The True Self
Once my eyes fully adjust to the bright lights, I take a good look at my surroundings. Before me is a bleak laboratory, lit up with lights several times brighter than anything Spike and I saw in the hallways leading here. The walls are, once again, wooden, yet the floors are sheets of metal, looking impeccably sterile. Several rows of wooden tables lay before me, each with many types of tools and equipment, most of which are beyond my understanding: I perhaps recognize a microscope and a Bunsen burner, but not much else. I also notice more mechanical tools, like screwdrivers and hammers, lying about. With all this equipment, it’s no wonder all the wires were running along to here: they’re probably there to power this crazy place.
I look back to Twilight and see that she’s retreated to look at some device she has on the table. The shadow watches her with a curious gaze. What is she planning? If she hasn’t turned into a monster, then she hasn’t confronted Twilight about anything. Her desire to keep Twilight here has to be related to confronting her, it has to be.
I look to Spike and find him dumbfounded and unmoving. “Spike?”
“Th-there’s… there’s two of her.”
I nod. “One of them is her Shadow, remember?”
He nods. “So what do we do?”
“Simple. We take Twilight home before her Shadow can confront her.”
I take a few steps to approach Twilight, but her Shadow puts herself between us. “And just what do you think you’re doing?”
I glare at the Shadow. “I’m taking Twilight back with us.”
“But we have so much more work down here to do… don’t we, Twilight?” she says as she turns towards Twilight.
She looks up at both of us, then back to her notes. “I… I would love to stay… but….”
“But what, Twilight? Isn’t this everything you’ve wanted in a lab? Isn’t this the best place for you to learn about the world?” There’s a pause, then she adds in a much more sinister voice, “Don’t you want to learn more about friendship?”
The comment makes me gulp, but Twilight seems to ignore it. “This is a wonderful lab, but the more I think about it, the more suspicious I get… how is this entire place powered? Where is it even located? Besides, I remember being knocked out, then waking up here… which probably means whoever brought me here wants me to stay.”
I nod. “Look, we need to go. And don’t talk to—”
The Shadow pushes me back. While it didn’t look like she used much effort, I’m nearly flung into to wall from the force. She turns to Twilight and says, “We have so much we could do down here… so much we could discover together. So much we could learn… about friendship.”
Twilight raises an eyebrow. “You said that before. What do you mean learn about friendship?”
The Shadow chuckles. “Do you remember what I said when we first met?”
Twilight nods. “Of course. You said you were me.”
“Yes… but I’m not just you. I’m the best part of you. I’m your inner scientist.” She takes a few steps past Twilight, towards a barren, white section of the wall, the only part of the room colored that way. She raises a hoof, as if presenting it, and the lights all dim, revealing a projection on the screen. It’s a picture of several ponies… some of which I recognize, and some I don’t. I see Rarity, and Twilight, and Pinkie Pie, and three others. Each of them have a picture of a gold necklace with a jewel embedded in it, that seems to match their cutie marks and one of the colors of their fur or mane. I recognize all of them as Element of Harmony bearers, having read about them in the paper once. Nopony in Canterlot ever let it down that I missed the coronation, but that was beyond my control. What I didn’t remember until just now was that Rarity was one of them. No wonder she’s so concerned about Twilight.
“While you were busy performing experiments down here, I’ve been watching the Elements… and how they’ve been acting since your disappearance. It’s fascinating what Laughter does sometimes when you aren’t around.”
“What do you mean by Laughter? Are you referring to Pinkie Pie by her Element of Harmony?”
The Shadow ignores her and continues. “Even Generosity has noticed your absence, unlike most of these ponies. Seems like she’s having a hard time deciding what to do, though. She’s put her trust in this stallion she barely knows, but I think she’ll be telling the police by tomorrow.”
“Generosity… so you mean Rarity.” Twilight perks up all of a sudden. “Oh, I get it now. You’re just trying to rile me up!”
I feel a smile make its way onto my face. “You figured it out then!”
