Persona 4: Friendship is Magic

by PresidentFreeWrite

Sour Apple Acres and Shadow Applejack

Sunday Morning

The sun was rising as Storm galloped swiftly towards the marketplace. If he was going to rescue the orange mare, he needed supplies. He remembered that Applejack showed him a metal-works shop, which he entered. Apparently, its sunrise openings for some ponies. I'll keep a note of that. He trotted up to the light brown... stallion(?) that he presumed was the Caramel that Applejack told him about.

"Excuse me?! Are you Caramel?!" The cobalt pony said, jittery from the gallop as well as the dire situation.

"Uh... yes. How can I help you? I... uh... work making and repairing tools and accessories." The shy stallion said, nodding lightly. "Do you want to... uh... buy anything?"

"Do you have Sword?!"

"Sword... no... why...?" Caramel said, nervously looking around suspiciously.

"You don't? A mare's life might be in danger! I need something if I'm going to help her! Now, I'm going to ask once again... Do you have a Sword?" Storm said, putting on a forceful tone. He needed something, and he knew that this was most likely the Equestrian equivalent of Diadara, so the passion for art would be there.

Caramel looked around, wondering if anyone was looking at what he was going to do next. He didn't want anyone to know about his secret passions, especially since it was looked down upon to create or distribute what could be construed as weapons of war. When he finished looking around, he gestured towards the cobalt pony and walked to a stairwell that led down into a red room.

"As long as you don't rat me out to the authorities, I can give you a sword. But only one. After this, you gotta pay." Caramel stated, losing his apparent shyness. He grasped a nice, basic sword in his hoof and handed it to Storm, who luckily grasped it on his first try. "I put it in a saddlebag for you. This is an enchanted saddlebag that holds a vast amount of things without expanding it more than it would normally. I call it a Bag of Holding. Neat, huh?" He said, happily hoofclapping. "My own creation."

The brown stallion outfitted the cobalt pony with the aforementioned saddlebags, causing him to grunt a bit. Caramel then put the sword into one of the saddlebag sides, not expanding the saddlebag at all. Storm looked at it, noticing its grey color and... tarot card clasps? He wondered if it was important, but he didn't have time to worry about it. He turned to the Light Brown stallion and nodded.

"Thank you, and if I'm successful, you'll definitely have a repeat customer." The cobalt stallion affirmed before he galloped out of the store after he ran up the stairs.

Storm galloped to the Sofa and Quill Store, knowing that he would need some sort of portal to get to the T.V. World. Let's hope I can find a display model like the one at Junes. I can't afford a regular one, and even then, I need it in a consistent place. He trotted over to the 'Tele-vision' Section of the store, looking over the display models. A lot of them were extremely small and unable to be jumped into. He did, however, test to see if he could still enter, sticking in his hoof into a smaller television. He was still able to, as the screen turned white and undulated like a viscous fluid. Good, it appears I can still do this.

"Like what you see?" a voice from behind him said, internally scaring him.

{>"I'm just looking around."

"I'm looking to buy."

"I wasn't fondling your television!"}

"Sorry, I'm just looking around. Applejack referred me and I'm interested to see what this is all about." Storm paused, hoping that the salespony would buy the lie that he was spewing. "That said, do you have ones with larger screens?"

The salespony known as Davenport hoofclapped just before he used his hoof to point to the Quill section of the store. "I'm so glad that this invention is driving so much business. I have to thank the Princess the next time I see her. Oh, and its over next to the Quill section. I hope you find what you are looking for."

Storm trotted over to the aforementioned section, looking through the televisions to see which one would be the best one that he could use to jump into. He found one that looked almost identical to the one he used in his own world, except for the fact that the border and box of said display television was rainbow in its color scheme. I guess I can stomach things like this. I've done wors- Never mind. The cobalt stallion looked around to see if the salespony was looking away, and when he was, Storm backed up and tried galloping into the screen, tripping into the display and smoothly entering it despite it. When Davenport went to check on his customer, he was confused to find his prospect was gone.

"Where did he go?"

