Façade
* * * Unknown * * *
I awaken to my whole body feeling sore. Before I even open my eyes, I have issues trying to get on my hooves, my legs failing to hold me up. After what feels like a few minutes, I finally stand up. I scratch at my eyes a bit and finally open them to take in my surroundings.
The world around me is dark. It’s so dark that I can barely see the floor my hooves are standing on, which upon closer inspection is a brick path… that seems like it could be from Canterlot.
Okay, so this is where you’re going to die.
I try to shove those thoughts out of my head. No, just because you don’t know where you are, and it’s too dark to see more than a foot or two in front of yourself… and you were attacked once already… okay, so it’s really bad. I gulp, and decide to explore a bit to get a grip on my surroundings.
After a few moments it’s clear that I’m outside, which doesn’t make a ton of sense given that I can’t see the moon or sun above me, a sign I don’t know how to take. I see stars, but they don’t make sense. I remember the constellations I learned while I was in school, but I see none of them above me. It’s like a foal threw some sparkles onto a canvas painted black.
I walk in one direction, and immediately come upon a home, made from pale white stone. I wander for a few more moments, and realize that only one city in Equestria has streets and homes made of the same, white stone: Canterlot. Of course, this also completely baffles me. Why does the killer bring his victims to Canterlot to do the deed, then leave the bodies in Ponyville?
A fear sets itself in my mind again, though it’s more out of confusion than the possibility of imminent death; none of this makes any sense. I realize that these houses look almost identical, and they make up a kind of wall around me, leaving me with only two paths: going one way or the other down the street. But nothing in Canterlot is designed as to file ponies through the streets; there are alleys everywhere. Perhaps I’m not… actually in Canterlot? I wander around tentatively, taking one step at a time and constantly checking the ground and my surroundings for any sign of danger, but nothing has come up. In fact, nothing has come up at all. It’s mostly just too dark to see anything.
I cross the street, intent on inspecting the houses on the other side to see if they are also similar, when my hoof bumps into something. Relieved to finally find something different, I levitate it up to my face for a closer inspection.
It’s a pair of glasses. They’re fairly simple; the edges of the lenses are rounded, and all the metal is the same silvery color all around. Using my magic, I put on the glasses cautiously.
The world around me doesn’t light up, yet at the same time it all becomes visible. I see the marble houses, their exteriors as featureless as I thought they were, with no doors or windows, sitting right up against the road, impenetrable and going off into forever. It’s much like the night I was attacked in Ponyville; despite the lack of a moon or stars, or any light source for that matter, the pale, blue glow still lights everything. I look down the road and notice something else: the darkness is still there. But it isn’t like a shadow, or just some lack of light. No, it’s like… a black fog hanging in the air. It isn’t just dark… it’s like darkness itself.
I advance down the street, and the darkness recedes and reveals more of the same. I can’t tell if it’s moving, or if I’m just able to see through it. I take the glasses off, and sure enough, the darkness takes my vision once again, essentially blinding me. I put them back on, and all is seen again. I pause for a second, and take a few hesitant steps down the road. It’s clear that my only move is to explore and find something, anything, that will help me figure out where I am or what to do. Sitting in place and running through all the same unanswerable questions over and over again will achieve nothing, so walking seems to be the better option.
And so I walk.
* * * Unknown * * *
I wake up. My eyes shoot open when I feel the cold stone beneath me, and I panic momentarily as I forget where I fell asleep. After a few seconds, the memories come flooding back, and I sigh. I’m still here: this cursed place, an echo of Canterlot, void and baren and seemingly endless. My stomach growls, but I ignore it, and continue down the road I originally set on.
It feels like a day has passed. I’m thirsty, hungry, and cold air bites at my skin. Sleeping on stone roads doesn’t help my energy either. The world never changed, the darkness completely persistent even as I fell asleep the previous night. The road never ended, though it was not without changes: there were a few turns, even a few offshoots that lead to square areas with different patterns of stone, but much like everything else here, they were featureless.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that wherever I am, it was designed clearly like a series of hallways, occasionally leading to larger rooms. This can’t be someplace that ponies live, right? And why do the houses act like impenetrable walls?
It’s made all the stranger by something I’ve noticed on the houses—no, walls around me. Very rarely, there will be a window. The window seems just as hard as the rest of the exterior, but that doesn’t prevent me from seeing inside these homes, and while most of them don’t have anything inside… there’s sometimes a pair of glowing, red eyes looking back. As soon as I look at them for more than a few second though, they retreat back into the darkness of the home. Try as I might to look inside, I cannot see a thing.
I sigh as I continue walking. I had enough issues last night sleeping while I thought about all these questions. Just keep walking, and hopefully you’ll find something different—
Wait, what’s that up ahead?!