“I have,” Twilight says. “This… doppelganger… says that she’s me. She looks like me, sounds like me, knows things only I could know… but she’s made one fatal flaw.” Twilight points at her accusingly. “I would never look down on my friends like they were just their Elements!”
My grin fades as my heart starts to race. “Twilight, wait!”
“You aren’t me at all! And that’s your fatal flaw!”
The Shadow chuckles. “Oh Twilight… how little you know about yourself…” the double takes a few steps forward, causing Twilight to fall back a few steps herself. “You know what I’m saying is true. You know that if you knew just a bit more about the Magic of Friendship, maybe you could have prevented this disaster in Ponyville….”
“Aha! You said something wrong again! These murders in Ponyville have nothing to do with Friendship! Why would I think something so stupid?!”
“Twilight…” I say aloud to myself.
“Cornerstone, we have to stop her!” Spike shouts. “If we don’t, then….”
I nod. “Right.” I start running towards Twilight, but I immediately come into contact with a barrier. “Ow! Twilight, put this barrier down!”
“She’s wrong!” Twilight yells out. “You know that, right? Nothing she says makes any sense! I wouldn’t think those things!”
“It doesn’t matter! Please, we just need to get out of here!” I call out.
“No, stay away! I’ll show this faker the truth!” She turns back to her Shadow. “What would Friendship have to do with murders, anyway?!”
“Oh, nothing directly. But you are a princess that was born out of the Magic of Friendship, weren’t you? Surely, some of your power comes from Friendship, then? And Ponyville is where you live. A princess, living in a backwoods town like Ponyville! And she can’t even sniff out one lousy kidnapper and murderer?”
Twilight gulps. “N-no! That… I’m not….”
“Those thoughts and desires, such as ‘hanging out with my friends,’ only serve to distract you from what really matters: learning. Specifically, learning more about the magic of friendship. How much can you really learn about the actual magic part if you just go to parties and pose for a few dresses, Twilight? How will you get stronger, be a better princess, if that’s all you do with your time?”
“Sh-shut up….” Twilight’s voice is almost a whimper now. “Just stop….”
“See, that’s why you love this place. You love this place because it gives you a chance… a chance to make up for all this time you’ve wasted hanging with your friends, when you know they’re just subjects to be studied. You’ve had your fun, but you really want to buckle down, and do some real studying, because if you don’t… Ponyville is doomed. All because a worthless princess was too busy playing with her friends like some foal.”
“No!” Twilight shouts. “I’m tired of hearing some pony that looks like me talk about all of these things like they really know who I am! Just shut up!”
“But, Twilight….” The Shadow snickers. “I am you.”
Even from behind this impenetrable, lavender barrier, I can see Twilight’s anger building up. The light from her horn is shining brighter than I’ve ever seen, and her stance is so open, her desire to charge at the Shadow is so obvious. She huffs and screams, “YOU ARE NOT ME!”
The Shadow doesn’t respond for a moment, an eerie silence fills the room. I feel my heart sink into my chest as I look to Twilight, still staring down her Shadow, a fire in her eyes. “Twilight….”
Then it starts. A darkness begins to rise up out of the ground, as if leaking gas into the air. As soon as it reaches the Shadow, she laughs maniacally. The darkness encompasses her as she rises a foot or two above the ground, and soon she’s swallowed up by it. Twilight’s anger, burning just as mine was when I saw my Shadow, seems to flicker and fade for a moment as curiosity takes over. “What in Equestria…?”
“Get back!” I run forward and try and throw her away from it, but it’s too late. The sphere collapses, and black mist spews outwards in every direction, blinding as if the lights went out. Unlike when I confronted my Shadow, this shockwave has force behind it as I can hear all the chairs and tables flung across the room in a cacophony of metal.
It also hits Twilight as she’s flung back, taking her with me as I just grasp her hoof, sending us both into the far wall. We fall to the ground with a thud.
I look towards the Shadow as I get to my hooves, now that the darkness has dissipated. I’m met with a creature more disturbing than my own Shadow’s monstrous form.