T.V. World - Hub

Storm awoke in the familiar hub area that he was used to, however, there was one big notable difference. On the floor, instead of the chalk outlines of bodies of his previous TV World hub, was a silver ball with spikes on the top and bottom, as well as it saying "hub" on its face. He wondered what exactly this meant, but he decided to forgo that in exchange for finding his newest friend, if he could even call her that yet.

He looked around for any sign of a dungeon, as that was the way it worked in his world and there was a lot in common between the worlds. He, however, had the assistance of neither Rise or Teddie, his Radar friends back on Earth. He, however, also noticed that while there was fog, it was significantly less than that of the Earth TV World. Until I either get the hang of it or find a Radar party member, I'll have to deal with finding it myself. It shouldn't be too hard... right?

Storm's eyes widened when he saw a large blur of a building in the distance. He smiled from the revelation, but frowned in concentration while he galloped towards the blur. He soon came into the red swirling entrance which was attached to the entrance to a decrepit farmhouse, specifically the one he's been in for a couple days now. This must be Applejack's Dungeon. However, his analysis was cut short by a pair of shadowy blobs coming from the entrance, forming into the familiar Hablerie enemies. They swiftly charged the stallion, which he reacted to by grabbing the sword out of his bag with his mouth and charging.

The Hableries were just as disgusting as they normally were. The purple tongues of the two laughing mouths slipped around, drool flying everywhere. They also retained their traditional striped pattern, this one being a garish pattern of black and pink. As they charged, Storm remembered that he had an advantage over them somehow, but he couldn't remember. Something about the "L1 Button" to see an analysis. At least its not BEARY good. The cobalt pony leered at the enemies, thus bringing up a small amount of information about the blubbering mouth monsters, such as their weakness: Electricity.

"Now, how to summon..." Storm said, taking a slice at one of the disgusting adversaries. "I have no hands, although these hooves can apparently hold thi- GAHH!"

Storm's audible thought process was interrupted by the two tongues of the monsters licking him. He didn't take too kindly to that. That's when the card that appeared on his rump lifted from the ground, signaling him to stop and let his body do what it was going to do. He lifted his forelegs and sent it straight down, causing it to break.

"Izanagi!" The stallion shouted, signaling for the metallic Japanese god to come out and preform a lightning "Zio" attack. It sent one of the Hableries down, giving Storm and his buddy god another action. Storm repeated the action verbatim, destroying the non-downed mouth monster. That's when the other monster rose up, but another slash to its face proved that action futile.

He faced the doorway's twisted portal, a bit hesitant to go in. However, he knew that Applejack was in trouble and he needed to help her.

Sour Apple Acres

Storm trotted forward, only to gasp and cough when a ripe smell entered his nose holes. The barn was filled to the brim with apples, which made sense since the real version of this place, except for the fact that most of the apples were rotten and mushy. He heard squishing noises coming from further inside, which he used to follow to the action.

When he arrived there, he saw Applejack, disgruntled and barely conscious. She was breathing heavily and her Stetson hat was flung off. The stallion went over to help her when he started hearing those familiar self deprecating statements that always precede bad happenings.

"Biting off more than you can chew is just what ahm afraid of."

Storm recognized that very deep, sultry country accent as Big Macintosh, Applejack's older brother. He had only met him for a while, but he recognized the voice quite clearly. He didn't know the history behind the comment, but he knew that, given this context, it must've been particularly resonant with the orange mare.

"Applejack, you had us so caught up in all the doin', we haven't had a second to enjoy the company of the folks we've been doin' it with!"

And that was Granny Smith, talking about some sort of reunion. To this, Applejack started to stand up, groaning in frustration as the deprecating queries apparently hit her like a ton of bricks.

"I don't care what you say! YOU. NEED. HELP!"

Applejack finally barked. "Who's talking?! Who's there?! Twilight?!" She looked around, grabbing her Stetson hat as the squishing stopped.

A malevolent yawn cut through the air, followed by a distant laughter. The orange mare turned toward the sound, Storm doing the same. Applejack gasped as she stared at a sleepy reflection of herself, the hooves of the apparent double covered in apple mush, leaning up against a barrel of apple cider in the manner of a human. She still bore her trademark Stetson, but her green eyes were replaced with an eerie yellow color, along with a creepy purplish aura.

