remains. As it lies on Soarin's hooves, it revealed a bipedal horse of red and white, with hooves on it's feet and on it's supposed front legs... "Hands." BonBon spat with disgust "One of Lyra's obsession's with humans, is that they have hands." "Do you know who this persona is?" Applejack asked "he looks like a monstrosity..." "I think it's called..." Fluttershy analysed "Orobas. A persona of the Magician arcana, has both physical and magic fire attacks, and has a few binding moves." "Sounds useful for me..." Rarity replied "I shall take care of him..." "Just make sure he doesn't pull out the long sharp knife for the wrong reason..." "What knife?" Sweetie asked "I-It's nothing!" Fluttershy chuckled "I think I'm sensing the rabbit again, it's quite close to where you are now. Try going north!" "All right." Soarin instructed "let's keep on going!" Character Database: Rainbow Dash Race: Pegasus Character Role: Junpei Iori (Persona 3) Main Persona: Hermes (Magician) Who's awesome and fast? Rainbow Dash is awesome and fast! She's the fastest flyer in Equestria! Of course, that's what she thinks, though a few others may agree with her. Despite her astounding speed and power of her wings, it doesn't fix her boastful and arrogant attitude. Sometimes, she's very insensitive to other ponies, her team and especially BonBon and they both do not get along well. Don't worry though, as everypony else may not tolerate it, they can easily find their own comebacks against her, whether it's her boasting or her scary ghost stories. Being the element of Loyalty however, no matter the joker, she is always diligent to the SOES and as much as she trusts them, they trust her back. Besides, fighting black monsters with a guardian-like superpower of your own is cool and exciting as she thinks it. Rainbow experienced the coming of the dark hour when she was busy napping in a tree. As the green rolled through, she immediately lost confidence of her surroundings, that is, until Applejack managed to rescue her. As she wasn't in a coffin during the Dark Hour, it is evidently shown that she is capable of invoking her own Persona, and that is Hermes. As she starts helping out in the SOES, she gains confidence and loyal as she fights with Soarin, and step by step, no matter how little, she becomes a better mare as she knows that with protecting anypony they love, they are able to get through and carry out their mission, so she can once again fly the skies. Special Tips: Despite being the fastest pony in Equestria, she does NOT take her speed into account when in battle with shadows (probably due to her cockiness). She, in fact, is slower than the majority of the ponies in the RID and SOES combined. Only faster than Spike, Sweetie Belle, Lyra and Big Macintosh, making her the 5th slowest overall. Even though that's the worst of her problems, she is not the best stat-wise overall. However, she really tries hard and that perseverance is rewarding in itself. Her strength and endurance carries her through, making her quite a powerful person. As she learns Fire skills just like Soarin, her role leans in towards very handy support. She can only learn one offense skill but that skill, due to Hermes' speed, has a very wide range and can also be used as a ranged attack. Her Rakukaja skill allows her to increase the defence of an ally. Now although she doesn't use her speed to get her turn before the shadows, she instead, skillfully uses her speed to give an advantage and a boost to her attacks, which comes to her special support skill Death Chaser. For a period of time, she can use her wings and speed to squeeze in any follow-up attacks after anypony, including herself, has attacked an enemy. Even so, she doesn't swing her large broadsword (melee cut) for nothing though! Without a doubt, she is best placed in the front lines and is exceptionally the best character to initiate 'link' attacks. You need to sort out her speed initiative first, before she can start link attacks. Rainbow Dash is resistant to fire, but ironically, she is weak to wind.