The first thing I notice—before the body, the face, the colors of the fur—are the wings. They’re gigantic, seemingly tens of feet long, and appear less to be alicorn wings, but more like owl wings. They almost take up the entire room, though they leave the Shadow with enough room to maneuver. There isn’t just one pair though: whatever this creature is, it has three pairs of wings. One on its back, and one pair where each of their legs were. If it weren’t for the face of the Shadow, one would not see this creature as a pony.
But their size isn’t the only thing I notice: they don’t look entirely organic. The wings on the right look organic and normal, but just past the base of the left set of wings, the limbs themselves turn metal. Many of the feathers also look like metal, cut out to very specific, duplicated designs, as if produced in a factory. The Shadow’s face does something similar, but from left to right, as nearly a third of her face is metal plating, its eye replaced with a glowing red dot.
The next thing that stands out is its expression. The Shadow’s face looks like Twilight, though it wears a wicked, psychotic grin that only instills fear in me. Its also wearing some kind of helmet or crown; it’s hard to tell where one starts and the other begins. A front section can cover the face in protection when lowered, and leaves just enough room for the horn. The top has the golden adornments and purple gem that make up the Element of Magic.
“Are you afraid?” it asks suddenly, not even looking at me.
I forget for a moment that this Shadow isn’t my fear: this Shadow belongs to Twilight. I turn to her, and see in a state I’ve never seen before. Her eyes are wide in shock, her jaw dropped, her movements as she tries to put distance between herself and the Shadow are sharp and jagged, as if forcing her stiffened muscles to listen to her commands. I feel my resolve weaken as I witness her terror. She’s a Princess, and she’s… she’s scared of this. What am I going to do?
“Give up now, and let me show you all the knowledge of the world you could ever dream of!” the Shadow says, letting out a crazed laugh, the sound filling up the room faster than a lit match through darkness.
I take a step back, intimidated by this Shadow’s form, when I hear Twilight talking to herself from behind me. “This… this came from inside of me?” The Shadow nods, as if it heard her. “But… what are you?”
“I am a Shadow… the true self. And it is time that you saw how much more you could be if you just embraced your role as a princess!”
“Stay back Twilight!” I yell. “The Shadow will want to attack you!”
“What?” Is all she gets out when I notice something swirling around her like some kind of green energy, falling out of the air as it pools on the ground around her. I take up my shield and charge forward, knocking Twilight back and holding the shield towards the Shadow as the inevitable attack strikes. A strong force, like a wind, rises up and compresses around me all at once in a green flash, and while I withstand it, I feel weaker after the attack.
I let out a grunt as I fall to my knees, barely able to hold the shield in front of me. The Shadow laughs. “I see… you are a user of Persona… you will make a fascinating research subject.”
It becomes clear that the Shadow doesn’t need her wings to fly, as I watch it tuck them in, spin around, then whip them out in a single motion. An explosion erupts from behind me and a white smoke fills up my vision as I’m sent flying. I land several yards away, but I return to my hooves more easily now. That magical attack didn’t leave any lasting effects on me, so why did the green one? Wait a second, that last attack seemed to hit a large area… “Twilight!”
I turn to see her lying limply in a far corner of the room. As I suspected, she’s far more susceptible to the magic, much like I was when I didn’t have my Persona. I notice the Shadow approaching her, and charge into action. I dash straight towards her and jump forward so that the Shadow’s face is just next to my body. I slam my shield into it, the edge of the shield connecting directly with the shining, red eye. The Shadow shrieks and reels back, giving me a moment. I raise my hoof, see the blue card fall towards it once again. I quickly shatter it with my shield, and Janus appears before me, but only for a moment this time.
I scream out “Janus!” and point forward as I command my attack in my mind. Janus raises a hoof, and a bolt of thunder comes down on the Shadow. It screams out in pain before falling to the ground, her wings all lying flat. I see it struggling to lift itself up, but all it does is grunt, its efforts in vain. I take a moment to cast the spell again, and the lightning comes down right on her. This time it grunts in pain, but once the spell is finished, I see it taking to the air again.