"Ah don't need no help from no pony, that's the truth. Or is it? Ahm so caught up with all the little things that ah forget about the meanin' of it all. Ah buck apples, day in and day out, but ahm only lyin' to myself: Ah don't need help. The truth is, ah need that help, or ah'd be useless. Ah use that big bravado to push others away so ah can do it all mahself. Fail all by mahself. Ah can't handle lettin' go o' that Apple Family pride."

Applejack stood, paralyzed. She was looking for the words to retort what the doppelganger with the purple aura was saying, but all she could muster up was apathetic. "Stop it..."

"How can ah be the mom o' the group if ahm the most immature? Well, scratch that, I'm the best. Ahm the ONLY one who doesn't need to learn a lesson. Ever. I'm the best and they're losers, because ahm the honest one. Ahm the biggest liar in the group, if ah say so myself!" The Doppelmare said, putting heavy sarcasm on the word "honest".

"Stop it... I'm not..."

"Ah shucks, look at me goin' on and on when ah know full well what ahm talkin' about. After all, ahm you, through and through."

Applejack apparently had enough. She began to quiver, glaring at the glowing eyes of the mirror mare. Storm knew not to try to stop it, as it was pointless. That's what Kanji taught him right before the Shadow Naoto fight. All the stallion did was bare his weapon and prepare for a fight.

"What are ya', a loony pony?! Ah ain't like this, and besides, we closed up the Mirror Pond ages ago. Nothin' you say is the truth. And ahm the Element of Honesty! Ah ain't nothin' like you!" Applejack shouted with confidence.

"Ah am you. Your shadow. All those little regrets, those issues you refuse ta face? That's me. Ahm very much you."

"Shadow? What the-? Ah've got no idea what you're talkin' about, but YOU AIN'T ME!"

The admission was all the Shadow needed, as the Applejack clone began to be engulfed in a bright light with twinges of red and black peppering the outer edges. The sleepy doppelmare smiled wildly as her form began to change, mutating in a sea of dark flames. This was causing major strain on Applejack's mind, causing her to faint. Her Shadow's new form was a stallion pony with gruff fur all over the body, but the grunts she expended were female. The Shadow's body was stretched to accommodate the large apple trees that were sprouting from her back, their 'bark', or should we say skin, straining to stretch to cover it. The Shadow's eyes were bleeding from the strain, but were covered with small wings. Her Stetson formed into large bull horns that weighed her head down. The monstrosity grunted and attacked Storm.

"Ah am the shadow... the true self!"

Storm was hit by a large wave of leaves, apples, and wind, causing him to fall. He remembered that he was particularly affected by the Wind Element with Izanagi. The mare's shadow laughed, Power Charging for her next attack.

"Ah can handle it all by mahself, see! The Apple Family will be the greatest family with me around!"

Storm grunted and got up, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. He settled on analyzing her, because he needed to know whatever he could about her. However, all that came up was a clearer picture of the monstrosity and its Tarot Arcana, which was Reverse Justice. He sighed as he was no better than Teddie at his job, but he stomped on his card and did a Zio attack, causing the Shadow to fall and giving him another turn. He used this turn to use a Cleave attack, which dealt moderate damage.

Shadow Applejack growled in pain as she got up. The shadow monster was feeling the weight of the near parasitic apple trees, and it was angering her. She used this anger and the previous Power Charge to deal a devastating Applebuck directly to Storm's face, causing a good deal of damage, but not a critical hit. Storm then retaliated with another Cleave. At this point, Shadow Applejack was getting a bit tired, so she defended herself with her sticky hooves.

Storm was confused by this choice of action until the Shadow spoke again. "Leave me alone! I can handle it! Honest!" That signaled another attack was coming, so Storm put his hooves in front of his face and prepped himself for a big strike. He was right on the bit, as the Shadow opened its eyewings to show its bloody eyes and shook its apple trees and hit him with wind damage again, this time not resulting in another turn. "Stop telling me what I can and can't do, varmint!"