I turned the corner that was maybe a couple hundred feet ahead of where I slept, and come upon something fantastic: a door! It’s huge, and it looks regal. It’s golden, with ornate jewels around the sides. There appears to be an image carved each of the doors, representing each of the royal sisters. This definitely seems like something that could be in Canterlot Castle, but having never been there myself, I’m not really sure. I bring up a hoof to touch it, ready to push on it to open a way, but as soon as I tap it, it begins opening itself. It moves slowly, dragging along the ground, though it leaves no discernable marking. Once I get past the door, I discover…
Stairs! At the end of a small hall, I find stairs! I run up to investigate, wildly excited. There’s no markings around the stairs to explain what they may be for, though there appears to be an empty frame above them, waiting for a sign to be placed there.
Excited to have found something new, I descend down the stairs in an instant. My mind registers the possibility of more danger ahead, but at least more danger might tell me something, as opposed to me sitting around more up here and finding out nothing.
The stairwell is dark, even though I have the glasses on. It’s just light enough for me to see the stone steps as I descend slowly, looking for anything out of the ordinary. After several moments, I come to the exit, and find more of the same roads and homes surrounding me. I look back at the stairwell, and find it going up into the sky, fading out of existence after a certain distance.
“How in the heck?” I say outloud. It looks like as if I’ve been deposited into the same city… but how is that possible? I just went down at least two stories worth of stairs, and nothing has changed.
If that didn’t lead to anything… then what will? I sigh, and start down the path before me, hope seemingly draining from my hooves with every step.
* * * Unknown * * *
It’s been hours, and yet I’ve found nothing of any importance. Sure, a few doors, another stairwell, but it all led to more of the same. What kind of bizarre world is this? Is this the power of the Dark Hour?
I can feel my body getting weak. My throat is dry; even talking to myself brings me great pain. My body coughs constantly, a vocal protest of the steady trot I’ve set for myself, but I don’t have a choice. If I don’t find a way out of here, I will die. Heh. At least I’ll know what caused it.
My stomach rumbling also constantly distracts me. Unlike water, I have gone for a day or so without eating, but I’ve never walked as much as I was now. My limbs are sore, and I cannot focus for the life of me. My mind silently complains about what my body needs, which doesn’t help me in my effort to figure out some way out of here. Instead, I refocus it into thinking back to what happened… specifically, my own kidnapping.
I was standing in the middle of the street. For them to approach me—in such dead silence—without me hearing them would take practice. While the thought that these could have been accidents did cross my mind, that stopped being a possibility a long time ago. If the means didn’t rule it out, then the… well, “evil” laughter certainly did. I think back to it, frustrated with how little I remember. The cackle was completely over the top, and more than overtly evil. It almost seemed unreal, but I know what I heard. What annoys me the most is that I cannot tell if the laugh came from a mare or a stallion. That information would help rule out so many ponies, yet it eludes me. And the blacking out… all I remember was them touching me. I don’t seem to recall seeing a hoof come over my mouth, yet I also don’t remember feeling any magic in my body. How they knocked me out also completely escapes me. They needed no strength to take me, and they were good at what they do. That is all I am getting out of this, which I suppose is more than the nothing that I had while in Ponyville.
Ponyville. I almost laugh. I haven’t seen Ponyville in what feels like eons. I know in reality it’s been at most a day and a half, but there’s more to it than that. It feels like eons because of this stupid, repetitive, boring city! Is it even a city? Perhaps it is an illusion conjured up to walk myself to death. Is this pony that took me some unicorn mastermind that builds elaborate cities so ponies may roam through them until they die?
I close my eyes and shake my head. Stop getting angry; that isn’t going to help this situation. You have to focus on finding a way out of here, of finding something. Getting angry won’t help anything and you know it. Just focus, don’t get emotional.
“Just focus, huh?”
I spin around towards the source of the voice. A pony, here?! I haven’t seen a single sign of life since I arrived. How is there a pony here?
He flicks a hoof at my horn to bring me back to reality. “Are you busy thinking through pointless questions again? Is that all you ever do? Oh wait… yeah, it is.”
I look up to the pony in front of me, and gasp. “You… you look….”
The unicorn in front of me, with a grey coat, red mane and a T-square cutie mark, laughs at me. “At least you aren’t panicking. Always a good sign.”
“You…” I take a step back and gulp. “… look just like me.”
“Yes.” He chuckles. “Given that I am you, I probably should.”
I step back and take a defensive posture. “I… what are you talking about? What does that mean?”
“It means that I know every little thing about you.” He approaches me slowly, pacing in a circle around me. I want to move, but something in me wants to hear him out rather than react to him, so I hold my ground. “Including your little anger issue….”
I scoff. “What are you talking about? I don’t have an anger issue.”