“So you have found my weakness… it is no matter!” It whips its left wings all towards the ground, and a beam of light erupts from the earth. After a moment, something rises out of the ground, though I realize that it’s actually just a platform rising up from underneath the floor. What stands on this platform is nothing more than a small owl, but something is different. As I get closer, I start to realize that it has similar features to the Shadow; half of its body is mechanized, one of its eyes replaced by a mechanical imitation, glowing bright red.
“No… Owloysious….” I turn as I hear Twilight’s whimpering voice and see her somehow standing upright. She takes a few steps forward and her horn alights again as she snarls, “What have you done with him?!”
“I’ve only done what you wanted… I’ve used the knowledge you gained here to turn him into an even better assistant than he was before!” The Shadow lets out a terrible laugh, the voice deep and broken up like a scratched record.
“You… you won’t get…” Twilight’s collapses again, her legs failing her. “Dammit, I can’t stand up….”
I turn my gaze back to the Shadow and I grit my teeth before making another move. I summon Janus again and jump forward with my shield, commanding Janus to follow just behind me. I catch the Shadow off guard, slamming the shield down on its head, and at the same time Janus lands a hoof right in the center of its back.
The combined strength of our strikes knocks the Shadow to the ground, making it cry out in pain. I jump backwards and decide to use my Persona’s magic again, casting another lightning bolt onto the Shadow. I see it fall from the sky and onto the Shadow… but something different happens this time. Instead of striking the Shadow itself, there’s a flash of yellow light as the lightning impacts, then vanishes. It looked like some transparent barrier was lit up by my strike, then vanished again.
Before I can even wonder about it, a strong wind builds up around me, and green energy whips up from the floor again. It all combines at the same time, the explosion hitting my body and throwing me back as I let out a pained shout. I land on the floor, unable to stop myself from rolling across it as I collide with a table. Once I stop moving, I try to move my legs, but it’s once again impossible to move them.
I watch in vain as the Shadow hovers towards me and raises a set of wings, then brings them down on my back. The pain overtakes all my senses as I scream out, a small squeak compared to the sound of the impact. I can see a shockwave go out across the room and scattering dust, even as the center of it all. The Shadow retreats and laughs, taking pleasure in its temporary success.
The pain somehow subsides after a moment, though I can feel myself breathing heavily, exhausted beyond belief. An impact like that should have left me with broken bones or worse… is this the power of Persona? I’ve never been so drained in my life, but I need to get up. I need to stop the Shadow.
I glance up towards the Shadow, then to the owl. It seems as if the owl is concentrating on something, its eyes closed as it sits on a perch high in the room. My lightning was working before he was summoned, maybe that’s what’s making me ineffective.
I stay flat on the ground for a few more moments, planning my attack. After maybe a minute, it’s apparent the Shadow is becoming impatient. “Stand up and fight me!” it yells as it casts another spell. I notice the green energy swirling up around me again, and just before it collapses on me, I jump up, narrowly dodging it. I sprint forward, darting past the now confused Shadow and towards Owloysious. Using the strength of my Persona, I’m able to jump high enough to come face to face with the owl. With the shield held close to me, I swung it right into the owl’s side with as much force as I could muster. He’s sent across the room, colliding with a wall and falling limp to the ground. And just like that, a white light shimmers around the Shadow, then falls apart, like snowflakes melting before they hit the ground.
“No!” it calls out. I don’t bother to respond, my mind focused on ending the fight. Once I’m back on the ground, I make a dash to the Shadow. I command my Persona to use another lightning spell as I make a jump up to its face. I raise my shield above me as the bolt strikes and smash it down onto the Shadow’s head as the electricity is still surging through them.
The Shadow screams out in agony as it falls to the floor in a heap. It tries to lift its wings in one last show of force, but they fall flat to the ground in a second. It’s then when I see a familiar sight, of spots of black mist falling from the Shadow.
Soon the blackness overtakes the entire Shadow, and after a few moments, the monstrous form is gone, replaced by only Twilight’s doppelganger once again. She looks fine, but isn’t moving, simply standing in place. Knowing she has no power like that, I rush over to Twilight, who is still lying on the ground at the other side fo the room.