Storm could tell that he was close to beating it, as it started wobbling heavily. However, he was quite close to death himself, as he was starting to breathe heavily. I was in too much of a rush. Next time: check Bon Bon's store before going into the dungeon. If he could just get another Zio streak on the stalliomare thing, he'd win the fight and save Applejack. However, if he missed even one of the strikes with the spells, he'd potentially doom both him and Applejack. He focused on his card as he lifted his hooves, pressing them down with great force.

"Persona!" Storm shouted as Izanagi, his persona, appeared and casted a lighting attack, hitting the shadow down. He quickly repeated his actions, thus silencing the Shadow.

"Ah failed you, papi!" The Shadow shrieked as it collapsed on the floor.

Then Applejack awoke, her head killing her. She stood up weakly as her body slowly regained strength. She stared into the eyes of the now standing Shadow of herself, tears beginning to well up inside of her. She hung her head, sighing as she knew what she had to do.

"Ahm sorry, sugarcube. Ah've been so callous. Ah want to help everypony, but I end up hurtin' everypony. I know I made a promise to be brave and ask for help, but... ah dunno if ah can. Ahm the worst. Ah can't even represent mah Element when ahm lyin' so much to myself. Ah've... seen the consequences. So, ta make it up to ya..." Applejack admitted, walking closer to the now wide-eyed and emotionless Shadow. "Ah am you. Everything you said is the absolute truth. You are a better Element of Honesty than ah am."

The Shadow gave a slight nod and began to glow. The form dissipated, revealing a blue winged angel with a red crystal heart. Its long, flowing hair was put into a country braid, and its crystal skin glistened even in the dark barn area they were in. It was a human-esque shape, but it had the slender muzzle and small hooves of a pony mare.

The strength of heart required to face oneself has been made manifest...

Applejack has faced her other self...

She has obtained the façade used to overcome life's hardships, the Persona Virtue!

A tarot card, the same type of card dissolved into blue light and entered Applejack's body. The card in question had both a sword and the Roman numeral VIII, signaling that this was a Justice persona. At this development, Applejack collapsed, Stetson still attached to her head. She looked up at Storm, who had caught her. She had a fake look of disgust at him, which broke into a smile.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do after ah rest up. You know more than you let on, ah can tell that much. Ah expect the truth, y'hear?" The orange mare stated hoarsely. She picked herself up and started to walk towards the exit, Storm following close behind as he stored his sword in his tossed saddlebag.

"Okay. I'll tell you everything. But promise you'll keep it a secret from everyone else, alright?" Storm conceded.

"Everypony." Applejack corrected, causing the two of them to laugh as they walked back.

Author's Note:

This was a fun chapter to write simply for the fight and banter that goes on. Also, if anyone wants to take a crack at trying to devise symbolism, be my guest. I know what I tried for and I kinda wanna see if I did it right. This is what I used to get the current fight you see in the story: Justice. Also, I'm using purple text to represent things relating to Shadows and the TV World. EDIT: Decided to take advice in the comments and link the Personas to the Shin Megami Tensei Wiki, but only the first time. I think that would be a great idea.

<- Never has this been so terrifying.

Comments

[unknownwisdom]

theres somthing wrong with the tarot site
but awesome chapter

[PresidentFreeWrite]

2707964 Yeah, that's something that I can't figure out myself. I think the pictures expired or something. The info's still good, though.

But otherwise, thank you. Have an Applejack

[TundraStanza]

Storm's audible thought process was interrupted by the two tongues of the monsters liking him.

Aww... they like him so much. I'm guessing you meant to say "licking".
...
Hello, Virtue. It's nice to meet you.

[PresidentFreeWrite]

2710729 Well, shit. They are affectionate, but definitely not in that way. I loled all the way to the bank with that one. Fixed.

Also, the linking thing gave me an idea, but I'm not sure how to incorporate it. I literally put it in cyan because it was like that in the original game, but I think the linking Persona thing might be a better option.

For that... you deserve the best. Have a

[AtTheCrimsonFckr]

2711373 can i have more please

[New Dawn]

Is this story dead?? PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD!

[WorldWalker128]

Haven't played ALL of Persona 4 yet and Arena-games bore me to tears, but I reckon I've played enough of it to understand what's going on. I'mma give it a whirl.

[RainbowRaptorDash1]

Keep going... I LOVE IT!!!