He bursts into laughter, tears even leaking from his eyes as he tries to calm himself down. “Oh man, that’s a good one. You, not getting angry. It’s almost like you forgot what made everypony in Canterlot turn on you.”
I arch my eyebrows as I feel some anger build up in my mind. “I left Canterlot because I couldn’t stand the games they played up there. Everypony judging everypony else by who they knew or how close to the princesses they were—”
“Are you done kidding around yet?” He asks. I’m about to speak up again when he continues, “Look, you and I both know that you loved it. The networking game, making all the right friends with all the right names. No, your problem is that they kicked you out of the game.”
“No, you’re wrong!” I yell. “What did I have to gain from playing in their stupid game anyway?”
“Well, that’s an easy one. You would have had friends.” He chuckles. “Everypony wants to be accepted. You were raised in Canterlot, so that’s all you knew. Of course you tried to make the right friends, and climb that social ladder. Otherwise, you would have been totally alone.”
“Shut up!” I spit out. I can feel my heart racing as I continue. “I couldn’t stand the company of those ponies anyway! That’s why I moved to Ponyville. So I could find better ponies to befriend.”
The other me bursts out laughing again. His laughter only serves to make me angrier as I bark, “What’s so funny?!”
He takes a few seconds to calm down and says, “Man, the double-meanings behind everything you say. You’ve really convinced yourself of this lie, haven’t you?” My response is a grunt, which he seems fine with. “Yes, you came to Ponyville to try making friends again. Because you needed a second chance.” He walks up to me, his face inches away from my own. “Because you screwed up your chance at having a normal life in Canterlot. Ponvyille is your pathetic attempt at trying to be a normal pony after what you did there.”
I gulp. “I-I didn’t m-mess anything up,” I say, backing up. I don’t know why, but this double becomes more and more frightening by the second.
The other me sputters forth some laughter and starts walking towards me. “Wow, that was one of the worst attempts to lie that I’ve ever seen. But don’t worry, you’re alone down here. So nopony else in Ponyville will ever hear about how you lost your temper—”
“SHUT UP!” I scream, throwing a hoof forward in an attempt to hit him, but he stops it effortlessly with his own. He shoots me a look, his eyes wild and crazy as he tosses away my hoof and spins around to buck me away. He turned too fast, faster than I’ve ever seen somepony move, and both of his hooves connect right with my chest. The impact throws me back several feet, rolling over the ground until I hit a house on the side of the path. I immediately try to stand up, but my legs fail me as I cough, my chest weak from the pain.
“You’re going to shut up and listen to me for once,” the other me says. “You always keep me quiet when I’m in your head, so now that I’m out here, I’m going to do what I want.”
I don’t try to answer, simply wanting to catch my breath. “You know as well as I do that everypony loses their temper sometimes.” He pauses and looks to me as if I’ll respond, but I lie still. “Just because you did it at a party, and let out a few… ‘choice’ words for everypony to hear…” I glance away this time. “Well, it isn’t entirely your fault, you know. She was provoking you, taunting you, making fun of your job, your parents… but they didn’t care. To her, one of the only ponies that was in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns was out of the game, and she won. By getting you to embarrass yourself so publically, you were quickly abandoned by everypony that valued having friends in high places. Kind of pathetic really, what they’ll judge you for.”
“F-fine, so what?” I sputter. “Yeah, I lost my temper. And like anypony else would, I just wanted to forget that mistake. And why not go to a city I’ve always been fond of—”
“It’s amazing the lies you can tell yourself when you’re living on your own for months, cut off from your friends and family, am I right?” he says with a snide smile. I attempt to stand up again, but my legs fail me. “You love this little fiction you’ve built up too. You always leave little hints, everywhere you go. When you aren’t spouting off about to your new ‘friends’ about how much you love Ponyville, you tend to say something just under your breath, so that everypony hears you but they know not to ask you. It’s kind of ingenious actually.”
“How would you know why I do something like that?!” I yell. “All talking about Ponyville means is how much I like it.”
“No, what it really means is how much you regret losing your chance in Canterlot. You aren’t in Ponyville because of some strange appreciation for this backwater town. You’re here because it’ll be easy to blend in, and make some friends. I mean, there is a Princess here, right?”
“You shut up about Twilight!” I yell out. I manage to stand up finally, but my chest feels like it’s on fire. Is something broken? Can a single kick hurt me that badly? “I-I’m not here to—”
“The reason you are in Ponyville is because you know you can make the most important friends here. The truth is, you hate this town as much as anypony else in Canterlot. But beggers can’t be choosers, right?”
“No, you… you’re wrong. I…” I shake my head. “I don’t… I don’t think that at all.”
“Oh? I’m pretty sure you do. After all…”
“I am you.”
I glare at him. “You’re not me. YOU’RE NOTHING LIKE ME!” I scream.