I find Spike next to her, both of them hiding behind some overturned tables. That’s when I suddenly realize that I never saw Spike once the Shadow revealed itself. “Are you two all right?”
“Yeah. I was able to find a hiding spot in all the fighting, but Twilight looks….” he bites his lip. “She isn’t talking to me. She just looks scared.”
I look to Twilight, who is as Spike described. Lying on the floor, covering her head with her hooves. “Twilight?” She doesn’t respond. “Twilight, I need you to get up.”
“But that monster—”
“I defeated her.”
She finally opens her eyes and looks up. “But… how?”
“I can explain it later, but I need you to come here.”
She slowly brings herself to standing, but as soon as I start walking towards her Shadow, she stops. “Wait, what are you doing?! Don’t get near her!”
“Twilight, I’ve dealt with this before. I need you to trust me.”
Twilight bites her lip. “Well… if you can defeat her, then you can do it again. Okay.”
After a few moments, both Twilights are standing next to each other.
“Twilight,” I start, “you need to accept the Shadow.”
She only tilts her head. “Accept? Shadow?”
“This creature that takes on your form… it’s called a Shadow. And it comes from a part of you that you yourself don’t want to think exists, and if you don’t accept what it said as the truth, then it’ll attack you again.”
“But it’s a liar! It—” I throw a hoof over her mouth to stop her.
“Twilight, I don’t know if I have the strength to deal with her again. Just hear her out.”
Twilight nods as I pull back my hoof, and as soon as I do, the Shadow speaks again. “It isn’t fair….”
This first line takes Twilight’s attention. “Not fair?”
“I become a princess, and my first big problem is a serial killer… something unheard of in Equestria. Something a princess shouldn’t have to deal with… but I have to.”
I see Twilight gulp. “Yeah….”
“I don’t want the only place that appreciates me for who I am to fall apart like this. This murderer has to be stopped… but I don’t know how.”
“You… you’re right. I don’t know how.” I hear Twilight taking heavy breaths to hold back tears. “I’ve never had a problem like this… something I couldn’t just… do some research on, read about in a book. I thought that… maybe relying on my friends would hurt me. I thought maybe if I stopped being so friendly and took a more distanced, observing standpoint, then maybe I could figure something out… but that isn’t how the Magic of Friendship works. I forgot about that for a while, and I nearly paid for it down here.” She holds a hoof out to the Shadow. “I guess… you are part of me.”
The Shadow nods, and a similar transformation to mine takes place, where a ring of white light appears below them, and soon they vanish, and a glimpse at the Persona to come appears for only a second. Soon a card appears, though the design is totally different from mine. It looks like an arrow pointing upwards, with a few lines emanating outwards from it, making a bunch of crosses. I vaguely recognize it as an old religious symbol, but it disappears before I can look at it more.
It’s then that I hear a familiar voice speak up from seemingly inside my own head:
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 Minerva.
Twilight’s head looks back and forth for a moment before asking, “Did you hear that?”
“That happened to me as well.”
“You’re going to have to explain how you know all of this when we get out of here.” I nod in agreement.
I hear small footsteps from behind me and see Spike running up to us. “That was amazing! You just talked to her, and she turned all bright, and then that card appeared, and then she was gone!”
“Yes, Spike, it was very… ooooh,” she manages to say before she starts to tip over. I manage to catch her, and I help her to her hooves. “I didn’t realize how exhausted I was… I’ve been down here for so long, that I—”
“Nevermind that, let’s just get you out of here,” I say.
“No, we can’t yet.” She coughs as she tries to walk out of my grip towards where I first defeated her shadow, but I hold firm.
“What is it, Twilight?”
“We… we have to bring Owloysious back…”
I immediately look in the direction she wants to go, and see the owl, still on the ground. “Oh… you mean that owl?”
“He’s a dear friend, and pet, and even assistant sometimes.” Twilight takes a heavy breath, her exhaustion getting worse. “My Shadow somehow brought him down here yesterday, but I didn’t know she… she turned him into that.” She shivers.