As soon as those words leave my mouth, he starts laughing; a cackle I could only describe as overtly evil erupts from his mouth, filling the air. A darkness also seems to be pouring out of him, surrounding him, not unlike that which I can see without the glasses. It eventually covers him like a cocoon, and even his laughter becomes blocked out. And for a few moments, there’s quiet. Confusion quickly overtakes my anger and I find myself inching forward to investigate.
Then the cocoon explodes, the darkness shooting out like streaks in every direction. While the darkness doesn’t even seem to touch me, there is a gust of wind that ruffles my mane. I shield myself out of instinct, and when the wind finally dies down, I look up.
I want to yell, but my voice catches in my throat. My eyes are wide, taking in the hulking creature before me as my heartbeat races. I gulp. I have never been as scared as I am now, looking up at the towering figure where my doppelganger once stood.
“Are you afraid?” the thing asks. The voice of the creature before me is deafeningly loud. My thoughts are lost in my mind. “Good… you will make this easier if you give up.” I start stepping back, purely out of fear. At a greater distance, it’s easier to make out what this behemoth really is.
The other me is long gone, and in his place stands a giant, marble statue of a pony clothed in royal guard armor with a sword in one forehoof, rearing up on its hind legs—not unlike the statues found in the gardens in Celestia’s castle. While most of its body seems still—as a statue should be—it seems able to move anything from the waist and up freely. But the most remarkable thing about it was its head.
It’s face looks just like me. It has the same combed-back mane that I do, and its eyes closed with a calm, meditative expression. But the back of this creature’s head houses another face. It looks just like me as well, but the expression is that of a snide, arrogant smile, and the mane style is… is how I wore it back when I….
No, no, get ahold of yourself; don’t dwell on the past. I shake my head then look up to this… thing, before me. The heads rotate around the neck, almost like an owl’s head does, showing me each face every few seconds. Despite not having any moving legs, it approaches me all the same, simply sliding across the ground, though it doesn’t make the same sound as stone sliding over stone Just what is this thing? It’s looking down at me, first with the calm face, then the smug face, then back again….
“Are you ready to face death?” it asks. The voice sounds like it’s slithering into my ears.
“What… what are you?!”
It laughs. “I am a Shadow… the true self.” It raises its sword over its head. “Now die, you worthless, two-faced pony!”
My legs finally respond as I jump out of the way, narrowly avoiding the sword as it swings down into the ground; the force of the impact sends out a shockwave that throws me through the air. I land hard on the ground, rolling a few feet before my momentum ends. I struggle to my feet and look back where it struck. There’s simply a crater where I was standing before, the sword still lodged in the ground. I look back to the creature, and find it staring at me. It raises a hoof, which glows for a second, then swings it downwards through the air, not hitting anything. My confusion is quickly replaced by a kind of prickling feeling, like standing too close to a bonfire. My fear sets in and I jump back, only to see a small burst of fire emerge from where I just was, lighting up the area around me with a minor explosion. This “Shadow” is able to conjure up fire?!
I can’t take this. I turn and sprint down the road, just trying to get as far away as possible from this thing as I can get. My mind isn’t thinking, just reacting, as I take a left turn, then a right, another turn here… I just want to get out of here. Get out of this prison that reminds me of my past life in Canterlot, one I only wish to forget.
I stop myself. Is this Shadow right, though? Am… am I still how I was in Canterlot? Did I just blind myself to it? No, it can’t be all true. I enjoy life in Ponyville. It’s less stressful, laid back, and ponies aren’t always harboring some second meaning behind everything they do. They’re just… nice. So the Shadow must be lying, right? Yeah, he’s just a liar, that’s it.
I look up from my thoughts and feel my heart sink in my chest. I’ve found one of the empty rooms, with no other exit except from where I came. I turn to run down the path, but see the Shadow already at the end of it, approaching me. I gulp. I look behind me towards the room, then back down the hall. There’s no escaping this thing; I wouldn’t dare try and run past it, as it could just grab me up and do what it wanted. No, I have to figure something out in this room. Or… or I’m done for.
I run back to the room and investigate every house, though they’re starting to just feel like walls now. As before, they’re flat and barren. No openings of any kind. I try bucking them once, and while they feel like something I could potentially destroy, it would take far too much time and energy. Do I… do I have to fight this thing?! I look back down the hallway. It’s nearly reached the room, and it’s still as imposing as ever. Can I even hurt that thing? I slump onto the ground. What chance do I have against a giant, living statue?
Then I think back. To Twilight, to Sonata… to Lyra. Ponyville. And then I think back farther. There might be an ounce… a sliver of truth to what the Shadow said. But I don’t care. I won’t let Ponyville out of my grip just yet.
I turn and face the entrance to the room, my legs wide in an offensive stance, ready to charge it. As he enters the room, I look at it the base of this creature, and indeed find it impossible to get past it. It’s just wide enough to completely block off the path.
He looks at me with his calm face, then changes to the snide one as he lets out arevolting laugh. “Do you think you can fight me?!”
“I have to try!” I yell out. “I’m not gonna die here! I’m going to get out of here, find my way back to Ponyville, and solve this mystery, whether you want to or not!”
“Struggle if you like, but you can’t hurt me.” The Shadow raises its sword overhead. “Now meet your fate.”
He swings, but I avoid it easily, jumping away as it smashes into the ground. It’s a powerful swing, but his size makes it slow. This time, I notice his sword is lodged in the ground. I dash forward, hoping I can maybe do something if I’m a bit closer. I reach the base of the creature and spin around, ready to—
There’s a flash, and I feel something like an electrical shock run through my whole body. Something hits me, throwing me back into the far wall of the room. I slam into it and fall flat on my stomach, knocking the breath right out of me. My limbs feel numb, no doubt from whatever struck me. Can the Shadow summon electricity too?
Helpless on the ground, I crane my neck up to see the Shadow approaching me, much slower than it followed me down the path to this room. It’s staring at me with the snide face, the head almost completely still as it moves towards me. I feel my heart start to race as I realize what he’s going to do. I take all the strength I can muster and try to push myself up so that I’m at least standing. I even close my eyes, focusing everything into moving my legs.
I think I feel my front hoof move a little.
I let out the breath I was holding in. No, I have to get up, let me get up! I have to get out… I have to stop the murderer. I have to get out of here….
A shadow falls over me, and that only makes me struggle harder. I can almost move an entire leg, but that isn’t enough. Please, I have to get up….
Light invades my eyes again, and I look up to see the Shadow leaning back, ready to bring the sword on top of me. I won’t die here… I’m going to get up… and I will stop whoever is doing this!
I keep willing my body to move, but it has refuses to cooperate with my thoughts. I just need to stand up… then, then I can do something. With my eyes glued to the ground, I realize that the shadow of the sword is falling over me, and I close my eyes, bracing for the impact that will finally mark my failure.
After a few moments, I realize nothing has happened. There was no impact of the sword going straight through me… no impending death. I slowly open my eyes to find something just as confusing as this Shadow appearing.
The sword hangs a few feet above me, held back by another sword, floating just over my head. It’s much closer to a regularly sized sword, made up of the brightest steel I’ve ever seen, and just about three feet long. The hilt is wrapped in some brown fabric, and the cross-guard is made up of two red spikes extending outwards a few inches, though even at this distance I can tell they aren’t sharp. The pommel is a rounded, equally bright red gem, giving the blade something of a mystical appearance.
After examining the sword for a moment, I see it give a few inches, bringing the Shadow’s sword closer to me. Without thinking, I take the sword up in my magic, trying to fling it upwards to throw the Shadow’s sword back up. As soon as I grab it though, there’s an explosion of light, seemingly coming right out of the sword, blinding me as light takes up the entire room.
I feel like I’m floating in a void. My mane and tail flap as if there were a strong wind, yet I feel nothing. Feeling returns in my limbs, and I take the moment to spin around and flex them. It’s almost as if I were falling in place, having complete control over how my body moves. I also feel completely rejuvenated; I’m not hungry or thirsty, and my body feels as strong as ever.
I glance around, seeing if I can tell where I am, or find something of interest at least, but all I find is more whiteness. I’m starting to feel like this may as well have been darkness, as I can see just as little as I could earlier without these glasses.
Wait, the glasses. I completely forgot I was even wearing them. I decide to slip them off to see if anything around me changes without them on. Sadly, there’s no change. I put them back on, and as I do, I immediately hear a voice. “You, who would be a seeker of the light—”
“Who’s there?!” I yell out. It seems to be coming from all around me and not from any particular direction. Could it be in my head?
“Do you wish to dispel the darkness that plagues this world?”
“Dispel… the darkness?”
“Surely you have seen the impenetrable cloud of darkness that has engulfed this world? A darkness that muddles all vision, and brings fear into the hearts of ponies?”
I think back to how I first arrived. Yes, the darkness did blind me… but how scared was I? I definitely remember thoughts of how I would die plaguing my mind… and I didn’t feel confident enough to explore until I found the glasses. But wouldn’t anything as dark as this be scary regardless? If a pony were to explore a cave that was pitch black, and they had never been in the cave before, would it not be scary?
“What are you?” I ask. “Are you what made that sword appear?”
“Something inside of you saved you from the Shadow, Cornerstone. And if you listen, this world won’t be your grave.”
I gulp. “What are you?”