An owl that’s nearly half machine… is such a thing even possible with Equestrian technology? Is this really not just some creature conjured up in this world? I bring Twilight over to him, and turn him over. As soon as he’s facing up, he opens his eyes and takes off, landing on the corner of a table several feet from us.
“That… that is you Owloysious, right?”
The owl lets out a “who” as a response.
“She’s talking to you, genius!” Spike yells.
“Who?”
“YOU!”
Twilight only giggles. “So it really is you, then?” She extends a foreleg, and Owloysious decides to fly over and land on it, giving both of us curious looks. “I guess you aren’t so bad now when my Shadow isn’t controlling you. But… your body…” Still leaning on me, she reaches out with a hoof, touching the metal half of her avian friend.
Owloysious himself doesn’t even seem to care, as he continues to look at her. As he blinks, his red eye turns into a flat line at the same time, before returning to a circle. He then nuzzles up against her, getting a chuckle out of Twilight. “Well, I guess if you don’t mind, I shouldn’t mind, but—”
“I’m sorry Twilight,” I interrupt, “but we need to get out of here.”
“Right.” I offer to let me support her as we walk back, but she shakes her head. “No, I think I can walk now.” She takes herself off my back and firmly plants all her hooves on the ground. “I guess I was just coming off all of that adrenaline pumping through me before.”
“Then let’s go home,” I say, heading towards the door with Twilight, Spike, and Owloysious all close behind me.
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This is absolutely required for the battle. Great 2 chapters, man! Can't wait for MOAR!!!!11!
Oh man it's back! And with two chapters! And there's Twisona and Spike is the locator dragon!
I wonder if there's something to Spike being able to super-hide during that final fight, or if it's just a convenient hiding while Spike tags along.
Well, that was fuckin' sweet as usual. Love ya, man! Keep up the good work!
4618825
What happens to most people when they're shadow turns on them????
They fall asleep!
So... he has Zio and she has Garu? interesting^^ I wonder what her Arcana is though. I dont recall that design. I thought Empress first but its not that. So what is it?
"YOU ARE NOT ME!"
'pause'
Perfect.
4620479
Probably the Magician. She's concerned about worldly skill, and her deficiency is what she is afraid of. That's Magician behavior. Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and the arts too. She's the Roman equivalent of Athena.
4621003 maybe but Magician doesnt feature and arrows or crosses. Its a flame burning in some persons hand, at least in persona. Sorry for the small pics. there's little doubt though that, if Twilight would be in a persona game, her arcana would be The Magician^^
4621183
Oh! I missed the card description. Arrows with crosses is Hierophant. Which is ordered knowledge, and teaching, and relates to that which is considered holy like a priestess. A pretty good arcana for someone who is the personal student of an immortal alicorn, and is an alicorn herself.
4621196 Wow... how could i miss that?... I feel stupid now...
4625906
TFW I and editor missed this. I must have been so high.
Well that was a pretty awesome combat scene. Still know nothing about the setting, but it's fairly clear what is going on regardless. Minerva for Twilight is a wonderful choice just from the mythological implications.
Twilight's shadow sort of reminded me of Naoto's shadow. At least with the metal bits.
Pretty good story so far, looking forward to who else joins Cornerstone's band of heroes.
And while it never happened in Persona 4 (for somewhat obvious reasons), I'd love it if someone, perhaps Fluttershy if she ends up kidnapped given how she acted back when Discord tried to mess with her, just ups and accepts their shadow and skips the boss battle all together.
Love it so far . Its a mix of P3 and P4 cant wait for next part.
Cool. hehehe i think Rainbow dash shadow will be similiar to kanji...
Homo erotic subtext and all
5066712
Hmmm
What makes you think this exactly? Just cause the fandom always makes her a lesbian?
I find it funny how you are calling out the in-joke of Persona. You know the one. The one with the protagonist being slightly insane, and yet he never brings it up.
5066712
"You sayin' I like mares?!"
Please be alive.
I want to see finale of the story.
No!
Well, at least can check that story out from "tracking" folder.