“I am something inside of you. A power you didn’t know you had. A power that all living things possess in their hearts. Now tell me, do you wish to dispel the darkness that plagues this world?”
“I do,” I say with a nod.
“Then prove it, by defeating your shadow and accepting it as a part of yourself.”
“Wait a min—”
I’m interrupted by the world of light fades, and the city rises up, and I find the same dark world of Canterlot around me once again. The light is gone, replaced by the darkness I was already familiar with. The Shadow is several yards in front of me, still as tall and as intimidating as ever. Its sword is reeling back in the air, as if I had ended up hitting it upwards as I was planning before that light took me. In front of me on the ground, I find the red-jeweled sword. I pick it up with my levitation, and take a defensive posture.
The Shadow looks over to me. “I do not know what you did, but it can’t change your fate. You’re destined to die here!”
“You’re wrong!” I yell out. “I’m going to get out of here and find whoever threw me in here in the first place!”
He doesn’t respond and slides towards me. After a moment, he makes a dash forward and swings his sword almost parallel to the ground where I stand. With my rejuvenated body, jumping over it is easy, and I sprint forward and run under its legs, slashing at a hoof as I go past. The shadow cries out in pain and I look back to see what damage I had done. Somehow, despite my sword going through the stone-like body of the Shadow easily, I can’t see any damage. Perhaps something magical is at work here when it comes to hurting it?
“How can you hurt me?!” it roars, though now that I’ve injured it, its voice seems a lot less threatening than before.
The Shadow recovers after a moment, and I feel the air heat up around me once again. Before I can move, an explosion of fire erupts at my back, throwing me away from him. While the force of the blast certainly hurt, the fire doesn’t seem to have left any burns on me, which seems strange given whatever lightning he had before was able to shock me thoroughly.
“Even my magic is less effective… what have you done?!”
“All you need to know,” I call out as I point my sword at him, “Is that I’m going to defeat you, then get out of this place!”
The Shadow lets out a feral roar, and it dashes towards me faster than I’ve ever seen it move. The sword swings down as it flies towards me, and I barely jump past it and towards his chest. Before I can make a swing, its free hoof bats me out of the way. I land on all fours, sliding across the ground for a few seconds as I try to remain standing. Whatever that voice did to me, it made this guy hurt a lot less than before.
I charge at him again. Like before, his sword is lodged in the ground, and he only has his free hoof to swipe at me. I stop just short of him to see his hoof coming down on me. I deftly leap over it, and swing the sword through the creature’s shoulder. He reels back, a pained yell filling the room. I land, and immediately jump forward towards his sword hoof, still held close to the ground. I slash through it cleanly, making the Shadow release its grip on the sword and fall back. It lets loose a terrible scream as I notice something: a black gas, much like that which fills the air and aided in its transformation earlier, is starting to… leak out of it, as best as I can tell. The streams appear around its body randomly, and slowly, the Shadow’s body shrinks. More darkness seems to be pour out, and soon the Shadow is engulfed by it completely, lost to my sight beneath the black mists.
After a few more moments, the darkness fades away, and I’m met with my mirror image once again, though he looks significantly more pathetic now than he did before.
“This… this isn’t fair,” he says as he struggles to his hooves. His eyes look wet, as if he’s going to cry. “If you can defeat me… then… how will you accept me?”
“I won’t accept you because—”
“All I ever wanted was for somepony to accept me.”
I stop. My widened eyes lock onto his, and he continues, “Nopony in Canterlot ever accepted us. We tried to play their dumb political games, and dancing through the web of social ties, but we failed. Canterlot, no matter what you deny, didn’t work for us Ponyville is… the closest thing to friends I’ve ever had. The closest thing to ponies not caring about where we were from, or what we did, and… and being friends with us all the same.”
I gulp. The Shadow looks pitiful, his eyes almost sad. Instead of the anger I felt before, something makes me feel sorry for this pathetic pony standing before me. Well, it isn’t like I gotta tell everypony in Ponyville my life story, right? It’s just… just this guy. Just me. “You’re right,” I say, prompting him to look up to me. “I… I remember what I was like in Canterlot. I didn’t think friends mattered either, that much is obvious. But now I know how great having friends really is, after moving to Ponyville.” I smile at my Shadow. “Guess it took a bit of adrenaline pumping to remember what I was really like.” I approach him and bring a hoof to his shoulder. “You… you really are me. All that bitterness and regret that was truly who I was in Canterlot. And… and I’m you. I’m the pony that hides you out of fear… the fear that nopony will accept me if I ever let you out.”
The Shadow nods. Just as I step back from him, I notice a ring of pure, white light emanating up from the ground around him. His body turns transparent, and slowly fades away, while another form appears above him. As my mirror image finally vanishes, a solid form of another pony appears overhead, but its form only floats in the air for a second before vanishing as well. It looked like white furred pony with a brown mane, but something about the mane was off. It was also wearing a toga, and standing upright on both of its hooves. Once it vanishes, a small card floats downwards in front of me. One side is blue, while the other side is an image: a faded, grey background with a black silhouette of a pony with a stick over his shoulder, a satchel tied to the end of it, and a dog just behind him. It kind of looks like he’s about to step off the side of a cliff.
The card stops at chest height, and I extend a hoof as if to catch it. As I do, the card vanishes into what seem like distant stars, all fading away into the sky. Then I hear a strange voice from within my mind:
The strength of heart required to face oneself has been made manifest… you have faced your other self, and obtained the façade used to overcome life’s hardships: the persona Janus.
“What, who said that?!” I call out. But there’s no answer, and once again, I’m left alone. I think back to when I was engulfed in light, trying to see how well I remember the voice. That voice… that definitely belonged to a mare. A deeply voiced mare, but a mare. This voice was definitely more masculine, so that probably leaves out the possibility that they were the same entity. But that isn’t the issue right now.
As the adrenaline starts leaving my body, some of the pains start to come back. More precisely, my hunger and thirst problems start to make themselves known again. Great… even after surviving all of this, I’m no closer to getting out of here. The Shadow didn’t tell me how to get out, and neither of these stupid voices in my head told me a darned thing.
What the heck do I do now?
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3468291
Well it's official, everyone in that video is drunk or something
3545827
possibry
3545845
You did. You bastard.
~Skeeter The Lurker
And now... Things. Get. INTERESTING.
Cornerstone best think quick, or he's gonna have a real bad time.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I've read it. I've though on it. And I've considered it.
And I like it.
Approved for Twilight's Library.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Well, then. What can I say? I just read through the chapters up to this one, and I can say it's all pretty satisfying. Being a P3/P4 fan, perhaps I'm biased (leaning more towards P3 though), but I'll try to have some foundation on whatever I say.
I like the path you chose to play this character as a whole. It makes for a much more enjoyable reading experience to have the character have set traits and quirks instead of being full-on blank slate. Of course, in the earlier chapters he could be taken as being blank-slate himself, but it isn't like you never hinted his issues before. The deal with his parents and, most notably for me, the anger issues (because Pinkie Pie is best pony and he was about to upset her
). So yeah, it makes for a more belieavable and well-established character in the long run, while still maintaining that feel of "I wanna help/be friends with everyone" feel of the Persona 3/4 protagonists. Also, I thought it to be a great move to have the character face his Shadow, instead of being granted the power from a higher source, and that matches your choice of making the main character have actual charater really nicely!
I wasn't a fan of the scenes in your 2 first chapters, though. They had an important role of setting everything up, to be sure, but some felt pretty unnatural. When not giving plot exposition or future plot points, they mainly focused around the main character himself, and while I'm all for the protagonist of a Persona game/story having copious amounts of inner swag that gives them an advantage in dealing with friends, it just didn't feel... right. However, you did explain this overattachment with the protagonist occasionally, most notably on Lyra's part, so I can't knock much for that. And I do understand the size of the scenes themselves only allowing them to contain more of what mattered to be said, so yeah. Worth nothing that this felt much more natural in the third chapter onwards, though, so good job. Moving on.
There's definitely a lot of thought put into the progression, as evidenced by the pacing, and the amount of small things happening in the background that I'm fully expecting to make a reappearance with some explanation, the most notable of which is the protagonist's incident when bumping into Twilight on the first chapter. And that quite intrigues me. Also Lyra's disregard for the main character now, though that's a bit easier to piece together. It's always nice to find a story in which you can speculate over the little things. Great job on that. Keep up the good work!
Also, that fight with the Shadow didn't nearly have enough "I'll Face Myself" in it, so I'll just add some here.
3546309
What a huge comment, haha! I love reading stuff like this, so thank you for that!
I initially was very close to having him be a blank slate, and I also initially didn't want him to fight his shadow here (I wanted it to happen later, like in the anime). But I was told by a few people that it definitely wasn't very engaging; active protagonists are more fun than passive ones, ya? So while he had the same issues as I had outlined, he's a little more active about it, and I'm happy the way he's turning out.
I have gotten some feedback about CH1 and 2, and it's sadly a bit too late to make things more natural, but as I see it, they still fit with a persona game! Persona 4 has a pretty long 4 hour intro, and Persona 3... eugh... two months have to pass before interesting shit goes down. 25K is a good act 1, right?
Also, you have no idea how much I wanted to link that song in the fic. Though I still think it's a disgrace to have youtube links in a story... but fucking hell, it's such good boss music.
Before I nitpick, I'd like you to clarify something. You're basing the fic from both 3 and 4 but having an all new lore at the same time, right?
That means even how the shadows operate aren't going to be exactly how they were portrayed in the games?
3547120
Considering how Cornerstone's Shadow confronted him alone? There will be some differneces, yes, but if you refer to shadow selves, they'll be very similar to P4. Shadows as general enemies will have differences that'll come up as characters learn more about the other world.
3547132
It's just that I feel a bit conflicted. Normally, the individual who unleashed their shadow's dark form faint or be incapable of fighting their own shadow head-on, seeing as they need to have a persona to fight shadows. This is probably why in the original P4 canon, the main character isn't alone and has their companion's shadow manifest instead of his.However, that fact in on itself raises another problem, how he gets his Persona to begin with. I realize that it took until near the very end for an explanation to the protagonist's ability to release his persona. Perhaps a similar explanation will apply here?
Ugh, look at me rambling. I guess I just have to wait until it's resolved in the long run.
3547208
The sword is the only reason he was able to fight it; I am not changing lore so that a person without a Persona can fight them, especially their own. And the Shadow knows it doesn't make any sense; he even voices his confusion during the fight.
Also, in P4 canon, Shadow selves appear when others are around because it's harder to accept that kind of information when your friends are hearing horrible things about you that you barely think to yourself. The best example is during the Chie Shadow, when she freaks out at just her friends approaching her. The fact that Cornerstone fought his alone is important, and is partially why it's easier for him to accept it alone.
The sword shall be explained in due time. It'll be a while though.
3547291
The presence of others isn't really necessary for their shadows to appear. It's mainly their inability to admit their insecurities/ inner turmoil and the truth that they hide from themselves.
In Chie's case, her shadow appeared not just because she and her friends happened to hear Yukiko's confession but because of Chie's refusal to admit that she herself is obsessed with dominating over Yukiko due to jealousy over her traits. It's practically why her shadow manifests as a dominatrix.
3547385
yo I totally said that
"Shadow selves appear when others are around because it's harder to accept that kind of information when your friends are hearing horrible things about you that you barely think to yourself."
3547506
Haha, you're right.
3549999
Nope. I have not at all.
...I fully intend to now, though.
~Skeeter The Lurker
excellent chapter man!
So I'm guessing that the Personae used will be from the Roman Pantheon?
3554002
I'm glad someone noticed. You're about half right.
So, who's hyped from the P5 announcement!?!
I know I am! :3
(^True story upon seeing it)
I'm really glad they are going back to the darker tones that SMT is usually known for. Ostensibly, of course; it just seems that way from the video.
I digress, PERSONA! Watch that be one of the main character's Persona in P5.
Janus... god of doors. That brings back good memories from about a month ago.
I think I'll go play Dead Space again soon. The Door Gods require sacrifices. I shall appease them. Good times. (inside joke)
I digress once more, I can't wait for the next chapter.
Once, just once, I want to see a Persona protagonist who's main Arcana ISN'T Fool!
That out of the way, great chapter here^^ I love the way you did his Shadow^^ he was legitly scary at times and was just about how a Shadow should be^^ Also, i'm looking forward to learn what his Persona can do^^
I hope this gets updated soon^^
3564850
Fool is the best representation of someone at the start of their journey, and going towards infinite possibilities. There's not really anything else that fits them better.
3564893 true but... you cant really blame me for hoping, right? Also, what about the other characters in the game? For example Chie and Yosuke are just as much at the beginning of their journey as Souji is yet their arcana are Magician and Chariot so it's not impossible to start a Persona character with a different Arcana.
I can see where Atlus is going with it as well as you but I'd really like to see one that doesnt start with Fool.
Btw is Cornerstone going to have the Wild Card as well? (anser me in a PM if you dont want possible spoilers in the comments^^)
3565182
Did you just call Yu, Souji? Get out.
Yes, but he's the one with no personality. He has the possibilities to actually expand in any (and usually all) directions. Not to mention he's the main character. Fool has a lot of very specific symbols that all fit very easily into "this is the main character and he is the hero." Not saying it's wrong to use other ones, but it's what fits the most easily.
Cornerstone's ability will be revealed in the next chapter.
3567741 Yes, I did that because I've come to get used to his name being Souji Seta and I'll continue to call him that. Nothing you can do to stop me^^
Like i said, I get why Atlus gives the persona main characters fool as their arcana. It happens for the same reason you just mentioned and the other arcana are "added" to him as he grows. It makes perfect sense and there's nothing wrong with that.
In that case I'm looking forward to the update^^
LOVE the Persona series. Really looking forward to reading this.
3568256 I know this is late, but the P1 and P2 protagonist(s) were Emperor, Sun, and Moon respectively.
So, the other world in this is a mix of the P3 And P4's worlds? Interesting. I'm looking forward to the rest.